Help with TDI starting?????

[funk-star]

First off, Hello I dont own a skoda but my father does! I do however own a mk1 golf and a Audi A2. So its in the family!

My dads problem is this:

When he starts the car it just cranks and cranks and then fire's up throwing out loads of smoke from the exhaust?

This happens 50% of the time so its intermittent.

we have fitted a new air flow meter and a temp sensor and nothing??

We suspect the relay, but cant find any info on the location of it?

Tho we could be barking up the wrong tree? so any pointers would be great!

Oh, also its a R reg 90bhp tdi if it helps?

Cheers in advance!

[trundlenut]

Could it be the glow plugs? - Is it worse in cold weather?

[cheezemonkhai]

Try letting the glow plugs have two cycles before attempting to crank the engine. If these are all ok then it could be the glow plug relay. I also can't for the life of me think where it is on the MK I, but I can remember where it is on a BX and 306 (Fat lot of use I know)

Another thing to try doing would be to change the fuel filter as this could have a lot of water in it.

Also try parking the car facing nose down hill and smearing a little bit of vaslene etc over the fuel pipe joints. Specifically I would pay attention to the ones around the fuel filter. If there is air getting into the pipes then the fuel will run back into the tank making the car hard to start as it has to pick the fuel up again. This will only usually show if the car has been left for a good time, so if you start it then drive then stop, 5 minutes later it should start just fine.

HTH and welcome to Brisky

[funk-star]

Further info if it helps to identify the fault?

If the plug light turns off straight away the car has problems!! (Plumes of unburnt diesel) However if the plug light stays on as per normal it will start fine????

Weather has no effect cold hot damp its the same???

Cheers for the replies!

[trundlenut]

The glow plug relay is in the footwell, on the drivers side I think behind some trim. This relay sounds a likely candidate.

[vwroadster]

Hi, We had a Seat Toledo 1.9 TDi and that had starting problems, which turned out to be the 50A fuse under the bulkhead (twice in 4 years), it had a split across it.

Our next door neighbour, worked on diesel buses and showed me a trick to test it. Use a thick piece of electrical wire (say, house wiring stuff) and touch one end to the glow plugs connecting bar and the other end to the battery terminal.

BE VERY CAREFUL IF YOU ATTEMPT THIS, MAKE SURE YOU FIRST TOUCH THE BAR AND THEN THE POSITIVE BATTERY TERMINAL - DO NOT TOUCH ANY OTHER PART OF THE CAR.

It will get HOT VERY QUICKLY and the bar should glow red.

YOU SHOULD ONLY DO IT FOR A FEW SECONDS, DO NOT TOUCH THE BAR WITH YOUR HAND

This should put enough heat into the plugs to see if it will fire. If it does then it's either relay or fuse (if the Octavia has one)

[funk-star]

The glow plug relay is in the footwell, on the drivers side I think behind some trim. This relay sounds a likely candidate.

Will Pass on info and report back:)

Cheers for help so far!!

[cheezemonkhai]

I'd agree glow plug relay sounds a likely option. If you are messing around in the area a new set of plugs was only £10 last time I changed them so might be worth doing as a preventative measure if they have not been changed before.

[funk-star]

Ok so crimbos now out the way and im now a bit sober'er LOL

I have been in the driverside dash area and cant find the relay? has anyone got a exact location for this? or even a part number so we can at least get one ordered?

Cheers and a happy new year!

[Taxi 219]

Drivers side under dash remove panel first and look up and you will see them.

[pikpilot]

Took my 110 bhp Octavia to local Skoda garage yesterday with same problem, but only when the outside temp is below 6ºC. Thought it might have been the glow plug relay (which is I believe is electronic, not mechanical, so over £100).

Turned out to be the glow plugs. One was working, one partially and two coked up and not working.

Milage is 56,300 so is earlier than I expected. Going in on Monday to have them changed - about ½ hour's work plus about £13 per glow plug.

Incidently, I should have recognised the symptoms as I had the same problem with my previous car at 156,000 miles (a Citroen). On that ocasion the Citroen garage said they usually need changing at 50,000 miles. This time the Skoda garage said they don't need changing until around 150,000 miles. C'est la vie!

Incidently, the glow plugs only come on at low temperature (some say below 3ºC) so glow plugs and relay can be ruled out if it happens on warm days.

[cheezemonkhai]

On the old IDI dervs they got used for about 15 seconds every time you started the car from cold and often when starting from warmish rather than hot.

On the DI dervs they literally blink on

This is why only 50kish on the older cars and I thought 80-100kish on newer cars.

Still, they haven't half gone up in price! £13 each :eek:

[cheezemonkhai]

pikpilot, you have a reply to your PM

[pikpilot]

Just got my car back having had four glow plugs changed by local Skoda guys.

£14 per glow plug plus a half hour labour plus VAT equals £101. :(

[mbames]

Ouch :-( Better hope that cures it.

[octavia98]

Try letting the glow plugs have two cycles before attempting to crank the engine.

Is this fairly normal or an indication of a problem? Sorry, have read a couple of times & still not sure. My mk1 seems to be a little reluctant 1st time of asking...

[cheezemonkhai]

If the car is fine after you have given the plugs a couple of cycles it points to the plugs not heating the combustion chamber enough.

If that is the case I would go to a good indy garage and get the plugs changed or DIY them.

It could be the relay, but if the car hasn't had a new set of plugs then they won't do any harm and probably not got that long left in them anyway.

[leggymambo]

i have similar problem... just changed the plugs so its not them... starts with a push, so is it the relay?