Mark 4 VW Golf TDI 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 :P
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 :rolleyes:

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
I posted this origionally in the Modified cars section without thinking.

Thanks all
bbk

Slidey

Right well the vw haters will probably be here soon.

There is a sticker in the boot with the kw power on it. My thinking is that you probaably have the ALH 90bhp engine. (sticker is under the carpet beside spare wheel well)

It will have the 5 speed box.

Personally I wouldnt chip them but if you do the 'box will take it, the boxes do have some issues but you wont really cause any difference by chipping.

Being a 00 your car will not have the PD engine

Biro

Yours isn't the PD engines, they weren't around in 2000. The power of your car would be on a plate in the boot ususally, measured in Kw. You can google an on-line converter to convert that figure to bhp, but I'd be thinking that it's almost certainly the 90bhp. The 115 I don't think came in the estate, and didn't come out until 2001 anyway, it was kind of used before the PD 100 and 130 engines came in.
And the 130 isn't mad fast!
If you chip your car it doesn't matter whether it's 5-speed or 6-speed.

GTE

Slidey wrote: »

Right well the vw haters will probably be here soon.

There is a sticker in the boot with the kw power on it. My thinking is that you probaably have the ALH 90bhp engine. (sticker is under the carpet beside spare wheel well)

It will have the 5 speed box.

Personally I wouldnt chip them but if you do the 'box will take it, the boxes do have some issues but you wont really cause any difference by chipping.

Being a 00 your car will not have the PD engine

Ahh, I hate haters :P

It does have the 5 speed alright.
I doubt Ill actually get the mod done, Im just having a think about it and even then in a year or two if I do get it done I can undo it.

The car pulls rather well as it is from the test drive so Id say its a decent lump of horse in the engine as it is, if its the 90bhp then Im impressed.

In terms of the PD technology, their benifits over the previous technology isnt as black and white as I would have hoped, at least in researching. It is just said to be better. Does the PD just give you a bit more poke or is it a MPG thing. Im a weird teenager and Im more worried about MPG then anything else.

Biro wrote: »

Yours isn't the PD engines, they weren't around in 2000. The power of your car would be on a plate in the boot ususally, measured in Kw. You can google an on-line converter to convert that figure to bhp, but I'd be thinking that it's almost certainly the 90bhp. The 115 I don't think came in the estate, and didn't come out until 2001 anyway, it was kind of used before the PD 100 and 130 engines came in.
And the 130 isn't mad fast!
If you chip your car it doesn't matter whether it's 5-speed or 6-speed.

The 115 did make an appearence in the Estate at some point. The AA have a road test of a 115 BHP Golf Estate from June 2000.

Well it would be mad fast for me anyway since Im only starting. :P

Thanks for the quick responce.
bbk

martydunf

I have a 2000 90bhp TDi fair bit of poke out of her alright until you get used to it then you'll be looking for the remap, which I have yet to do also!:)

With regards MPG you wont need to be filling up too much as it can achieve mid 50's mpg driving it handy, push it on a bit though and it will naturally drop a bit. Filled it to the brim and got 560 miles mixed driving. (55 litre tank).

GTE

martydunf wrote: »

I have a 2000 90bhp TDi fair bit of poke out of her alright until you get used to it then you'll be looking for the remap, which I have yet to do also!:)

With regards MPG you wont need to be filling up too much as it can achieve mid 50's mpg driving it handy, push it on a bit though and it will naturally drop a bit. Filled it to the brim and got 560 miles mixed driving. (55 litre tank).

Thats probably exactly whats going to happen to me, Ill get used to it and look for the remap.

If you go for it give me PM and say what its like.

I can remember the site but it said the 90BHP TDI can be mapped to 116 BHP.
(EDIT: I have just found out it is infact the 90BHP. I sense a remap in a few years lol)

In terms of MPG I guess what I mean is if I drive nicely and get 50 MPG and then get a remap and drive as nicely will it sill do 50 or will it tend to drink a bit more.

martydunf

Cant remember the webiste that gives the info on remaps for each car but it is known to actually improve mpg slightly. On the other hand though if you use all the extra power gains the whole time everytime you drive then you'd probably see it drop quite a bit, but yeah for normal everyday driving there sure be no real diffence in the mpg after a remap.

EDIT: linky: http://www.upsolute.ie/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,44/

all the info you need is there

brianmahon12

hey guys. i cant find a thrad for this.
i have a mark 4 golf gttdi. i was driving it today and a notice came up on the dash it said "Engine Workshop"..... what does this mean??

bazz26

brianmahon12 wrote: »

hey guys. i cant find a thrad for this.
i have a mark 4 golf gttdi. i was driving it today and a notice came up on the dash it said "Engine Workshop"..... what does this mean??

Could mean it is due a scheduled service.

voxpop

brianmahon12 wrote: »

hey guys. i cant find a thrad for this.
i have a mark 4 golf gttdi. i was driving it today and a notice came up on the dash it said "Engine Workshop"..... what does this mean??

Check your break lights - it usually mean that he break light switch (under the break pedal) has give up the ghost.

fletch

Anyone else think that the VAG TDI haters are A LOT more boring than the people who imagine their TDI's are faster than they are?

maidhc

fletch wrote: »

Anyone else think that the VAG TDI haters are A LOT more boring than the people who imagine their TDI's are faster than they are?

I suppose it depends how much excitment the relevant parties have in their lives. I suspect neither have a whole lot.

I just bought a Skoda Octavia 16v 1.4. Now that is a VAG to be reckoned with

martydunf

fletch wrote: »

Anyone else think that the VAG TDI haters are A LOT more boring than the people who imagine their TDI's are faster than they are?

Their just jealous I guess!:p

Diesel power and all that...dont want to be getting their hands dirty!