Yesterday morning I took the car out of the garage, battery topped up from charger, started easily. 20 meters out the engine died, just as from turning off ignition. Tried cranking, no sign of starting. Looked around motor, nothing of notice, perhaps some discoloration around some injector mounts, not sure. Connected a battery start booster, cranked for a record long time, eventually the engine came back to life, running as if nothing happened.

Since then no problems, engine starts easily.

If the injector pump somehow abruptly lost power, it should have been easy to start again, right? One concern could be condensation in fuel tank perhaps, since I have the habit of letting the tank be closer to empty than full. IDK. Since this error was intermittent, what error source could the workshop guys hope to find?

Octavia MK II 1.6 TDI, 232k km, changed diesel filter around 180k

Edited 3 March3 Mar by Noda

I reckon get it scanned in case its stored a code. Could be a number of things from air in fuel line to failing crank/cam sensor and everything inbetween hence get it scanned.

Alasdair

no engine fault codes on my personal ODB device, forgot to write that sorry

Edited 3 March3 Mar by Noda

On 04/03/2026 at 03:12, Noda said:

ignition. Tried cranking, no sign of starting.

Did it crank ok without jump starter?

Suspect air in the fuel system and it bled out while you cranked on it.

Maybe a slight leak somewhere letting air in and fuel to drain back or out.

Was it sitting long before you drive it that day?

Yeah air in fuel system would make sense given the symptoms.

It cranked OK without booster, could have been more clear on that sorry.

It had one day off in the garage before this incident.

So air in fuel system... is that something a workshop can dig in to?

Edited 5 March5 Mar by Noda

Air in fuel is likely to be on the suction side from tank to lift pump and before the high pressure pump. If its after then leaks are usually noticeable. Difficult to pin point where but check all fuel lines including filter for signs of leakage including return lines from injectors. Dont think the octavia has a water drain valve on the filter. Just the top sealing gasket. You said it had a day in garage. Dont suppose they did anything fuel related?

Alasdair

1 hour ago, Alasdair1 said:

You said it had a day in garage.

Yes, literally standing in my garage, not the workshop :)

It is possible that there are actually DTCs registered against the event - but your reader is unable to read them.

What device did you use?

Edited 5 March5 Mar by Warrior193
question

A VW diagnosis device from Biltema, not the cheapest one though.

@Noda , have you resolved your problem?

It has not occured since that incident