1.5 tsi ongoing problems, please help

SeatDan

Active Member
Jul 15, 2018
16
1
Hi all

I am still having cold running issues with my 68 plate seat Leon with the 1.5 tsi engine 130bhp. Car has done 17000

It still runs poor when cold hesitation and a noticeable jerk when accelerating from around 1.5 rpm and upwards that car seriously holds back and I still get massive flat spots at lower rpm, this only happens when the car is cold and when fully warmed up after 15 mins of driving it’s all good.

It has had the update for the 1.5tsi back In November 2019 which made everything perfect for about a week. Then the same issues returned and felt no different. Then it has been back to my seat dealer they could not fault the car and found no stored fault codes.

The cold hesitation continued and I took it back in, seat advised my dealer to replace all 4 injectors and reset learning plan. I got the car back and once again it drove perfect for a week, never felt as good, then once again the cold jerking came back.

That was just before lockdown and since then the same has been happening, anyone had something similar or is this a characteristic, any help or advice on this matter is much my appreciated, as the Leon is a great car, but the 1.5 has left a sour note on my experience.
 

MATT RILEY

Oil burner
May 9, 2004
402
74
Fuel pressure sender's on the fuel rail can give faulty readings, l would give that a look.
 

SeatDan

Active Member
Jul 15, 2018
16
1
Fuel pressure sender's on the fuel rail can give faulty readings, l would give that a look.


Thanks for the reply. Is this a known concern with Seat, any one else had this replaced with a confident fix to the problem.

had the same issue again today when accelerating, the car was I. 2nd gear just turned a sharp corner as I was at a traffic crossroad, revs were around 1.5 rpm and accelerating away on the straight normally and the car jolts before the acceleration kicks in, it’s horrible.

local dealer struggles to fault concern each time it goes in and I can’t really afford to part ex the car as I’ve got neg equity.

it’s weird after a possible fix is carried out and a relearn is carried out the car drives perfect, then the issues settles back In after a week.
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
There’s no faulty fuel sender, the issue is the 1.5tsi is a fundementally flawed junk / lemon engine.

The whole of VAG cannot fix this issue, the engine is a dud.
 
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Vag8

Active Member
Jul 5, 2019
57
34
I think it's down to wltp regs. Euro emissions have really strangled the engine.
Hi all

I am still having cold running issues with my 68 plate seat Leon with the 1.5 tsi engine 130bhp. Car has done 17000

It still runs poor when cold hesitation and a noticeable jerk when accelerating from around 1.5 rpm and upwards that car seriously holds back and I still get massive flat spots at lower rpm, this only happens when the car is cold and when fully warmed up after 15 mins of driving it’s all good.

It has had the update for the 1.5tsi back In November 2019 which made everything perfect for about a week. Then the same issues returned and felt no different. Then it has been back to my seat dealer they could not fault the car and found no stored fault codes.

The cold hesitation continued and I took it back in, seat advised my dealer to replace all 4 injectors and reset learning plan. I got the car back and once again it drove perfect for a week, never felt as good, then once again the cold jerking came back.

That was just before lockdown and since then the same has been happening, anyone had something similar or is this a characteristic, any help or advice on this matter is much my appreciated, as the Leon is a great car, but the 1.5 has left a sour note on my experience.

Hi Dan,

I also have a 68 plate 1.5 130 Fr - and I have and still continue to have issues with kangaroo effect from cold ... well not even from cold, mine can be driven for an hour, parked up for 5 minutes and it’ll still kangaroo.

I like you have lived with it for 18 months and reported issues back to the dealership with in 4 days of ownership, and repeatedly thereafter.
I had the long promised software update dec 31st after the dealership refused it saying my car wasn’t effected - so I took that up with Seat customer services and they - instructed the dealership to do it. - whilst it improved in the short term, it never cured the problems and it’s as much a pain now as it ever was.

I know that a fuel sensor has been suggested, but I get the impression Seat don’t care about those of us with this engine, and if you dealership is like mine the simply dismiss that there is a problem.

I afraid it’s just a problem engine, fuel efficient yes, but plagued with an issue that they can’t or are reluctant to fix.

I personally assume VW group knew it had problems as it was only fitted in a few models:
Golf blue motion
Tiguan - but quickly dropped
Leon mk3

if it was so good why has it never been fitted in:
T roc
Octavia
Ateca
T cross
Kamiq
Polo

which all favoured the 1.0 tsi

I like the car but I’ll be looking to trade it off soon or VT halfway through my PCP - I’d be happy to get rid,

I assume the that the new version of this engine as fitted in the new golf and Leon mk4 as that would be suicidal for the brand if not.
 
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SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,414
1,298
Hi Dan,

I also have a 68 plate 1.5 130 Fr - and I have and still continue to have issues with kangaroo effect from cold ... well not even from cold, mine can be driven for an hour, parked up for 5 minutes and it’ll still kangaroo.

I like you have lived with it for 18 months and reported issues back to the dealership with in 4 days of ownership, and repeatedly thereafter.
I had the long promised software update dec 31st after the dealership refused it saying my car wasn’t effected - so I took that up with Seat customer services and they - instructed the dealership to do it. - whilst it improved in the short term, it never cured the problems and it’s as much a pain now as it ever was.

I know that a fuel sensor has been suggested, but I get the impression Seat don’t care about those of us with this engine, and if you dealership is like mine the simply dismiss that there is a problem.

I afraid it’s just a problem engine, fuel efficient yes, but plagued with an issue that they can’t or are reluctant to fix.

I personally assume VW group knew it had problems as it was only fitted in a few models:
Golf blue motion
Tiguan - but quickly dropped
Leon mk3

if it was so good why has it never been fitted in:
T roc
Octavia
Ateca
T cross
Kamiq
Polo

which all favoured the 1.0 tsi

I like the car but I’ll be looking to trade it off soon or VT halfway through my PCP - I’d be happy to get rid,

I assume the that the new version of this engine as fitted in the new golf and Leon mk4 as that would be suicidal for the brand if not.

VW do fit the 150ps version of the troublesome 1.5,EVO engine to the T-Roc. I had one (a 6 speed manual) as a courtesy car back in February when my car was being serviced / MOT’d. It actually drove fine in stop start traffic from cold too, so I assumed that VW’s software fix had solved the problem, unless the software fix doesn’t work for the 130 ps version.
 
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Vag8

Active Member
Jul 5, 2019
57
34
VW do fit the 150ps version of the troublesome 1.5,EVO engine to the T-Roc. I had one (a 6 speed manual) as a courtesy car back in February when my car was being serviced / MOT’d. It actually drove fine in stop start traffic from cold too, so I assumed that VW’s software fix had solved the problem, unless the software fix doesn’t work for the 130 ps version.

hi thanks for the reply, yes I was taking more specifically regarding the 1.5 130 engine, which to date the software fixes have not fixed it, if they had me and many others would be happy, but instead we are driving around in a well equipped but flawed car.
This characteristic (as Vw like to call it) does not effect all cars with these engines, and that is part of the problem, it effects roughly one in five, if you have a 1.5 that is issue free it will more than likely stay that way, likewise if you have a 1.5 150 you may get lucky and it it might work as VW have used this unit more extensively that have concentrated their efforts on fixing that engine type, leaving us poor sods with the 130 suffering.
The engines are not the same the 130 is not a de-tuned 150, it has different turbo, engine ports etc... so the software patches/fixes need to be specific to the engine type.

And as I said they have used the 1.5 150 extensively throughout VW group so more to lose by not fixing that one first.

I may have missed a few so forgive me:
A1
A3/A4
Q2/Q3
Kamiq
Scalia
Karoq
Kamiq
Octavia
Superb
Golf
Golf Sv
Tiguan
Areton
T roc
Ibiza (dropped)
Arona
Leon
Ateca
Tarraco

all had the 1.5 150
 
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SeatDan

Active Member
Jul 15, 2018
16
1
Update 29/06/2020

I went back in to my local seat dealer now lockdown is done, they couldnt fault my issues or find any dtc codes, they did carry out a relearn of the injectors as they were replaced back in march before lockdown, and 3 days later as of today the car has felt perfect, not sure what resetting the learn values would do but so far, no jerking, hesitation or flat spots since, i will continue to monitor and see if this sorts the problem.
 

jimmyjimmy

Active Member
Jan 27, 2020
21
10
Update 29/06/2020

I went back in to my local seat dealer now lockdown is done, they couldnt fault my issues or find any dtc codes, they did carry out a relearn of the injectors as they were replaced back in march before lockdown, and 3 days later as of today the car has felt perfect, not sure what resetting the learn values would do but so far, no jerking, hesitation or flat spots since, i will continue to monitor and see if this sorts the problem.
Hi SeatDan. Did this fix the problem? Are you still having issues with your car?
I’m curious because the dealer has my car now and hasn’t been able to replicate the kangaroo at all. They’re in complete denial! I won’t accept the car back until they fix it.
 

Woody_72

Active Member
May 10, 2020
502
251
Northwest England
Might sound a bit extreme but has anyone who has this issue spoken to a really good tuner about possibly having a good look at and remapping of the ECU? Someone like Darkside Developments who really understand VW and Seat ECUs. Just a thought...
 

2Stevo2

Active Member
Oct 20, 2015
170
16
North Lanarkshire, Scotland
Might sound a bit extreme but has anyone who has this issue spoken to a really good tuner about possibly having a good look at and remapping of the ECU? Someone like Darkside Developments who really understand VW and Seat ECUs. Just a thought...

What he said. If it's a widespread issue with that engine that can not be fixed, I think this might be your best bet.

And you might just end up with a sweet running setup.
 

'& Son' managed

Third Party
Mar 2, 2018
269
89
South Coast
I've documented elsewhere on here about the hesitation and then prompt dealer fix I had on my '150 DADA' engined Golf.

In my case at least, the upgrade/fix worked to 95% success, (cold hesitation issues cured) and the engine felt livelier
afterwards and is still good a year later.

Not really buying that the cause would be the injectors themselves in most cases - if they're able to flow enough petrol
at higher RPM, then they should be fine.

Personally, I thought from the outset it was more of a too-lean fuel mixture that was the main cause, (probably as a result
of the demands to meet eco test targets) and that a slight increase in fuel pressure and remap to suit was the solution.
Maybe that's what happened to my Golf, the dealer wouldn't say exactly what they did, only that it was an 'upgrade' file
- whether this patch/fix file included alteration to low-revs fuel pressure remains unknown.
 
Last edited:
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Jan 15, 2021
5
1
I've documented elsewhere on here about the hesitation and then prompt dealer fix I had on my '150 DADA' engined Golf.

In my case at least, the upgrade/fix worked to 95% success, (cold hesitation issues cured) and the engine felt livelier
afterwards and is still good a year later.

Not really buying that the cause would be the injectors themselves in most cases - if they're able to flow enough petrol
at higher RPM, then they should be fine.

Personally, I thought from the outset it was more of a too-lean fuel mixture that was the main cause, (probably as a result
of the demands to meet eco test targets) and that a slight increase in fuel pressure and remap to suit was the solution.
Maybe that's what happened to my Golf, the dealer wouldn't say exactly what they did, only that it was an 'upgrade' file
- whether this patch/fix file included alteration to low-revs fuel pressure remains unknown.
Hi what Dyou recommend for this as I have the exact same issue. Baught this car outright not knowing about the issue these stupid engines have and now I have the car I’m so annoyed and upset how it drives. It’s awful and horrible.
first I thought it was just me thinking the car is like this but this is definitely not right.
It feels like it’s bouncing back or feels like it’s jumping back doesn’t it ? Like it’s hitting something. I went to dealer 3 times one was software update and this cured for week and then back to normal and now more worse than ever. Absolutely dread driving my car and hate owning it :( the dealer have asked me to fill in a form this time round after I made a further complaint. It’s a diagnosis sheet asking when it happens what fuel I use etc and speed.
 
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