Hello there

I picked up my 01 plate octavia VRS yesterday and everything seemed fine, but this morning, when starting her up, the starter motor (I'm pretty sure its that) makes a crunching sound after i release the ignition. Its stiil doing this.

What makes it even worse is the fact that the engine management light has started to appear too, although that was a few hours later. I'm guesiing they arent related, but could they be? Any ideas whats going on? The light won't go out. Not a good start :-(

Cheers

Snagsy

Hi mate, You need to get it plugged in to vag-com to see the fault codes for the EML .The starter sounds like it might need replacing.Did you buy from a dealer or private.

Private mate. I guessed it may need replacing.

What kind of garage would I take it to for VAG-COM? Main dealer or do independant garages do them too?

Welcome to the forum.

So the starter is definitely a crunching and not a shrieking noise?

Where are you located there are many members on this forum with vag-com who are willing to help.

Its the kind of noise that happens if you re-engage the starter when the motor is already running. Unfortunately I'm in Morayshire (lovely place, but quite remote (North Scotland))

Ahh right a shriek then, Mines done it for ages, its a common fault. Its just the starter pinion not disengaging properly. I presume it only does it for about 1 second max.

See here for more details http://briskoda.net/forums/octavia-i/starter-motor/100241/

Thanks for the linky. Would you recommend trying to clean the starter motor pinion or replacing it at a dealer? Ive no idea how much these things cost or how easy they are to replace. :(

snagsy, as you can see from that link I have the starter shriek too! It's been there for about 6 months now, and probably occurs 50% of the time. Someone on here gave the useful tip that if you turn the ignition on and wait for the all the lights to go out, then turn the ignition off, then on again and wait for the lights to go out again, then start, it seems to stop the noise when you start. it's worked for me so far.

dealer quoted me £191.73+vat for a new starter, and £115+vat if i brought in the old one. Seemed a bit steep, so I've left it.

With your EML coming on, the exact same thing happened to me when i picked up my car. The light came on while i was driving it home! I just took it straight to an indy VAG specialist and they hooked it up. Turned out a vacuum hose under the intake manifold was perished and leaking. Replaced it and fault gone.

Let us know how you get on...

Got it booked in on Thursday for a full service and theyre gonna look at the EML and starter motor. Its not a VAG specialist but as far as I'm aware there aren't any around morayshire.

Ill let you guys know what happens.

On an off chance, you don't know how to reprogram the Cobra alarm fobs as the 2nd one isnt working after a battery change.

The closest I can come to a VAG specialist in Moray is "Specialist Cars" in Aberdeen.

Mine does a wee bit of "run on", but only when started first thing from cold - it's fine every time thereafter for the whole day.