Octavia 1.9TDi hot start problem

js3142

Hi everyone,

I'd be grateful if anyone could give me a little advice.

I have a 2005 Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi that struggles a little with hot restarts. I've been living this for a while but am wondering if I ought to get this looked at and what it might cost to get fixed if I did?

My car starts no problem from cold, including over the winter. But if I've been driving such that the engine has warmed up but then stop off somewhere, when I come to restart the car it turns over many more time before it starts. It always does start, but it's not as immediate as when started from cold. Once it's started the car seems absolutely fine.

Thanks for any help .

only_mee

Might be the CTS (coolant temperature sensor) cheap fix if so.

colino

Is it high in the miles? You might be losing, just through wear and tear, a fair bit of compression in a hyper-miler that is diguised when cold.
(One of the reasons taxi drivers are reluctant, even at 4am to turn their engines off!)

js3142

colino wrote: »

Is it high in the miles? You might be losing, just through wear and tear, a fair bit of compression in a hyper-miler that is diguised when cold.
(One of the reasons taxi drivers are reluctant, even at 4am to turn their engines off!)

It's done about 70k, does that count as high miles?

only_mee

No, it's just run in lol

s_b

js3142 wrote: »

It's done about 70k, does that count as high miles?

im with colino
if you arent the only owner its quite possible in a previous life it was a motorway service vehicle with the engine running 24/7
its quite possible its chocking on its own fumes when it gets warm

vax2002

The Engine needs to turn at 280 rpm or above to hot start.
A few issues can cause this
Old Battery.
Poor earth. (bi-pass from negative battery terminal to engine with jump lead to check earth)
Coolant temperature sensor worn out, will show working, but they wear out.
Relay 109 on the engine relay panel.

Only know this because we had a passat with the usual faults.
If only a Volkswagen were as reliable as a Volkswagen !

js3142

s_b wrote: »

im with colino
if you arent the only owner its quite possible in a previous life it was a motorway service vehicle with the engine running 24/7
its quite possible its chocking on its own fumes when it gets warm

Would that mean there is some sort of filter that needs to be cleaned out or replaced, or would I be stuck with it?

I bought the car from a Skoda main dealer, and was told (although I can't verify this) that the two previous owners had been someone who worked at the Skoda dealership and then his wife after the original owner died. I bought the car in March last year.

If it's relevant, I'm doing about 10,000 miles a year, which is a mix of an ~ 10 mile each way daily commute (part A-roads part city) and longer distance trips to visit family and friends.

Thanks for all the replies .

js3142

vax2002 wrote: »

The Engine needs to turn at 280 rpm or above to hot start.
A few issues can cause this
Old Battery.
Poor earth. (bi-pass from negative battery terminal to engine with jump lead to check earth)
Coolant temperature sensor worn out, will show working, but they wear out.
Relay 109 on the engine relay panel.

Only know this because we had a passat with the usual faults.
If only a Volkswagen were as reliable as a Volkswagen !

Could an old battery really start the car from cold fine but have more trouble if hot? Isn't it harder to start from cold?

Did you have a similar problem on your Passat then?

Would I be right to guess I should probably try to get this problem fixed as I'll be shortening the life of the starter motor otherwise?

AndyL111

The problem appears to be quite common and can be caused by the engine "mapping" which does not allow fuel through to the engine when hot unless the starter motor is turning the engine over at over 250 rpm.

As the battery and starter begin to wear...the starting speed reduces and hence you get difficulties starting (only when hot though?!!!?).

Several forums have detailed wiring in a switch to turn off the temperature sender temporarily, when starting from hot... which basically fools the car into thinking it's engine is cold and hey presto it starts first time.

Others have replaced faulty temperature sensors ; replaced the battery and/or the starter motor (they only recommend genuine starter motors) and all these have worked for "some" victims.

Perhaps it would help if Skoda or VW acknowledged the fault and rectified the problem....but iI doubt very much that will ever happen somehow.

Good Luck!!!!!!

js3142

Quick update - I replaced the battery last week and all seems to be well . Thanks to Vax2002 for sugesting this.

Three things made me take a punt on changing the battery in the end:

1) As far as I could tell my car still had it's original battery which would therefore be at least 7 years old.

2) Thinking about it I realised the couple of times I'd had most problem with hot restarting was when leaving motorway service areas on long drives, at which times I'd have had my SatNav plugged in so placing more demand on the battery.

3) Since my first post my car was actually beginning to become more reluctant to start even when cold.