Car Behaving Strangely

[nbramwel]

I noticed this morning that the car kept telling me to change down a gear unnecessarily.  For instance, I was driving at 35mph on a level road in 5th and it was telling me to change down to 4th.  As I was driving onto our estate doing about 15mph in second gear, it was telling me to change down to 1st.  As I pulled onto the drive, I noticed it was idling just under 1500 RPM despite the engine being hot.  The temperature gauge was reading a steady 90.  I switched off and on again but it was the same.

 

I guess both of these things are related.  Anyone any idea what the problem could be?  I am under warranty but want to avoid a trip to the dealer if possible as I am in the 'at risk'  group for going out.  Any help greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

[Ootohere]

If concerned about your car and it is essential and as you say you are at risk.  Call Skoda Assist.    They should not be busy if people are still working.

You can lay the keys for them, and clean them when handed back.

If the car is faulty they can uplift and drop off a sanitised vehicle.    They are all sending out E-Mails saying they are dealing with the current health crisis.  Try them out.

[nbramwel]

I left the car overnight to see if it was the same this morning.  It was so I rang the dealers.  The service receptionist says she spoke to the technician who said the car has a PPF (it has) and will idle quickly when it is doing a regen.  No need to worry so long as the warning light on the dashboard doesn't come on (it hasn't).

 

My annual mileage is only around 4k so there might be some truth in this.  I might go for a decent run over the weekend to see if it goes back to normal.  Anyone heard of this before?

[themanwithnoaim]

32 minutes ago, nbramwel said:

I left the car overnight to see if it was the same this morning.  It was so I rang the dealers.  The service receptionist says she spoke to the technician who said the car has a PPF (it has) and will idle quickly when it is doing a regen.  No need to worry so long as the warning light on the dashboard doesn't come on (it hasn't).

 

My annual mileage is only around 4k so there might be some truth in this.  I might go for a decent run over the weekend to see if it goes back to normal.  Anyone heard of this before?

Hate to tell you this but, small engines with big turbos do need to be ragged occasionally.

 

An Italian tune up can do wonders for your car, take it out for joy ride when the roads are really quiet & 'drive it like you just stole it'

 

Do not change up a gear till the engine is bouncing off the rev limiter however, change your MFD to display OIL TEMP & don't rag it till the oil is at least 75degC

[Ootohere]

@nbramwel

There are those with a 1.0TSI in Mk3 Fabias with GPF's that have asked about odd behaviour of the cars and some were told it could not be to do with the GPF, but it obviously can be and only time will tell if it becomes an issue as some have had with TDI's and DPF's.

[nbramwel]

I took the car for a run up the M61 to Preston and back down the M6 just now, stopping a couple of times to check the RPM on tickover.  About a mile or so from getting home (just under a 40 mile round trip in lower gears than I ought to have been), the car returned to normal, ticking over at just under 1000RPM.

 

I can't help feeling that a filter which gets clogged up with normal driving (admittedly largely round town) and needs a 40 mile unnecessary journey to clear it defeats the object and is something of a waste of time and money.  Not impressed with this technology at all but am stuck with it until I move to an electric car which, for my money, will be a long time off due to the high cost and (less relevant for me) poor charging infrastructure.  I'll have to resign myself to the M61/M6 journey every 6 months or so.

[varaderoguy]

That you are describing is the Re-Gen process.  The car will always tell you to go into a lower gear - which it need to blow out all the crud from the DPF (Diesel Particulates Filter).  The idle RPM will also be at 1000rpm instead of 800rpm and you may also find that there will be a burning smell. 

 

General hint - long fast journeys for Diesels are good.  slow stop start journeys are bad.

 

 

[Kenny R]

3 minutes ago, varaderoguy said:

That you are describing is the Re-Gen process.  The car will always tell you to go into a lower gear - which it need to blow out all the crud from the DPF (Diesel Particulates Filter).  The idle RPM will also be at 1000rpm instead of 800rpm and you may also find that there will be a burning smell. 

 

General hint - long fast journeys for Diesels are good.  slow stop start journeys are bad.

 

 

OP has a TSI not Diesel, but GPF’ s appear to be having similar operating traits to their Diesel counterparts, apart from the short journey restraints.

[J.R.]

Regarding going for a nice long drive, enjoy it while you can and when you cant stop using your DPF or GPF equipped vehicles.

 

The longest journey that I could make is 5km and its very probable if stopped I would get a €135 fine for not going to a smaller foodstore 1.5km from my home.

 

I am only using my bike now but les flics have already pulled that stunt on me because cycling for exercise is restricted to a 1km radius from the dwelling, same goes for walking or running plus maximum 60 minutes one time per day.

[themanwithnoaim]

On 22/03/2020 at 15:00, nbramwel said:

I took the car for a run up the M61 to Preston and back down the M6 just now, stopping a couple of times to check the RPM on tickover.  About a mile or so from getting home (just under a 40 mile round trip in lower gears than I ought to have been), the car returned to normal, ticking over at just under 1000RPM.

 

I can't help feeling that a filter which gets clogged up with normal driving (admittedly largely round town) and needs a 40 mile unnecessary journey to clear it defeats the object and is something of a waste of time and money.  Not impressed with this technology at all but am stuck with it until I move to an electric car which, for my money, will be a long time off due to the high cost and (less relevant for me) poor charging infrastructure.  I'll have to resign myself to the M61/M6 journey every 6 months or so.

Long motorway runs are counter productive, what you are trying to do is clear the filter & heat is what does it, motorway driving creates too much cooling & therefore, will take longer to clear the filter.

 

I may have sounded flippant earlier but, high revs in lower gears will give the exhaust temperatures required & burn the crud out of your exhaust filter. Find a 50 mph dual carriageway near home & drive up & down it never going into a higher gear than 3rd, you'll find it quicker & use less fuel than your motorway option.

[Tilt]

Are these vehicles that low geared that it is suitable to be in 5th gear at 35mph, especially in a large car with a small engine??? just asking

 

I know my Octavia probably changes into 5th at about that speed too, but I don't really like it and often have to knock it back to 4th, and that is a diesel with plenty of torque.

I know in my Audi I could get away with being lazy with the gear changes, but it had similar torque to a diesel.

 

I get the fact that your issue as due to the filter / regen though.............

Edited 1 April, 2020 by Tilt

[Ootohere]

The issue is now 'Lock down' 

and EU Governments never based getting Emissions low, and DPF's on how many used cars,

and now the GPF's will come back to bite many.

 

After the Coronavirus is over the Car Manufacturers and Governments can maybe rethink that they are churning out cars with ICE's for another decade plus that do not like short journeys.

[Phil245]

39 minutes ago, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

After the Coronavirus is over the Car Manufacturers and Governments can maybe rethink that they are churning out cars with ICE's for another decade plus that do not like short journeys

 

After CV is over (if and when it ever is)  I hope the last thing the government is worrying about is the production of ICE cars.

 

The urgent issue will be  jobs and small businesses....

 

The move to electric cars will happen smoothly enough ( we have several EV's in work).....

 

.

Edited 1 April, 2020 by Phil245
.

[Ootohere]

The UK is 4 nation's that marches on their bellies and are not that keen on walking if they can drive.

 

The Donald has taken the chance to dump planned changes in the US on emissions from vehicles.

That is another place where walking & cycling is not that popular unless as a leisure activity.

[Ecomatt]

2 hours ago, Phil245 said:

The move to electric cars will happen smoothly enough ( we have several EV's in work).....

 

.

I doubt we will ever all go with electric cars. The government has failed to address the small issue of electricity. We are near capacity at the moment with the amounts power produced. If suddenly we all start charging our cars overnight it will start power cuts as there wont be enough electricity on the grid to supply normal domestic and industrial, aswell as cars. Plus all the pollution produced as they wont be able to make all that extra just from wind farms and solar panels etc. 

[Phil245]

18 hours ago, Ecomatt said:

I doubt we will ever all go with electric cars. The government has failed to address the small issue of electricity. We are near capacity at the moment with the amounts power produced. If suddenly we all start charging our cars overnight it will start power cuts as there wont be enough electricity on the grid to supply normal domestic and industrial, aswell as cars. Plus all the pollution produced as they wont be able to make all that extra just from wind farms and solar panels etc. 

 

I don't really want to hi-jack the thread and start off about electric cars, there are plenty of boring threads about electric cars out there.  But that's a long discredited theory...

 

https://www.nationalgrid.com/5-myths-about-electric-vehicles-busted

 

Bit like when cars were invented the horse & cart owners saying there would never be enough petrol stations......😉

 

But I'm sure there will be plenty of choice of power sources for years to come, I love petrol, happily drive EV's in work, and don't mind at all ( or care if I'm honest 😉) what you drive...😛

[Guest]

 

On 22/03/2020 at 15:00, nbramwel said:

I took the car for a run up the M61 to Preston and back down the M6 just now, stopping a couple of times to check the RPM on tickover.  About a mile or so from getting home (just under a 40 mile round trip in lower gears than I ought to have been), the car returned to normal, ticking over at just under 1000RPM.

 

I can't help feeling that a filter which gets clogged up with normal driving (admittedly largely round town) and needs a 40 mile unnecessary journey to clear it defeats the object and is something of a waste of time and money.  Not impressed with this technology at all but am stuck with it until I move to an electric car which, for my money, will be a long time off due to the high cost and (less relevant for me) poor charging infrastructure.  I'll have to resign myself to the M61/M6 journey every 6 months or so.

 

I say straight away that I haven't clue how the system works but from everything I've read thus far, a PPF works differently from a DPF given there's no reason for it to regenerate - unlike diesel, any soot is burnt off in normal driving. ( gases run at higher temp in a petrol engine thus particulates are burn off ).

 

Never heard of anyone having to burn off soot in a PPF before. Wonder if it's the filter not working as it should or perhaps bad fuel. How old is the car / how many miles has it covered?

 

 

[Ootohere]

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/456700-has-my-car-got-a-gpf

 

[silver1011]

Early catalytic converters were a problematic, early DPF's were a problem, even now  DPF's are a problem.

 

There is no reason to think why a GPF is going to be any different.

 

I fear this thread will be the beginning of a new raft of owner / driver issues.

[Kental]

Funny thing Skoda UK assured me my October 2019 built 1.0 TSi does not have a PPF, yet I have similar high revving issues. Will be interesting if it develops a fault as how can an item that does not exist develop a fault??

 

I've done 5200 miles in just over 5 months and my commute is 25 miles return so hopefully that is long enough journeys!!!!

[nbramwel]

Kental.  My Octavia is a September 2018 and it definately has the PPF.  When I spoke to my dealer about this problem, the first thing the receptionist said is 'I'll check with the technician whether it has a PPF'.  She confirmed it has so your October 2019 car must have one as well, despite what Skoda UK have told you.

 

Mine is OK at the moment having done a 40 mile round trip up and down the motorway to clear it out.  If or when the problem returns, I'll follow themanwithnoaim's advice above and see if it clears more quickly.  My son also has a 1.0 litre Octavia but his is December 2017 without a PPF.  He also does short journeys and has had no problems with over reving.  Still not impressed at all with this technology.

[nbramwel]

Same thing happened again last night.  Car keeps telling me to change down a gear and idles about 1200 RPM.  Did a decent run along a dual carriageway last night and again this morning keeping in 3rd gear and lifting my foot off the accelerator regularly but the car is still the same.  Has anyone else had this problem and, if so, can any further advice be offered?  Car is still under warranty but want to avoid a trip to the dealer if possible.  Thanks.

[Gerrycan]

I'm going to guess that a lot of short journeys in cool, and probably wet, weather is going to compound the problem and make it harder to get the exhaust to a soot-burning operating temperature and maintain it.

Small direct injection/turbo motors are relatively efficient so there is not a great deal of superheated exhaust. Even  revs on engine overrun  is likely to extend the process by allowing cooling air through the exhaust.

You might find that allowing the engine to continue to tickover at a high rate until complete is the most efficient way?

 

During our cooler months in Adelaide a series of short runs in our non-PPF 2014 1.4tsi will result in an exhaust so full of water it gurgles like an old man with pneumonia. 

[Ootohere]

@nbramwel. Best get the issue logged with Skoda UK via a dealership while in warranty.  ?  Have you checked if your car is part of the Recall action on 1.0tsi.s because of leaking injectors?

 

http://skoda-auto.com/services/recall-actions

 

EDIT.

Doh,

Sorry your post started my limited knowledge of this Recall Action, or Service Campaign or Skoda Secret Service Service Campaign.

 

Best you speak with Skoda & the Dealership Master Tech again.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/484031-10-tsi-engine-recall

 

Edited 30 November, 2020 by e-Roottoot

[nbramwel]

I rang the dealer and explained my concerns at the engine ticking over at 1500rpm and telling me to change down a gear unnecessarily.  They advised me to take the car in for a health check.  A few days before my appointment, the car sorted itself out after a 45 mile round trip down the M58 and largely dual carriageway roads so I rang the dealer again.  They advised me to still bring the car in for a check.  The night before my appointment, I had a call from the service receptionist to tell me not to bother as the settings were programmed by Skoda and there was nothing they could do.  I insisted they look at the car so I took it in as previously arranged.

 

When I arrived, they were expecting me and needed no explanation of why I was there.  The young service receptionist said 'it is your driving style'.  I replied that I have been driving for 50 years and never had a problem like this before'.  I had to resist saying 'and I don't need a computer to tell me when to change gear'.  Anyway, the dealer said they had checked the car over and found no faults and I have a written statement from them saying no fault codes have been logged.

 

The car is running fine again now and at least I have the problem logged within my warranty period if it re-occurs out of warranty.  But I am far from impressed with the PPF technology.  Even if/when I change the car for a newer petrol model, it will come with the PPF filter.  So all in all, the future doesn't look that bright car wise unless or until I move to an electric car which won't be for a good while, given the cost and lack of charging infrastructure in the UK.  I would be interested in anyone else's views on these filters and whether they have had problems.  Thanks.