New A4 1.9 TDI Quattro

[philingle]

Hi

I'd like to introduce myself to the forum. I have recently acquired a 1997 A4 1.9 TDI Quattro. On the whole I am really pleased with the car, it feels solid and I should be able to work on it myself which is a good thing.

The Audi had been getting less and less powerful over the last few months, to the point where a small hill took it right out of the motor and small animals with shells on their back would wander past me. I went for the cheapest option to start with, which was to buy 5m of 4mm silicon tubing and I replaced all the vacuum hoses around the N75. This totally sorted the problem. I can't get over how much better the car goes. It must have been gradually getting worse and worse as the old hoses deteriorated and cracked. This is a really easy fix and I suggest everyone tries it before going down more expensive and complicated routes.

I have also just gone and replaced all four disks and all the brake pads. The rear's were in a bad way and there was a lot of judder on braking. Now it is smooth as silk. I did notice that there was a hole in one of the slider boots on the rear so I will have to get hold of some replacements and fit them. At only a couple of quid for a pair then it would be worth getting some at the same time as the new pads/disks next time.

I did notice that the rear tyres are both really worn on the inside edge, very worn as in down to the metal bead, when on the outside edge of the tyre they still have a good 4mm of tread. Does anyone have any ideas why this is, and what I can do to fix it?

I have attached a cropped shot of the sticker from my service manual that has all the part codes for the car. If this sheds any light on the car, good or bad, then feel free to comment. I have already determined that the AFN is a good thing :)

28142

Thanks for any help and advice.

Cheers

Phil

[Doctle Odd]

AFN is a hell of a good engine, bet you can have some (legal) fun in the snow :)

[defever]

I wonder what makes AFN one of the good diesel engines?

Luckily I have one of these (I didn't realise at the time I got it) and I wonder what I can do with it. At the moment I'm just learning through the annual and routine textbook maintenances as needed (oil, filters, glow plugs, timing belt, thermostat, etc.) to avoid killing the engine. What else can I do to avoid killing the engine?

Whole can of worms, I presume?

[Doctle Odd]

What do you want to do? More power? More MPG?

[defever]

I'm favouring more on economy and efficiency (MPG) than power (as in BHP or Nm). But I'm thinking power and economy is a negative relationship, in that, more power leads to less MPG and more MPG leads to less power?

I'm currently doing combined 55MPG with careful driving (looking far ahead and timing the speed, "drive without brakes", smooth acceleration, gear brakes, etc.), which I think is quite good as the official combined MGP (reported 16 years ago) is 53.3MPG. I usually get 800-850miles to a tank (to the last red line).

Did the intake / exhaust manifold and turbo clean very recently. I haven't had the chance to measure the MPG yet but it's sitting at 57MPG with 1/4 tank left. Converter / soot box is the next thing to look at but haven't found a solution to that (buy a new one for £500+ or get second hand and do something "legal" about it?).

A garage told me that the 3rd glow plug is stuck and they weren't willing to work on it back in Feb when I had cam belt and full service done. May be I'll spray penetrator over time to loosen and replace it, but I don't know how big of a difference that will make?

Any simple and basic tasks I can do?

[Doctle Odd]

It's a direct injection engine so 3 glow plugs will be fine. A remap should send her over 60 MPG, you can also remap for power and you can also do mechanical work like auto pump injector nozzles etc to increase power. There are a few remapping companies that sponsor this site and would give you a good deal. Anyone that will come to your house/work/lay bye etc will not be able to remap properly if at all.

[defever]

Thanks very much Doctle.

I have to say I am little sceptical about "remap" business. My stories are based on the "mobile" or "plu&play" type of remap so I admit my thoughts may have been ill-informed.

This is what I've been told and I just can't aunderstand how someone plugging a computer on an ECU for an hour or so can suddnely have huge percentage increase in everything (power, speed, mpg). It's "too good to be true" senario and why wouldn't everyone do it if its that much of an improvement to car performance? I'm hearing claims of 20-30% improvement in MPG, increase of 40-50BHP, etc.

I would like to know how "remap" works and what actually happens to the ECU and its command line to the mechanical parts of the engine. Any downside to remapping? I want to find out properly about remapping so that I can make an informed decision on whether it's something I want to consider doing.

[Doctle Odd]

There is a built in margin on most diesel cars. If you simply want more power buy an injection pump off an auto 1.9 tdi it has it will deliver slightly more fuel. Add the nozzles of a transporter injectors and suddenly your AFN is touching 140+ bhp. There's is a huge margin built into these engines one of the best diesels ever IMO. You can do other mechanical mods with straight through pipe hybrid turbo etc. The remapping is done electronically, the lay-bye guy in the Astra with a laptop has some copied generic maps and he will do little or nothing for you. When you get a proper remap the map is copied from the ECU and modified to suit your car and what you want. It may very well work in other cars but it will work best in yours. A dyno helps as well. A proper remapper will save your original map for at least 30 days and if youre unhappy meantime he will restore your map and refund you.

[green A8]

I'm starting to do a bit of spanner swinging again following my little fight with a falling tree (I lost!) One of the first jobs coming in next week is an AFN Q Avant thet's 'lost it's mojo' apparently. I suspect that I'll be doing the turbo and inlet manifold clean. I'm determined to keep this AFN on the road as she's the highest miled example on the family fleet, somewhere approaching the 500K miles. I doubt the owner would be intrested in modding this car, all he's concerned about is the sudden MPG drop and the lacklustre performance.

ON the plus side our long time 'Garage Queen' as a result of my little accident. The B6 Avant has finally gone back to it's owner complete with a full suspension and mecanical overhaul. It flew through it's MOT on Wednesday morning and was returned to it's owner the following day. So at long last I've got back my lovely old A6 Allroad 2.7 petrol. I'm a happy bunny!

[philingle]

Did the intake / exhaust manifold and turbo clean very recently

I am trying to find some good info online on how to do this but am struggling to find anything. Any links appreciated.

Cheers

Phil

[defever]

Hello Phil,

There is no step by step guide about cleaning the manifolds and turbo specific to A4 1.9 TDI, but there are plenty of information out there that you can take in with a pinch of salt.

It's a long read and it covers more than just about turbo clean, but this thread I started might help you to find the right information:

Question Troubleshooting limp mode: "Control difference - intermittent" (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/166655-Troubleshooting-limp-mode-quot-Control-difference-intermittent-quot)

Also, this link is very useful to understand how turbo works and assembled (and lots more about TDI in general):

Limp mode fix, repair, and troubleshooting: vw, seat, skoda, audi TDI engine | VW TDI forum, Audi, Porsche, and Chevy Cruze diesel forum (http://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/limp-mode-fix-repair-troubleshooting-vw-seat-skoda-audi-tdi-engine/)

Look at parts catalogue to see how the components are bolted on under the bonnet. With all these information and common sense (to justify whether you can do it yourself or not), I think you'll manage.

Lastly, just as a disclaimer, DIY at your own risk and expense!