A4 2ltr TDI performance

[tileman]

Hi, I have an A4 Avant 2ltr TDI 170, 6 speed. 58000 mls
I would appreciate someone explaining when the turbo should come into action, mine doesn't seem to be very consistant and sometimes is quite sluggish, in first if I try to nip out quickly at a junction it doesn't go unless I slip the clutch alot, is it normal for a diesel to have this sort of a lag.
Some times the turbo seems to have a mind of it's own, I have never owned a car that you need to be so attentive when driving it, you have to try to drive it.
The car is very nice, on the motorway it's brilliant, in town/urbon I don't like it.
could it just need tuning/setting up.
Hope someone can help.
Thanks john

[OVI82]

Not to sure about the 2.0 diesels,mine is a 1.9 and the turbo kicks in around 2200 rpm.i'm guessing it will be the same with the 2.0.two of my friends have got same engine as yours and they're allways moaning about how slow they are,especially in 1st gear.with mine i just try to change to second gear as quiclly as possibile.i'm not going anywhere to fast in 1st gear.i guess they're all the same...

[Puresilk]

Mine before it was remapped kicked in at about 2000 rpm.

Since then remap it kicks in at 1750 rpm and gives me that extra kick I need.

Mines currently at 170 BHP, with yours already being a 170 BHP I would have thought that it would pull quite good!

[Alan02]

Should come in from 1700rpm. No need to scream it in first gear, as soon as car gets moving ,into 2nd and its off like a rocket ! 140BHP.

[patrickhorton]

My 170 is just the same as yours, Tileman. I agree with all your comments. From what I've read over many hours of browsing forums, this is the characteristic of this car.
On a plus side it does make it fairly easy to drive steadily when you don't want to shake the wife and kids about. Going quick requires deliberate action which is perhaps not true of all powerful cars... because, after all it is pretty pokey when need be.

Probably the most interesting charateristic (although not really necessary) is the massive kick you can get in first and second but as you say it requires a lot of attention to reproduce reliably.

My feeling is this has a lot more to do with emissions than the turbo. From what I can tell this is designed to be a very clean engine. (a necessary design feature to avoid blocking the exhaust particle filter - DPF) I think there is a lot of very fast anti-smoke control fetures going on during acceleration and this gives the perception of turbo lags etc. The fuel is probably held well off until the turbo spins up and the revs are reasonable when full combustion can be achieved. Then it dumps it in by the bucket full.... I've taken the DPF off mine yet there is never a wiff of smoke no matter how I drive. Most diesels of more than 3 years ago smoke a fair bit if you watch them pull away - No longer visible on newer cars as almost all have particle filters.

Mapping may improve the drive from what I've read but I imagine it will no longer be as clean burning.

Enjoy it anyway. It's a lovely car.

[tileman]

Hi, thanks all for your replies, I agree with patrick on all points, It's a lovely car, it just bugs me when I drive in town, didn't realise the DPF could be taken out, will it pass the mot without it.
What is remapping exactly ?
How much does it cost and is it worth it.

Regards john

[patrickhorton]

My advice would be keep the car standard if you have no particular desire to create something out of the ordinary.
I removed my dpf as it was end of life (140k miles) and a new one is over a grand. MOT should be fine. Your comment "Some times the turbo seems to have a mind of it's own" could be the change in the way the car drives during regeneration of the DPF. On my car this is very noticeable. It takes 5 or 10 minutes every 100 or 200 miles depending on how the car is used. Others say they never notice it so it could be car specific.

Remapping - As I've no experience of remapping I am not the right man to define it for you when others on the forum are experts. In general it is a change to the engine software which allows all the electronically controlled bits to work together in a different way.

My take on remapping is that engine management software design is a balancing act with emissions, economy, performance, driveability and lifetime. Car manufacturers have to optimise all these with the ultimate aim of maximising car sales. All areas could be improved independently but generally at the expense of one or more of the others. Independent software experts can change the code to improve one or more of the engines characteristics to suit personal requirements. Perhaps someone else would like to add to this...

Cheers Patrick

[Puresilk]

A remap is when software is uploaded into your cars ECU to increase power and performance.

In Turbo Diesel's you can see an increase of 30% or approx between 20 - 50 BHP increase and also the torque is increased.

There are lots of companies that do a re-map and the results vary, some offer economy and performance or just raw performance, the results are increased torque so acceleration is improved, top end speed is increased and in some cases increased fuel economy.

MY 140 BHP Tdi remapped to 170 BHP now gives me 350 NM of torque so it pulls better in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear (very useful for overtaking lorries on A roads) it also gives me a top end speed of 140 MPH up from 131 MPH and I know get between 40 - 60 extra miles per tank full of diesel (depending on how I drive obviously).

I suppose the only downside if any is the increase of stress on certain componants such as Clutch, Turbo etc which may be likely to go sooner.

[johnnyishift]

Hi there Tileman,
I bought a 56 plate 170 sline last year, sluggish as hell when i bought it. After some research i found out that there was a warranty recall for a software update, this was to actually down rate the power to prolong clutch life and dpf life. What a load of tosh. The only answer is to get it remapped. got mine done and it goes like **** of a shovel. smoother turbo boost and pulls like hell. just make sure the remap is a good quality one and is not just a flash of the existing software. you only get what you pay for.

[dazza106]

Hi there Tileman,
I bought a 56 plate 170 sline last year, sluggish as hell when i bought it. After some research i found out that there was a warranty recall for a software update, this was to actually down rate the power to prolong clutch life and dpf life. What a load of tosh. The only answer is to get it remapped. got mine done and it goes like **** of a shovel. smoother turbo boost and pulls like hell. just make sure the remap is a good quality one and is not just a flash of the existing software. you only get what you pay for.

The information I got from what I consider a very reliable source, was the software change was to move the torque curve slightly up the rev range as these models were suffering from premature clutch wear.

I personally am happier to push the pedal harder when I need the performance than forking out for clutches prematurely.

Your remap will show an improvement over the standard car as the power and the torque will no doubt have been increased in the process, but as with all remaps this will be at a trade off in some other area.

I don't believe Audi would invest time and money on a recall that is not required as if they were not that interested in there customers then they would let the clutches go prematurely and then charge the customer to resolve......