ChoonDoode's VRS TDi

[ChoonDoode]

19 minutes ago, MarkyG82 said:

 

This has been discussed a number of times and is untrue. If enough investigation carried out then the evidence is there. Agreed that it's more hidden than a map but in the case of an accident you may be unlikely to be able to remove it.

It does give the option of removing if selling the vehicle and then either reusing the box on another car or selling to get a bit back.

 

Bottom line if you mod your car, take it on the chin any repercussions. Simple.

[ChoonDoode]

Been waiting patiently to post this with my findings................

 

I've had a couple of 'problems'.

 

First time anything happened was start of December and the car's power started to drop off. This was quickly followed with the glow plug light flashing and an urgent need for the hard shoulder. Turned the car off, waited a second and all seemed good. Carried on with the rest of that journey and the rest of the weeks' as well. No drama.

 

The second issue was a little more serious. Accelerating up the slip road and things went wrong. A total loss of engine power, car started slowing down and then it spluttered back into life. When it did, however, a massive cloud of smoke bellowed out the exhaust. Onto the hard shoulder again. The dash was lit up, but this time a turn off and back on didn't do anything and I had the engine light permanently lit.

I limped 4 miles to the next junction and sought safety at a petrol station. Now luckily for me, I have my VCDS in the glovebox and I had my laptop with me so I could check what the car was saying. The errors showing were a load of fuel pressure sensors either saying signal too low or low pressure. Had a couple of manifold pressure saying signal too low. I wiped these errors and turned the car over again and rescanned, to which a lot started to come back. 'Houston, we have a problem!!!'

 

Now I've not had any problems with it for a long while, certainly since I've dialled the setting down a bit, but my attention turned to the DTUK box......... which didn't have any lights showing on it (which ever not seen before). I disconnected all it's wiring loom, wipes and rescans the car and all fine. Nothing like doing mechanics in a shirt and tie 

 

Throws it in the boot and the car carries on fine for the rest of December. About 750 miles of seamless driving. On a few of the runs, I had VCDS plugged in and I checked temperatures and pressures, but nothing was showing wrong. 

 

So with funny shifts in work with New Year, I've had a few days off and I've had the DTUK box back on the car to test it out and unfortunately, the problems showed up again. Same error codes, but thankfully no drama on the road. Now with me needing the car for work, I can't afford for the potential to have an engine problem. It would appear to be a potential issue with connections onto the fuel rail, but I'm not delving into it anymore. It's out of warranty, I've had a few years out of it but it's time to say enough's enough. A bit disappointing really because I've been happy with it as I've enjoyed having the options to change it, but I did notice the drop in power today coming home this evening. Took the back roads home and on a few corners where I knew third could be used, second needed to be instead.

 

Looks like if I want said power back, it's time for a remap............

[Ecomatt]

Remaps are always the best way for ease and reliability. I would always opt for Superchips bluefin as I have mapped most of my previous cars using bluefin. Plus they do hours and hours of dyno and road testing to perfect the map. They dont shout big numbers on the power front but if you look at the power curve of the maps, they are not peaky and make the car drive better. Plus Superchips dont over stress the engine. The box you had quoted 240ps and the bluefin was approx 220bhp. So the box has 236bhp and only 14bhp more than the Superchips map. There is only 20ftlb of torque difference between the two maps, so not noticable on the road.  I will be getting my bluefin reset for this car at some point during the year. But it is quick enough as std so I am having that arguement with myself over it. Not sure which side of me is winning yet lol

Edited 7 January, 2020 by Ecomatt

[ChoonDoode]

@Ecomatt Yeah, that's the argument I'm having with myself at the moment. It was the extra torque I felt was more noticeable. Pick a gear, any gear and the car accelerated.

 

If I was to get it remapped, I'd probably take it somewhere like Darkside developments, who just deal with diesels.

[JohnnyType2]

Darkside would take you to 286bhp with the current CUPA engine and no further due to the design, im nearly there just a DPF delete to finish it. 

[ChoonDoode]

17 minutes ago, JohnnyType2 said:

Darkside would take you to 286bhp with the current CUPA engine and no further due to the design, im nearly there just a DPF delete to finish it. 

 

Yeah, I've watched the Golf video, but that was a hell of a lot of money. Certainly more than I wish to pay.

 

I'd thought about getting it remapped by them in recent times, but until recent events, I was happy with the DTUK box. The main advantages to seeing them over the others is they check your car on a dyno first to check it's ok, do a remap appropriate for your car and re dyno it. It costs that little bit more but it seems the better option to do.

[ChoonDoode]

breathing a bit of life back into this old thread of mine.

 

So after a bit of umming and arring as per usually I've finally decided to start doing some mods to my car.

 

Just because I'm really impressed with their knowledge of all things VAG, I'm going to be getting a remap done at darkside. I've considered the likes of the racingline remap, but it's a generic map, whereas at least at darkside they see what the score is with the car before they start the tune and adjust accordingly. Whilst it's there, I am also getting braided brake line and a braid clutch one as well. The car is overdue for a fluid change, so I thought get the whole kit and caboodle done at the same time.

 

I have also ordered the charge pipe and induction kit (on this post 2.0 TDI intake mods) and I'm going to install those before it goes in for the remap. With me ordering coloured silicone pipes, it's on back order and will take a few weeks to come.

 

I was considering getting the exhaust side done, but it's a little costly and it's only going to be for cosmetics with it just being cat back, as I don't want to fiddle around with the EGR or DPF side of things.

 

So that's booked it for the major work the end ish of January.

 

Watch this space for more updates

[ChoonDoode]

And let the tweaking begin 😊 So the parts came mid last week, but the weather was grim and it was only yesterday I had a chance.

 

 

The intake side on the left and the charge cooler on the other

 

 

After about an hour of swearing, catching my fingers and knuckles on everything remotely sharp and requiring double jointed wrists, I got all the standard stuff removed.

 

 

Charge pipe side of things in.

 

 

And finally the intake section in!!

 

I'm made up with the results. From around 1750rpm, you get a nice loud 'whoosh' when you're accelerating. It is a bit louder when you bury the throttle as well. I've been on the motorway both yesterday when I was testing and today twice on a few errands and it's not a hinderance whilst cruising at 70.

 

I've got the remap, along with the lines, booked in on the 19th and 20th January, so the benefits of a freer flowing intake will be gained.

 

I've not put the standard intake air router on the front grill yet, but I will be doing. Need to sort out the official blanking plate for the exit on the driver's side, as the tape which I've used for a while is starting to 'peel' off.

 

[ChoonDoode]

Quick update on how I'm finding the new intake.

 

Again, yesterday and today I've been using the car quite a bit on my final coupe of days on leave for shopping.

 

I've driven around 75 miles and I'm not finding the additional whooshing to be an issue. I drive with the radio on anyway, so that does remove a lot of background noise. For the local shopping, 30mph roads around town, you wouldn't know I've done anything to the car. Accelerating away from lights on a 40mph, there's a bit of an intake sound, but only whilst you're just getting up to speed in 2nd and 3rd.

 

Today (for my sins) I went to Cheshire Oaks. With it being a longer journey, I had my laptop with VCDS on just to double check how things were. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, because I'd have been better doing a 'before and after' for figures, but never mind. I went about 1200 and the outside temperature was reading about 8c and the air intake sensor was saying between 15 and 30c, depending on the road speed. Air temperature after the turbo was reading between 75 and 100c.

 

On the way back I took a windy route, just to give the car a workout and I can't honestly say the intake has done anything for performance. I did a couple of 0-60 times, but I was struggling a bit for traction on the slightly damp road, and the best I got was an 8.4.

[ChoonDoode]

so an update.

 

My car went into Darkside on Wednesday morning and returned yesterday afternoon all sorted.

 

Remap has all been sorted. Slightly less hp than I was expecting with a peak of 205.8, but the torque is still a vast improvement at 350ftlb's.

 

 

It just feels so much more responsive no matter what gear you're in. And unlike when I had the DTUK box on, it just feels nice and progressive, rather than a lump of power all of a sudden.

 

I went round the block just to make sure I was happy with everything and did a quick 0-60 and it came back 7.59 seconds. It was a bit slippy due to the conditions (TC kicked in in 1st and 2nd), but that it still a noticeable improvement over stock. I know it's not a record breaker, but I'm happy with that.

 

The clutch line does make the pedal feel better. I did feel the pedal was a bit spongy beforehand, but that could be a combination of a rubber line and older fluid.

 

I certainly can notice the difference with the brake lines. Only need to touch the pedal for the brakes to start coming on.

 

In additional to the pre planned work, because of a bit of Christmas overtime, I had a clubsport rear anti roll bar fitted with powerflex bushers and I was going to be having a set of KW V3 coilovers, but KW couldn't have them sorted in time for this appointment (no biggie, was chancing my luck).

 

Due to the cold weather, I've not been able to 'rag' the car around bends too fast, but even at moderate speeds you can tell the back end is tighter.

 

I'll be reporting back once I've got the coilovers fitted.

Edited 21 January, 2023 by tunedude

[ChoonDoode]

a long overdue update, but I wanted to drive the car to the limit before reporting back.

 

So as said above, I had KW V3's on order and they got fitted on 16th March. Following just over 1000 miles of daily, touring and fast road driving I can report back with the following............ THEY ARE BLOODY BRILLIANT!!!!!!

 

This addition to the car has just made it drive how I have always wanted it to. I am glad I had the rear ARB fitted, albeit accidentally, first so I was able to feel how that made the car feel, and I've now been able to experience how the coilovers are.

 

First, the car has been lowered by approximately 25mm. As you'll see from the below pics, we can see it's lowered, but I doesn't look slammed by any means. I haven't needed to drive any different since lowering because I didn't want to have to creep over speed bumps, or worry about going up a multi story car park.

 

 

Body roll has virtually gone. Taking it for a 'razz' and you're able to confidently take a bit of speed into a corner. I've added a bit more bump to the rear so it's not wanting to lurch back when accelerating, but I've kept it standard on the front.

 

With it being corner weighted, the car just feels more agile and with the remap, it's comfortably able to dart out of a corner. I used to think the Michelin tyre were good anyway, but they're come into their own now.

 

I went 4 up on a trip to Snowdonia and whilst the rear dropped a little bit, the car still felt ready to go.

 

There is only one thing which you do notice that little bit more and that's the road imperfections. The standard VRS suspension does deal with the bumps good, but the KW's don't appreciate them. Whilst don't aim for them, I do find myself scanning the road a bit more any potholes or broken tarmac.

 

All in all, I am made up with all which I have done to my car in the past few months and here's to being able to get even more from my car

[ChoonDoode]

 

 

A nice surprise the other night to see my car on their FB and instagram pages.

 

My car is also on their website for the KW's as well

 

 

Edited 27 May, 2023 by tunedude

[ChoonDoode]

it was mentioned by the stealership when it went in for it's service last month and I'm more happy it's something I need to attend to now with it being mentioned as an advisory on it's MOT this week, but I'm going to be needing to change the front brake discs within a few months. Along with that the brake pads will be changed as well.

 

So back when I bought the car I did want to throw a big brake kit on the car, but I can't justify the price and I've tracked it twice already and the stock brakes were able to stop the car with enough consistency I wasn't thinking the brakes had faded (though with needing the car now as my daily for work, I can't see me tracking the car again).

 

This then brings me onto the subject of aftermarket brake pads and discs.

 

Back when I had my Hyundai i20, just changing the pads to EBC greenstuff made such a difference in how the car acted under both faster driving and also when taken on track. With being that much heavier, I was wanting to put yellowstuff pads on.

 

Based on me daily driving it up and down a motorway, with the odd h00ning down a b road and more than likely not tracking this car again, I was thinking of just getting plain discs. I was considering getting the grooved ones, just for both looks and potential increased bite when I want it, but I wasn't sure if this would be a waste of money.

 

Your opinions please