VW Gurus...........Help

[KERMA]

Sloppy, indeed!



3000 flash stall is pretty loose.



It was made for a gasser, because it is used in the 1. 8t also.



Line pressure is already taken care of, partly through the booster valve shift cup mod, partly through an adaptation of the "mystery switch" concept that turns off the Line Pressure modulating valve making line pressure max.



Same type of switch locks the clutch- it can lock in first gear!!! Talk about crazy loss of traction, try that sometime, take off from a stop and lock it up a second or two later -BAM- the front end busts loose halfway through the intersection! THe difference is night and day, really amazing locked up. Bill K tells me that is the same the Dodge crowd experienced when the first TC were modified to handle bombed torque. No doubt the TC wil be a HUGE improvement. I am stoked. Oo.



Then there's the rest of the transmission... but we VW types dont really put our transmissions through the same degree of abuse as the TDR crowd does with towing and such. But man does that loose TC feel sloppy.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I think the TDI auto transmission will get away with quite a bit of abuse...



The cars are reasonably light...

The engines don't put out 400+ft-lbs... . YET!

They rev up nice = good line pressure

Nobody really tows much more than a motorcycle with 'em...



Just like the Dodge trannies - it's only a matter of time before you fold a seal from the high line pressures... . Thankfully, the aftermarket has done wonders for this... Like I said before - once we got the tight converters, it wasn't long before we discovered the other 'fusible links' inside the case... .



My TDI is a 5 speed... . the only switch I want to hit whilst going through an intersection is for a NOS solenoid!



Matt

 

[Rman]

I have an 01 NB... it's my wife's commuter car and now that i'm starting grad school that is 70 miles each way it will be mine too. It's an auto and has zero mods as far as I know. I've read up on it a little, but i'm just not interested in modifying it yet. ANyways, I'm getting realtively poor fuel economy and was wondering if there's something I should be looking for. Last I checked I got right about 36-38 mpg. It is an auto, it's winter, I live at 4800 ft. elevation... . and I do have a bit of a lead foot with it. Do these numbers sound OK, plus it's a ton of city stop and go stuff, down to the store and back stuff... not fuel effiecient at all.



I'm thinking it's ok, but if there any suggestions plug away please!

Oh yeah, the egr mod thing... is that important enough for me to do it? It only has 31k on it, and I think i'll keep it until I'm down with grad school then get a jetta TDI i think. The NB is just too small.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

36-38mpg for lead foot city driving with an auto transmission isn't bad at all.



I get 36 all city (VERY heavy lead foot... ) and my car has lots of tweaks. If I drive on the highway... even a little bit... the mileage goes up considerably. When I was commuting 100 miles/day... the car NEVER got below 43mpg... even with the modifications.



All highway mileage runs around 45-48mpg... with the modifications.



YES! By all means do the EGR mod. Find someone in your area that has VAG-COM... and have them mess with the adaptation.



Here's a site that has a list of VAG-COM users with their geographic location.



Even though I'm not on the list yet - I have VAG-COM... it's like borrowing a good torque wrench. You use a friend's wrench once... then you go buy one yourself.



Let me know if you have any more questions - I'd be glad to help.



Matt

 

[Rman]

thanks HHH... I'll look into the mod then. My wifes gonna be tcked, i spend enough time tinkering with my truck... and now the bug! I thought i was ok, I just keep reading how everyone gets 48-50 and I sure never see those kind of numbers. I'll check the link out, thanks. Oh yeah... this mod if seen by the VW people (I don't think i want to tackle the timing belt which is coming due in a few months) are they gonna be all ****** and "void my warranty" I don't really care anyways. Warranties are a joke anyway.

 

[Rman]

HHH, I just read up on the EGR mod... I think. This mod is nothing hardware... just the change in the ECU with the VAG-COM. I'm a member at the TDI-club, but rarely venture in there much. Ya know i've need a reason to get a laptop... this may be it. hehe

 

[KERMA]

I'm in Utah, Tooele to be specific. You close by here rhickman?



Have Vag-Com here if you want o use.



Give ya a ride in a warmed over auto tdi. Warning: you will be hooked.



Drop me a line at -- email address removed -- or -- email address removed --



Don't worry, 36-38 is not atypical. I get that and my last dyno was 150hp 285tq at the wheels.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

The EGR adaptation mod is still within VW specifications for EGR flow. So even the tree-huggers can't complain. The EGR flow is reduced so that it doesn't clog up your intake manifold. All you do is login into VAG-COM - and modify the EGR values - save the changes and be done with it.



My intake manifold was about 75% blocked at 100k miles!!



The EGR modification will likely go un-noticed by any VW tech... . it won't even set a CEL (check engine light... )



I bought a used tablet PC on eBay for short coin. It's really sweet for doing automotive stuff... and surfin' the web whilst in the 'study'.



The timing belts are challenging (to get 'em 100% dead on... ) and time consuming, but aren't impossible. The downside is that there's about $200 worth of tools necessary to do the job in addition to either VAG-COM or VW-Tool software/hardware.



Matt

 

[Rman]

Wow how about that for convenience. Toole isn't "close" but close enough. I'm up in the ogden area. Maybe when the weather gets closer to normal i'll take a spin down there and check out a hopped up TDI.



I am actually reconsidering doing the timing belt now. I kno I can do it, it's just a matter of finding the time. When my new house is complete i'll have the garage space and available tools. All my stuff is in storage while i shack up with my in-laws.



Thanks for the help guys. I'll be in contact KERMA.

 

[KERMA]

I'm getting ready to do a timing belt myself...



THere's another local guy asking me about Vag-com too.



Maybe it's time for a GTG.

 

[Rman]

I want to buy one now, but it'd be nice to get some free "training" while it's available. I'm going to talk to the wife about making a laptop purchase tonight. For tax purposes, tonight HAS to be the night if we're going to write it off for this year. I'm 8k away from 40k on my NB, so i guess i could do it anytime. I'd like to come down and help you with yours if you don't mind. It'd give me a feel if it is something I want to do to mine, or just pay some schleb to do it for me.



I am at the point in my life where some things are worth my time and some things aren't. OK, I can be a lazy ass at times AND the last time i worked on that VW i got so frustrated, damn foreign stuff anyway

 

[HoleshotHolset]

Get ready to swear at the crank bolts... . they can be on there pretty tight.



Matt

 

[KERMA]

I will have the full Metalnerd tool set here before too long that should make the whole procedure quite a bit easier.



Former TDICLUB member and local upsolute distributor "Mickey" usually helps me out with that kind of stuff. He assisted on the first TB change. He will actually do it for you pretty cheap if you don't want to mess with it.



THis time of year the key is a viable workspace. My garage works fine if I kick my wife's POS blazer out.

 

[lschultz]

435 + parts from Dieselgeek

Where did Mickey go? I remember when he was on Freds. I just had the timing belt done on my NB. I took it a dealer and just had them do it cost me 435. 00 I got all the parts from Jim(Dieselgeek) Some things I just don't wanna do anymore getting a little older. I know I could do it just taking the time. Took them about 4 hrs where it would of probably taken me most of the day. Did several on the Honda Civic VX I had before I sold it for the VW. But they are alot easier.

 

[KERMA]

Mickey's new discussion forums



Mickey was a bad boy. So he got himself banned.



:-{} :-{} :-{} :-{} :-{}

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I experimented with the 'hammer mod' again last night.



This time I tried to see what would happen if I cranked it up.



If I went just a very tiny amount 'too far'... the engine started to run away slowly.



If I went just a very very tiny amount beyond that... the engine would run away more quickly. It went to 3krpm pretty quick.



The good news is that the key (shutdown solenoid) killed it. :-laf



I now have it cranked down (from OEM) ever so slightly... almost all of my smoke is gone... . AND I was able to crank the heck out of my 'Evry' resistor. It pulls quite nice now.



Best of all - the EGT's are down and I have more power than ever... . sure sign that I'm burning all that extra fuel now.



Matt

 

[KERMA]

I've always insisted that hammer mod is just another tuning adjustment and it is necccesary on some cases with big injectors.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I won't hesitate to make the adjustment again. It worked SWEET. I just wish I could crank it up beyond OEM. I couldn't even get it a tiny, tiny bit beyond OEM before it started to run-away. My thought was that the bigger injectors exaggerated the possibility of run-away... .



Matt

 

[KERMA]

Believe it or not, Mickey used to make this adjustment without loosening the fourth bolt (the funny triangle one)



he literally "hammered" it. Funny thing is I watched him do it and it worked fine that way. Just shows you just how LITTLE that quantity adjuster has to move to make a diference.



i showed him the triangle sockets i had Metalnerd make for me and he was surprised that such a thing was needed. he was perfectly happy just banging away. Typical Mickey.



There's another guy I know who sets the QA by ear, and can get it dead on. Now that's talent. Too much either way it won't run. At the borderline it wont run right- too rich and it runs away or runs crapy like lumpy idle, too lean and it wont stay running or stalls after letting up on the accelerator. The difference between extremes is an incredibly small distance, you won't even think it moved at all.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I loosened up all 4 bolts (including the funky triangle shape headed bolt... ) and was playing with it while it was running.



I could hear a definite change in how it sounded... . especially when it started to run away! My idle was almost always a bit rough (from numerically low IQ numbers... . . 8-1. 2 mg/R)... and I got it idling like a puller tractor once or twice... that was cool. The last time I saw a VW diesel idle like that... . the headgasket blew after driving it 300' down the road... . so I exited out of the puller tractor mode pretty quick!



If you loosen the bolts too much - fuel will pour out of the pump at a pretty good rate. I tightened it down a little until it stopped. :-laf



I love the hammer mod... . I'm going to play with it some more to see if I can crank it up even just a little bit beyond OEM... . but man, is it ever touchy.



Matt