Octavia vRS problens

[Andyhumble]

My car has been in and out of the dealer garage for over 2 months due to a lack of power and the turbo not working properly.

They've changed pipes to the turbo, recirculation valves and dump valves plus other bits and peices, but they have failed to resolve the problem.

My car has been in the garage again today, and they've now told me that the throttle body needs replacing plus a sensor at a cost of £490. Once this has been done, I will have spent over £800 in a space of 2 months due to the dealer not diagnosing the problem correctly.

Where do I stand financially. Should I demand that the money i've spent in the past due to the wrong problem diagnosis should be off set against this new cost of £490?????

I don't now what my rights are??

What do you think??

Thanks, Andy

[Ic3man]

If the other parts they fitted didn't solve the problem I would have demanded my money back in the first place! Second, why are you still going to the same garage if they are so incompetent at fault diagnosis? I certainly wouldn't spend anymore cash there in the 'hope' they will get it right this time.

[Andyhumble]

I've spoke to another Skoda dealer beside the office where I work. They told me that they would only do the same, i.e. run the diagnostics and repair the car according to the fault codes.

I think I'll try VW for their opinion.

[PaulC]

Assuming your car is out of warrenty, & not being a legal bod, I would think if a stern letter tot he garage didn't get your money back then it would have to be the small claims court, on the assumption that their is a incompetance type case, soemone will know the answer I am sure.

[Andyhumble]

Thanks for your help.

I'm just about to go to the garage now, so I'll see what they say.

This is the second (2nd hand) car I've bought from the garage, and I've never had any problems with them. They've been really good in the past.

[rich1068]

Sorry if you've posted them before but what are the symptoms specifically?

And unfortunately dealers do tend to just throw parts at a car in the hope that they get lucky.

Edit: I've had a glance at your other posts. I strongly suggest they clean the existing throttle body before trying to get you to cough up for a new one.

[yellowmehari]

When it's your money, Dealers will fit loads of parts and charge you for everything. When it is under warranty they are very reluctant to fit parts, because if Skoda does not pay out the warranty claim, the dealer pays (well that's my local dealer's excuse for not throwing lots of parts at my warranty issue).

I think all dealers are the same. It is just a myth that Skoda dealers offer better service. My local dealer is the worst motor retailer that I have ever encountered.


Wish you luck with the retailer. Skoda Customer Service might be worth a try, but I won't hold out much hope.


Good luck

[Andyhumble]

I've heard a few people mention cleaning the throttle body. The only thing is, I'm not the most clued up person when it comes to the mechanical side of things.

Where is the throttle body located and is it something I could carry out myself.

I have mentioned this to the dealer but they've told me that its an electrical throttle valve, so any cleaning fluid would damage the electrics.


Any help appreciated.

Cheers Andy.

[ncarring]

Here. You can either just detach the big hose and reach in with your finger or go the whole hog and remove the 4x5mm allen screws and the electrical connector and take it off. There's a motor driven butterfly valve inside which you can open (gently) with your finger to clean the pipe the other side of it.

You should be easily able to do it yourself. You can clean it with paper towel only if you don't want to use solvents, but most people use some kind of spray cleaner like carb cleaner. Then after reassembly you need to reset it by turning the ignition on for a minute or so without starting the engine.

[Andyhumble]

I've spoken to the garage again and they've now told me the two parts which I need are the Throttle valve control unit (Part No. 06A 133 062 C) and a Temperature sensor (Part No. 058 905 379). Is the Throttle valve control unit the actual Throttle Body or another individual part. I can get a hold of a cheaper throttle body through a friend and I'm confident of fitting it myself since I removed it and re-fitted it on monday when I cleaned it.

This would end up saving me £320, assuming it is the throttle body.

The only other problem is whether to trust the diagnosis of the Skoda dealer after they've incorrectly diagnosed the car wrong four or five times in the past.

Thanks in adavance, Andy

[bassman]

I think I'd like to know if they would charge you if parts fitted didn't fix your problem, having said that they've failed at your expense already! One other point is everytime I've read about same sort of problem more often than not somebody suggests MAF sensor cleaning or replacement. Can you confirm if this has been looked at because it seems as it is not an unusual fix at a fraction of the cost.

[Andyhumble]

I haven't tried cleaning the MAF sensor. Where abouts is this sensor and is it something I could do myself?

Cheers, Andy

[bk1]

Has there been any mention of the wastegate actuator? I think that might also be known as the N75 valve, and that can play up too. Try a search, I might be confusing two different things.

The MAF is in it's own section of pipe coming off the airbox. It will have a lead plugged in. On my Audi A3 the airbox is behind the battery on the passenger side. Some people say cleaning the MAF helped them, but it made no difference to me. I bought a new one (about 90 pounds on exchange) and it made the performance much much better.

I had throttle body cleaned a few 1000 miles back and it helped slightly with a jerky-idle problem, and it's definitely worth getting it cleaned before you buy a new MAF.

Did Audi say why they wanted to replace the temp sensor? It's a 10-quid part so worth doing, but I wonder why. Maybe they got some fault codes about it. That could be a factor, as wrong temp reading will affect fuel delivery. Same goes for the MAF - if it under-reads the airflow, then it delivers less fuel and you lose performance. With the MAF this happens over time as the internal wire gets crap baked on to it.

Hope that helps anyway.
B

[DGW]

The throttle valve control unit is one and the same as the throttle body circled in red on Nick's post. (The price of that is circa £318 as quoted.) The temperature sensor is circa £29.

[bassman]

Hi Andy, reason for suggesting to clean MAF sensor was due to numerous times I've seen this crop up in other threads and with successful outcome.
Sensor is located exactly as bk1 described, on the pipe coming from the airfilter box with lead plugged into sensor. I've read that some have sprayed switch cleaner into sensor but I think you'd have to remove sensor to clean the inside. Sorry I can't help any further but I would definitely post a thread on ASK A TECH and I'm sure somebody will advise on exactly how to and also if it's an easy DIY job to clean. Last thing I want to do is give you any mis-leading info and Briskoda has some excellent members that I'm sure will advise accordingly. Has your car done many miles? this kind of info might help anybody offering advise as to possible causes. Let us know how you get on. cheers Bassman.

[yellotaxi]

My Car Went In 7 Times Cause The Power Was Up And Down Ended Up Buying A Maf Sens And Its Cured No Thanks To The Dealer.

But Read Somewhere Of Someone Having Problems And A Bosch Technician Put It Down To Turbo Fault, New Turbo Cured The Prob.

[Andyhumble]

I've now tried cleaning the MAF, but its made no improvement. Thanks for everyones help but I think its gonna have to go to the dealer for the new throttle control unit and sensor. I'm gonna try to get some sort of guarentee with the dealer, that if this doesn't solve the problem, then I'll expect any future work to be discounted and set off against the money I've paid to date.

My car is on a Y (2001) and has done 46k mile.

Thanks again for everyones help and I'll let you's know what happens with the car.


Cheers

Andy