Tuning a TDI

[jimbo_tdi]

Has anyone remapped or chip tuned their Polo TDi 1.6 or 1.2? Would be interesting to see people's thoughts...

[daydotz]

1.6 can be mapped now upto 145bhp(claimed)

[jimbo_tdi]

Is that for the 75BHP, I've heard of bending conrods, is this an issue?

[jimbo_tdi]

Anyone got anything?

[ChunSel90]

Finally a fellow TDI! xD!

In reply to the conrod issue, I'm not sure on the reliablity of the issue, I saw it cropped up on another forum with pictures and stuff, but at the time it happened (over a year ago i think) there weren't any remaps available to the car, so it could have been a freak accident?

i recently took my car back to VW and asked the service manager about a possible remap seen as though the european version of the 1.6 tdi is running 105ps as opposed to our 75 and 90. It was promising at the start as he had a lad who has his own equipment to remap etc etc. Then the problem sprung, the lad refused to do it because of the new ECU system, it was unsafe to remap due to the ECU failing completely... that would be a slight problem xD!

After doing some research recently, i have so far found 2 companies who have claimed to have hacked the ecu for remap without even touching the ECU itself. The remapped engine could produce an output of around 135ps.

Note: the 75 ps and 90 ps of the 1.6 tdi engine, the remaps will work for both, as they are infact both the same engine, just the 75ps has been down tuned by VW for mor economy.

The only downfall now is the pricetag... because its one of the first, the website is quoting £399, which is quite staggering =/

Anyhows, my advice, wait around a bit longer, let others take the plunge aha, now that they've managed to hack it, others will be following, so hopefully the price will drop down soon after.

Here is the link:-
http://www.amdessex.com/news.read.cfm?articleid=165

This is the other company claiming to have just done it:-
http://www.remapsuk.com/blog/audi-a3-16-tdi-remap-uk/

Hope this has helped!
Chun

[Ben90]

i recently took my car back to VW and asked the service manager about a possible remap seen as though the european version of the 1.6 tdi is running 105ps as opposed to our 75 and 90.

The ibiza Fr has the same 1.6 cr tdi engine and pulls 105bhp from stock too. Somebody with a new version of Etka may be able to determine if the parts are exactly the same throughout, such as the same turbo and injectors (these were the key differences in the older PD tdis) Assuming they're the same you should be able to safely map to 105

That said, here's an exert I found from a seat forum:

Finally, the ECU has been cracked.
Revo have a 130bhp/310nm map coming out within the month
other tuners will shortly have the ability to remap the engine too as CMDTech have cracked the ECU so it's just a matter of time before the update is pushed out to tuners around the country.

Revo reckon that 140bhp is the max you can safely push the engine to on stock internals, 160bhp is possible but it kills the exhaust and turbo too quickly.

check the Revo Technik and APEC Belgium facebook pages for more details and dyno graphs.

July 2012

Get that pesky DPF out and you'll be laughing.

[jimbo_tdi]

Finally a fellow TDI! xD!

In reply to the conrod issue, I'm not sure on the reliablity of the issue, I saw it cropped up on another forum with pictures and stuff, but at the time it happened (over a year ago i think) there weren't any remaps available to the car, so it could have been a freak accident?

i recently took my car back to VW and asked the service manager about a possible remap seen as though the european version of the 1.6 tdi is running 105ps as opposed to our 75 and 90. It was promising at the start as he had a lad who has his own equipment to remap etc etc. Then the problem sprung, the lad refused to do it because of the new ECU system, it was unsafe to remap due to the ECU failing completely... that would be a slight problem xD!

After doing some research recently, i have so far found 2 companies who have claimed to have hacked the ecu for remap without even touching the ECU itself. The remapped engine could produce an output of around 135ps.

Note: the 75 ps and 90 ps of the 1.6 tdi engine, the remaps will work for both, as they are infact both the same engine, just the 75ps has been down tuned by VW for mor economy.

The only downfall now is the pricetag... because its one of the first, the website is quoting £399, which is quite staggering =/

Anyhows, my advice, wait around a bit longer, let others take the plunge aha, now that they've managed to hack it, others will be following, so hopefully the price will drop down soon after.

Here is the link:-
http://www.amdessex.com/news.read.cfm?articleid=165

This is the other company claiming to have just done it:-
http://www.remapsuk.com/blog/audi-a3-16-tdi-remap-uk/

Hope this has helped!
Chun

I know it's so annoying that not many people have the TDI variant as there is a lack of information I bought a TDI tuning chip today so I will report back on how I get along with it, it promises 95BHP from the 75 variant and 126 fron the 90. Has anyone transferred the ECU from the 90PS to the 75?

[ChunSel90]

Ahh sweet! let me know how it goes!

[jimbo_tdi]

Ahh sweet! let me know how it goes!

Been running it for a day, have to say there is definitely more get up and go, I did need to shift into 4th sometimes to get up hills on the motorway before whereas now it will happily sit in fifth going up hills. In town the car with drive in 4th at 30 where before it would only want to stay in 4th at 45. I've kept the chip in the middle setting and it seems to be perfect... Curious to try out the highest but worry about putting too much strain on the internals. The chip I bought was a Tigerstyle Tuning one. Hope this helped!

[ChunSel90]

Ahh sweet! let me know how it goes!

Been running it for a day, have to say there is definitely more get up and go, I did need to shift into 4th sometimes to get up hills on the motorway before whereas now it will happily sit in fifth going up hills. In town the car with drive in 4th at 30 where before it would only want to stay in 4th at 45. I've kept the chip in the middle setting and it seems to be perfect... Curious to try out the highest but worry about putting too much strain on the internals. The chip I bought was a Tigerstyle Tuning one. Hope this helped!

Could you post a link to the website you got it from ?

But all sounds good! I would say dont knock it up straight away, let your car get used to the new map to begin with, my brother made that mistake, yeah he gained a lot of power, but caused quite a big problem in the end hah x]

In terms of the internals.. if only there was a way someone could confirm on the internals, and i presume as long as you don't thrash it when the engine is cold etc should be fine

[vc-10]

What's the change in fuel economy like? I'm considering a Mk.5 Polo to replace my 130k mile 1.2 9n, which is basic, slow, not terribly efficient and now starting to fall apart. I might just be able to stretch to a second-hand 1.6 TDI 75PS, or maybe the 1.2 TDI 75PS (not Bluemotion, they're a fair bit more!), and the promise of a tuning box or remap that gets a few more horses out and improves fuel economy sounds almost too good to be true.

I've seen tuning boxes which state that they'll get the 75PS engines up to 93PS, and give a 4-6mpg improvement in fuel economy, while being able to be removed easily should anything go wrong

[jimbo_tdi]

Could you post a link to the website you got it from ?

But all sounds good! I would say dont knock it up straight away, let your car get used to the new map to begin with, my brother made that mistake, yeah he gained a lot of power, but caused quite a big problem in the end hah x]

In terms of the internals.. if only there was a way someone could confirm on the internals, and i presume as long as you don't thrash it when the engine is cold etc should be fine

What's the change in fuel economy like? I'm considering a Mk.5 Polo to replace my 130k mile 1.2 9n, which is basic, slow, not terribly efficient and now starting to fall apart. I might just be able to stretch to a second-hand 1.6 TDI 75PS, or maybe the 1.2 TDI 75PS (not Bluemotion, they're a fair bit more!), and the promise of a tuning box or remap that gets a few more horses out and improves fuel economy sounds almost too good to be true.

I've seen tuning boxes which state that they'll get the 75PS engines up to 93PS, and give a 4-6mpg improvement in fuel economy, while being able to be removed easily should anything go wrong

To be honest I think that you're better off with the 1.2, there have been loads of issues with the 1.6 apparently in the earlier 2009/2010 models. BUT, the 1.6 variant has ten lbs/ft of torque more that the 1.2 and an extra cylinder so should be more smoother to drive and have a little but more get up and go from 50-70. I only bought the chip as I just wanted the car to be more drivable, I've probably managed to squeeze out 2 mpg more out of the car, but I've been averaging a good 55 mpg anyway so I was happy. With the chip I've found clutch control to be more usable, I no longer need to accelerate when driving up my drive/street. I can also now drive in fifth at 30 while the car is just over tick over without the shuddering I got last time. Last night I was driving to Manchester airport and was stuck behind an incompetent Touran which looked to be fully loaded in the fast lane! I was forced to under take the car and I have to tell now the pickup speed on the car is amazing. Before I knew it I was doing '80' and had to restrain myself from going any faster, you really don't notice the speed you're doing with these cars!
To be honest coming from a 55/64 horsepower naturally aspirated Polo I'm sure you will find the car a fantastic drive normal and untouched.

The chip I bought was on sale from the normal £90 to £65 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250967796906? ... 97.c0.m619

[vc-10]

It's a matter of finding one of the 1.2 TDIs in my price range. Although then again maybe the extra cash for the 1.2 would be worth it with the fuel economy!

I've driven a Bluemotion when my car was busy failing its MOT (thank god for Zipcar) and it was great, but I prefer the SE's interior (the blue seats are, erm, interesting), and they're a bit cheaper. I'm also a big fan of Nimbus Grey as a colour on the new Polo I was really impressed with the 1.2 TDI engine- despite being thrashed it averaged 60mpg. It was also impressively quiet and smooth, I was expecting the Bluemotion to have less sound insulation. Then again the Bluemotion has a trip computer, armrest, and leather wheel as standard which is nice, which the SE/Match doesn't have.

[jimbo_tdi]

It's a matter of finding one of the 1.2 TDIs in my price range. Although then again maybe the extra cash for the 1.2 would be worth it with the fuel economy!

I've driven a Bluemotion when my car was busy failing its MOT (thank god for Zipcar) and it was great, but I prefer the SE's interior (the blue seats are, erm, interesting), and they're a bit cheaper. I'm also a big fan of Nimbus Grey as a colour on the new Polo I was really impressed with the 1.2 TDI engine- despite being thrashed it averaged 60mpg. It was also impressively quiet and smooth, I was expecting the Bluemotion to have less sound insulation. Then again the Bluemotion has a trip computer, armrest, and leather wheel as standard which is nice, which the SE/Match doesn't have.

The Bluemotion engine is slightly weaker than the standard on due to the long gearing... You need to slip the clutch to get going And the Bluemotion is just a S A/C with a few extras. I would go for a SE, I got a really good deal on one. A silver 2011 '11, one former private keeper, with the AutoGlym Lifeshine Package, full paintwork and alloy wheel correction, years tax, full tank of fuel and the VW roadside assistance for £9600. Haggled of course from a nice overpriced £11000.

[vc-10]

I was expecting a bit of haggling, but it's good to hear that you can get a nice saving off it!

It's the things like cruise control and computer that I'm keen on with the Bluemotion! It is a bit of a rip off though- spec a Match and a Bluemotion as close as possible (multi-function steering wheel, sensor pack, and an MDI) and the Bluemotion is £1,290 more new. The difference between a Golf 6 Bluemotion and a Golf 6 S with alloys and the highline computer is only £375. I'd happily pay an extra £375 over the Match for stop/start etc with the normal Match spec (hypothetically, obviously!)

TBH the Polo specs are a bit off. No highline computer (apart from the GTI) and that weird bluetooth screen thing. The Audi A1 and Skoda Fabia both have to gain their equivalents of the highline computer for bluetooth, and as such have the proper phone integration like with the Golf.The lack of remote locking in the S is a bit weird too, although they're now including DAB on all the cars which is nice. It's still the best small (affordable!) car out there IMO- the Fiesta is hideous, the Corsa feels old, the Mazda 2 has a nasty cabin and rides badly, the Ibiza is great but has a cheap-feeling cabin, and the A1 and Mini are small and expensive.