pd130 running rough upto service

[Creatine Phil]

I've had a bit of a search for a related thread but couldn't find anything so appologies if this has been covered before.

My pd130 Ibiza tdi sport is comming up to its 40k service (which is booked for tomorrow at SEAT) and it seems that for the last few hundred miles it has started running rough.

Power and mpg seem to be down and there is also a lot more dirty diesel smoke coming out of the exhaust when excelerating hard.

I spoke to a friend who had a pd150 mk4 golf and he said that this is something manufacturers program into the ECU to make you take the car back to them to get it serviced.

This sounds a bit pesimistic but has anyone else experienced this or know if its true? I thought that maybe this is the ECU protecting the engine from wear when not serviced regularly.

I mentioned this to a guy at SEAT and he implied that it was probably just that the filters needed replacing. I wouldn't have thought that this would have had such a dramatic effect though.

Is this something that wouldn't happen if the ECU was re-mapped or would doing an ECU reset stop it?

 

[craig-pd130]

Never heard of the ECU "protecting" the engine as the service interval approaches -- it's more likely to be a very dirty air filter or something equally simple.

If it's never had a new air filter before 40K then it WILL be well choked. I changed mine at just over 20K from new and I was shocked by the amount of debris and crap in the airbox (leaves, twigs, stones, bits of plastic) .... there was literally several handfuls of crap.

Could be worth a look, it's easy to do if you don't mind a skinned knuckle or two.

 

[Ant FR]

it could have that sort od affect, but it would need to be a severe blockage, and i mena like a Plastic bag up there. But yes its always possible for the ECU to go into safe mode.

Personally i would get it looked at today when you have the service, the diagnostics should bring up the real reason why safe mode was triggered, then go from there, do post up what it was though once you have found out

 

[EdButler]

Just go what i do and give it an Italian Tune Up - fixes any rough running in mine

Get the oil all nicely warmed up and get on the motorway or some good A-Road and give it plenty of blasts right up to the limiter. Hold it at high revs too for a little while to get the EGT's up.

Mine does a lot of tottering about at the moment and it cokes it up a little. When i do the tune up it makes carbon deposits in the exhaust ignite and fire out of the back - ive heard by a few that it looks quite funky. Drive it hard, it likes it

 

[sssstew]

I spoke to a friend who had a pd150 mk4 golf and he said that this is something manufacturers program into the ECU to make you take the car back to them to get it serviced.

99.9999999% certain that this is not correct.

 

[Creatine Phil]

Just got it back from SEAT and I have to say it feels like it is running better!

Couldn't do much of the old Italian tune-up that Ed talked about as there was a lot of traffic on the roads but gave the car some revs and it felt more powerful and a smoother drive.

Also - no big cloud of derv smoke under exceleration

Didn't get a chance to ask the dealer to do a diagnostics check on the ECU as took it in first thing this morning however when I asked about the air box being clogged up on collection he just implied that the filters needed changing.

Just seemed a bit weird that the car ran fine, all-be-it a bit smokey, for about 700 miles and then for the 800 leading up to the service it seemed to run rough

Will give it a bit of a blast on a clear section of the A27 when the roads clear up and see what difference it makes

 

[muddyboots]

Maybe just a duff fill up of fuel ? (No I'm not referring to the recent supermarket incidents)
Sometimes happens, either water or crap in the fuel, or you've tried a different brand of fuel that the car doesn't like.

Have any other changes been made recently - different tyres, tyre pressures gone down, etc etc ?

If you're generating noticeably more smoke than normal, maybe you've developed a boost leak somewhere...

 

[craig-pd130]

Well, fingers crossed it's sorted, Phil. Hopefully it was just an air filter.

 

[Creatine Phil]

Gave it a bit more of a blast this evening and it feels much better now.

Think I've put at least 3 different brands of diesel in the last 800 miles though (been stingey and not filling it up).

Had the same tyres on there (which SEAT told me the front 2 needed replacing at £70/corner as they were illigally low... had a look myself and they seem OK to me )

I have to say the turbo seems to be making much more of a whistle than it did when I bought it. Might just be the cold weather but I will have a prod arround to see if I can find anything obvious - I don't really know what I'm looking for but seem to remember reading a post on this so will have a search.

Hopefully it was just the filters and it is sorted now - thanks all for the info

 

[craig-pd130]

I posted a while back about how much debris there was in my Passat airbox ... sure, it has a bigger intake snorkel etc but I was genuinely surprised.

Every 10K miles or so I open the airbox, vacuum it out and vac the filter too to keep it breathing