Long-term experience- diesel tuning

[ozwoldA4]

Hi all,

Bit of a newby on here- had my Audi a little while and got round to thinking about tuning. :D

:1zhelp:Does anyone have any long-term experience of a tuned 1.9tdi (130bhp)? Or any diesel engine I guess.

You hear sensationalised horror stories about screwing the engine long-term and plenty of really positive comments that most/all are (understandably) made very soon after retuning is carried out. More power, more torque and improved fuel economy always sounds too good to be true! I know I achieved all three when tuning my motorbikes in the past, but they weren't expensive to replace if the engine had blown... and anyway... I needed them to go fast for track days!!:D. Sorry... I digress...

Thanks in advance all,

Oz

[phil miller]

hi mate i had my 105 golf remapped in oct last year, not that long ago but i havent found any new problems, mpg is better, but as there is more power there is always the temptasion to drive it harder, all in all i was well worth the money, ive since had my OH's golf remapped and would have any diesel of mine done again in the future

[f33nix]

Had a Passat B5 1.9TDI, 130BHP Sport before... done 130,000 chipped.
Forgot to add car has been sold and last time I see it in for a water pump (1st time) it was sitting on over 220,000 miles! I have seen it again tonight still running around, well bullet proof the old 1.9 engines!

Nothing went wrong with it apart from weak CV Joints.


Keep the car serviced and it should keep ticking along nicely.


My new Passat that has just been tuned is 2.0ltr 170BHP Common rail engine.
Will post up some brim-to-brim figures tomorrow night I hope.
(so far 1/2 tank of juice for 390miles @51mpg indicated) not too shabby for a Taxi that spends 80% of it's journeys in and around town.

[PeteK]

I had my 2004 Passat 130 TDi remapped by ChippedUK to approx 165 / 170bhp at 120k miles - it has now done 171k miles and had no issues whatsoever. Fuel consumption seems to be slightly less providing you don't use the extra power all the time, the remap really does transform the way the car drives though. I don't tend to drive my car any harder than I did before but it is nice to have the extra power in reserve for when you need it. My car still has the original clutch / suspension etc which have coped with the remap fine.

[ozwoldA4]

Thanks for the replies. Great stuff. Even more tempted now! Just need to decide who to go with...

[f33nix]

.

[ExpertTuning]

Hi

Just a bit of input to answer the obvious concerns a lot of people have about getting a remap. Also to answer the common question as to how more power leads to better economy.

First, a remap by a decent tuner will only map the engine within safe limits for any specific engine. If you look on the web, most remapping companies quote the same power increases for any given vehicle, and they do it for good reason; they're not pushing to extreme limits because they want to make sure you keep a reliable car after the job is done. One or two companies will quote higher BHP and torque than the average and they are probably the remaps to be concerned about. It isn't difficult to wind a turbo up higher and pump in more fuel to get that extra over and above other remappers. It isn't sensible either though if you care about your customers cars and the longevity of your business!

To answer the better fuel economy question, this result is largely achieved by bringing the power band lower down the rev range, letting drivers get into higher gears sooner and hold higher gears longer on hills, around bends, roundabouts etc. The elimination of flat spots also removes the need to 'power through' them to higher revs, again encouraging more economic driving.

As to the wear and tear issue, if you make sure you stick to service recommendations, particulary with regard to oil changes, and you don't use the car for racing, you'll have no problems due to the (good) remap. It could be argued that removing the need to work the engine as hard (depending on how you use that extra power!) actually strains the engine less. On the other hand, if you wanted the remap purely for more power so you can go traffic light racing then you'd probably expect a mittle more wear wouldn't you? That's just being realistic.

Hopefully this sheds a little light on some of the common questions.

Cheers

Paul

[ozwoldA4]

Thanks Paul,

I guess my hesitation stems from my 1.9pd 130bhp engine being the last development/enhancement before Audi introduced the 2.0tdi engines...and whether remapping it for more power and torque is therefore a good idea...

I'm not so much a boy racer any more, but you need a bit of fun in your life from time to time (and more power and torque helps when carting family, top box and bikes round Europe!)!

The theory of smoothing power curves to remove flat spots introduced for emissions testing purposes has always been the obvious benefit when I've 'tuned' my bikes in the past, but I tended to change air filter and exhaust for more free-flowing ones at the same time. That and they were always carb'd engines rather that EFI and were relatively inexpensive.

I realise the driver's behaviour and style heavily influences engine component wear and failure and fully understand that- jet engines are my Monday to Friday distraction. Some air forces have more uprated/powerful versions of the same engines than others and their failure & service frequencies reflect this difference.

Pretty sure I'll give it a crack...curiosity will get the better of me... always has on 2 wheels!

Time to think about a dyno run before booking a remap...

Cheers,

Oz

[JimC64]

Hey there.... I've had several vehicles remapped over the past few years.

2 that spring to mind?

Saab 93 1.9 Tid 150 bhp stock upgrded slightly to 175bhp with more torques and improved everything. I drove 80k miles on original everything and had no issues at all whatsoever.

Ford Mondeo ST Tdci 2.2 155bhp upgraded to 195bhp. This car was just soooo much fun to drive and was a very very quick diesel. I once drove it normally ( most of the way;)...you have to have the odd 130 mph blast dont you? ) from Glasgow - Derby - Glasgow......around 560 miles if I remember and still had a quarter tank...No issues on this car!

Remaps on diesels rock if you get the right one to do the job for you :beerchug:

[ExpertTuning]

Thanks Oz, for your feedback, and Jim for your endorsement that good, sensible remaps are not an issue. It's a shame that most feedback on forums is from people that have problems (understandably) so it is nice to get a more balanced view from the silent majority.

Just had a Mini Cooper 1600D driver come in for his third remap with me (different cars I hasten to add! Previously they were a VW Golf 1.9 TDi and Audi A4 2.0 TDi respectively). Incredible difference, particularly pickup which was very sluggish before. Such a shame that stock engines are crippled from the outset. Still - it helps keep people like me off the streets!

Cheers

Paul

[steve99w]

HI, I was recently warned off a remap as my 1.9tdi has a 5speed box and the suggestion was that my flywheel wouldn't be able to handle it......

your thoughts appreciated.

[ExpertTuning]

Hi Steve

The warning you had really does not make much sense. Let me know exactly what engine you have (there are so many variations of the 1.9TDi) and I'll be able to make a more detailed reply for you specific to your engine. Thousands upon thousands of these popular engines have been remapped. As mentioned earlier, remapping within the design tolerances of the engine will not cause problems. I'd still feel happier getting a more detailed response back to you once I have your engine's spec in front of me though.

Cheers

Paul

[Y90USF]

Hey I was wondering if someone could tell me what sort of gains I would look at getting from my 2.0tdi 170bhp plz

Looking to remap but looking for dpf to be disabled at the same time




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[steve99w]

Hi Steve

The warning you had really does not make much sense. Let me know exactly what engine you have (there are so many variations of the 1.9TDi) and I'll be able to make a more detailed reply for you specific to your engine. Thousands upon thousands of these popular engines have been remapped. As mentioned earlier, remapping within the design tolerances of the engine will not cause problems. I'd still feel happier getting a more detailed response back to you once I have your engine's spec in front of me though.

Cheers

Paul

Hi Paul, thanks for you reply... The engine number if that will help is AWX 315930 , Model is A4 TDI 1.9 SE , variant : LAWXF1, Version : FM52FCR8E50O

Hopefully those numbers will mean something to you..

Steven

[golf+5]

Golf MK5 1.9tdi 105 bhp 77kw 38K. (Golf Plus, 5 speed, K&N filter)

Engine is a BKC. Economy Remap to 130.

Idea of price please.

Thanks

[ExpertTuning]

First - a message to Y90USF

Your 2.0 TDi 170 engine can be remapped from 170hp to 200hp, and torque from 350NM to 410NM. We can certainly disable the PDF software but you would need to organise the actual PDF unit to be replaced or stripped.

Happy to answer nay firther questions. It is best to call on 01883 341774 or 07525 479932.

Paul

[ExpertTuning]

Your Golf 1.9TDi 105 will move up from 105hp to 135hp, and torque from 250NM to 320NM. The article on my website, written by a magazine after testing the remap on the same engne, will give you a good idea what these gains will do for the feel and economy on your car.

The price will be the current offer price of £225.00.

Feel free to call if you would like to know more.

01883 341774 or 07525 479932

Paul