Strange Engine Issue...

[gareth86]

Hi guys,

Picked my new Leon 1.8TSI Manual up a few weeks ago and yesterday had my first little worry. I had driven up to the Lake District from Kent (no issues whatsoever) however on the way back after roughly 4 hours I got stuck in 1 hour 30 mins of almost standstill/stop-start traffic. (Had stop-start turned OFF)

Anyways, it was fine for a while but I managed to stool the car pretty easily 2 or 3 times just pulling out of 1st gear and I noticed the engine had gone a bit rough, it wasn't ticking over smoothly. It kinda felt like when I was putting my foot down on the pedal I wasn't getting the right amount of power. On a successful pull out of 1st gear I tried 2nd gear which felt okay but not quite right and as the traffic started moving a bit quicker I tried 3rd which made the engine jumpy and it felt like it was struggling for some reason. The emissions (I think) and the EPC light came up briefly then went away (I can't remember if it was after a restart they went away or before.) I stayed in second, even though I should've gone to about third or fourth gear.

By this time I was panicking a bit, worrying it was going to give up on me in this huge traffic jam but I gave it a few revs and after a while it just seemed to go away? Then I managed to drive it to the remaining ~70 miles home no problem and I haven't had this since.

I'm going to see how it goes for a few days but I think I will mention it to them. Did something possibly get a bit too warm in this traffic? I have no idea lol. Oil temperatures fine and checked the level before I left. More than enough fuel etc. It's got 1.2k miles on the clock.

Any ideas?

Gareth

 

[CyberGene]

I have only a wild guess. When stuck in the jam, engine and all auxiliary sytesms are probably not working in their optimal conditions - catalytic converter included, so as a fallback the engine is handicapped until the conditions get better. There are so many sensors and systems nowadays that it could be literally everything... I am sure the error has been recorded in the ECU and you can check it though.

 

[gareth86]

I have only a wild guess. When stuck in the jam, engine and all auxiliary sytesms are probably not working in their optimal conditions - catalytic converter included, so as a fallback the engine is handicapped until the conditions get better. There are so many sensors and systems nowadays that it could be literally everything... I am sure the error has been recorded in the ECU and you can check it though.

Yeah, it's been absolutely perfect up to now and I guess things are still a lil tight so it wouldn't surprise me. TBH it's the cars first real traffic jam lol. I have a vagcom cable so I'll see if anything pops up tomorrow

 

[derelyth]

Sounds like the nightmare I'd encounter almost daily on my old TDI on my new short commute.

Being that yours is the 1.8 I'd be interested to see if a scan finds anything - touch wood mine has been OK in traffic (30-45 mins a day, twice a day).