Mark 4 VW Golf questions

GTE

Hello all,
Now, I dont know much about the mechanics of cars but recently I bought a 2000 VW Golf estate TDI and Im a little confused about a few things.

Keep in mind I dont have the car yet, its in for a service before money changes hands and Im just a little excited as its my first car and wanna know everything about it :rolleyes:
The questions are just lil technical things that I wouldnt mind knowing. I have read many reviews before deciding on and buying the Golf so I wouldnt mind knowing which one I have compared to the reviews. I guess I know too much about the range and too little about my particular model :P

Anyway, here we go.

1) How can I tell what HP output the engine has? I know there are a few versions of the 1.9 TDI which put out 90 to 130 or so HP but there is no obvious indication of it visually.

3) What gear boxes come with what engines?
I read that the 90HP, 100HP and 110HP have 5 speed and the 115 upwards have 6 speed.
In another place I read that only the mad fast 130 HP has the 6 speed box.
The reason for this question is following in a bit.

2) I was doing some reading and found that the PD TDI engines are said to be better. How can I tell if mine is PD or not? There are no exact dates of when they came into the range that I can find and again, no obvious visual indications.

3) My brother said that he got his diesel car remapped and said once I am totally comfortable enough in a year or two that I should do it as well to get more poke.

Researching this has brought a fair few questions.
i) How does remapping effect insurance, serviceing, MPG?
I read on a specialist Irish remapping site that its untraceable.

ii) Gear boxes.
If I had the 110HP car (which has a 5 speed box) and got it remapped it would bring it to about 143HP according to an irish specialist site. Would that mean the 5 speed box wont cope since the 115 and 130 comes with the 6?
Same thing as if I had the 90HP and remapped it which would give me 116, would I then technically need the 6 speed for it to work well?

Im a noob so if there are stupid questions there Im sorry lol

Thanks all
bbk

colm_mcm

try posting this in the Motors section!

unless you want some new wheels or a bodykit for it, or wanna race someone


dunno how your numbering system works here:

1) there is usually a sticker in the boot or in the service book telling the power in KW

3) Dunno, sorry.

2) Again, not much help

3) remapping will increase the power in the car, this has been covered many times on Boards, particularly for Golfs. chippedire seem to be the best around for this.

i) insurance company should really be notified, not sure if they'd check in the event of a crash on a Golf estate though. most people claim decreased MPG with increased power.

The 6 speed box is nice to have, and the main reason it's there is for high speed cruising, the RPM on the engine will still be the same at a particular speed as it is now. If you're happy with the engine noise at motorway speeds as it is, then you needn't worry about 6 speed boxes!

GTE

Ill repost there so. My bad.


Thanks for the remapping info.

Id lean more towards wanting to let everyone who should know about it know about it but I dont have a wallet big enough for the premium.

So essentially the 6 speed box is the same as the 5 just with an extra "motorway" gear?
I thought the box was totally different with ratios and what not to cope with the engine.


Thanks very much.
bbk

colm_mcm

bbk wrote: »

So essentially the 6 speed box is the same as the 5 just with an extra "motorway" gear?

they have different ratios alright. my point is if you're happy enough with the 5 speed as it is, why bother changing the box just because some higher powered Golfs have them?

some 130bhp model VWs are 5 speed.

tossy

bbk wrote: »

1) How can I tell what HP output the engine has? I know there are a few versions of the 1.9 TDI which put out 90 to 130 or so HP but there is no obvious indication of it visually.

Data sticker in boot under carpet same sticker in log book,it will have the power in KW,im guessing its a 100pd which will be 74kw

bbk wrote: »

3) What gear boxes come with what engines?
I read that the 90HP, 100HP and 110HP have 5 speed and the 115 upwards have 6 speed.
In another place I read that only the mad fast 130 HP has the 6 speed box.
The reason for this question is following in a bit.

90bhp,100bhp and 110bhp all have the 5 speed box,

115,130 and 150 all have the 6 speed box

The 130 isn't mad fast,the 150 isn't even mad fast only mildly quick.

bbk wrote: »

I was doing some reading and found that the PD TDI engines are said to be better. How can I tell if mine is PD or not? There are no exact dates of when they came into the range that I can find and again, no obvious visual indications.

if its 100bhp it will be a pd,the 115,130 and 150 are also PD engines

PD stands for pump duse and is basically the direct injection or stratified injection system used to inject the diesel into the cylinder.

The 90 and 110 engines are non pd.

The pd engines feel more livelier and torquey(sp) due to the initial blast from the pd injection,the are also slightly more refined,the non PD however is far more economical and some would say near on bullet proof for reliability.

bbk wrote: »

If I had the 110HP car (which has a 5 speed box) and got it remapped it would bring it to about 143HP according to an irish specialist site. Would that mean the 5 speed box wont cope since the 115 and 130 comes with the 6?
Same thing as if I had the 90HP and remapped it which would give me 116, would I then technically need the 6 speed for it to work well?

No matter what the original power gearbox set up the car will be well able to handle the resulting power,the main benefit of the 6th gear in the 6speed boxes is economy giving it the ability to cruise at high speed at low revs.

GTE

colm_mcm wrote: »

they have different ratios alright. my point is if you're happy enough with the 5 speed as it is, why bother changing the box just because some higher powered Golfs have them?

some 130bhp model VWs are 5 speed.

I was just making sure it wasnt a neccessity to have the 6 speed for the 1.9TDI engine once you go over a certain BHP.

Thanks for clearing everything up!
Great help.