Need advice: Coil warning suddenly popped up on my Skoda Rapid TDI

About 10Km before Hoskote, there was a sudden hesitation in the engine and the coil lamp showed up. I turned off the car and started again in single crank, with no coil warning message.

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I landed in a perfect storm despite the precautions. Please note the background below:

We were to drive from Calicut to Pondicherry, with a refuelling planned at Palakkad COCO. I missed the Palakkad COCO, thanks to Google Maps taking me down a village road somewhere, but I decided to stretch it to Pondy and save a few quid filling a full tank from there.

I was precariously close to empty when I filled to auto-cutoff at Ashram Petrol Pump at Pondy (which I doubly verified to be the highest rated one in the tax-free Union Territory). It is for the first time in the 4 year / 71,000Km usage of the vehicle that I have fueled from a Non-COCO / Unfamiliar Pump and at so close to vapor.

On Day 3, I was driving hard and fast from Pondy to Bangalore and all went well for the first 3 hours. About 10Km before Hoskote, there was a sudden hesitation in the engine and the coil lamp showed up. I turned off the car and started again in single crank, with no coil warning message. After driving slowly for a short distance, the coil lamp showed up again and the engine seemed strained and noisy. I drove at < 40 for about 10Km and stopped at a roadside garage to disconnect and reconnect the battery.

The car started at first crank and there was no coil warning after that. Its been 4 days since the incident and I am using the car daily. So far so good; the coil warning has not re-appeared and the car is driving smoothly. It is giving me normal mileage and exhaust has the typical CRDI smell. But given the horror stories associated with the Continental Injectors, I am very worried.

My knee-jerk reaction has been to buy Liqui Moly Diesel Additive, which I plan to use with my next full tank in the next couple of days.

Based on the situation described above, can I please have your feedback on the severity of the problem I seem to face, and what my next course of action should be. Thanks in advance.

Here’s what BHPian shankar.balan had to say on the matter:

Basis my experience with this kind of problem (in a petrol engine), here is a suggestion.

Drain the tank and remove and examine the fuel filter and change that. Im sure it is dirty considering the levels of fuel adulteration that we see in India. Ask the garage to remove the fuel injectors and have them cleaned. There is a cleaning process possible. Ive done it. Take the opportunity to drain and change engine oil and change the filter too. Then refill the vehicle with good fresh fuel from a good station and see.

The pics depict what I had found and done. I repeat, mine is a petrol car:

Here’s what BHPian Flyer had to say on the matter:

Check the fuel injectors. Could be an early warning of fuel injector failure. I experienced similar symptoms in my Vento TDI. It could be a problem with any one injector only.

Here’s what BHPian Asoon had to say on the matter:

On a very different note, it can be a rat bite, If it’s a bite then it’s not a major issue.

We have a rapid in the family (8 years old / 77k driven / diesel) and this has happened to us couple of times, (engine + coil light).

Get the socket near battery area/ electricals checked from a mechanic he will be able to detect, refer image below:

Here’s what BHPian dhanushs had to say on the matter:

The dreaded coil light comes on when you don’t use the vehicle that much man. Too much idle time for these injectors which was previously used frequently causes it. Apparently its some lack of lubrication of injectors and hence some calibration goes wrong and the electrical part fails.

The coil light also can come when you have a faulty EGR. That too is very expensive to replace in the showroom, but can be solved outside.

For now, I think you can follow the advises given above, and keep your fingers crossed.

Always keep a lac aside man for the VW/Skoda TDi Engines.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

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