Help me mod my sister's Jetta TDI

[Deezler]

She's a beaut! So much potential...

Yep, Tas is the diesel engine authority around these parts. But if you're really committed to research, spend several hours on TDIclub.com.

How does your sister typically drive though? Careful and easy, or on and off with the pedals? I would not recommend her to sit in 5th gear down to 1100 rpms if shes going to mash the pedal down anywhere past 50%. Full throttle at engine speeds under 1600 rpm tend to put the turbo into dangerous territory and also produce more punishing torsional vibrations through the drivetrain. Also can lead to more frequent intake and turbo clogging from soot, especially if Tas's 5000rpm blast is not done periodically (I also highly advocate this). Shifting at 2k rpm also puts the engine into this operation range, so unless shes easy on the pedal, 2.5k rpm could be a wiser recommendation. I tend to try and shift to hit 1600rpm in the following gear, which makes the shift point vary a bit as you progress through the gears. From 2500rpm for 1st-2nd stepping down to around 2100 from 4th to 5th. Any mileage increase she'll pick up from driving at such low rpms could be wiped out by required maintenance / repairs. Lots of people baby their TDIs down the road at super low rpms trying to extract max efficiency and only find theyve clogged their engine up and then the dealer wants $3k to fix it (which is almost always bogus - find your local TDI guru and avoid the dealer like the plague; I think WI has several of them)

Grill blocks are easy. Ditto with Tas on this. Upper one is easy:


I think the stock grill could be blocked pretty easily also.

Lower one is fine mostly blocked from september through may (or whenever ambient is under 75 F). I cant imagine theres too much gridlock in WI. In fact, without some sort of grill blocking, in a sub zero winter day you may never reach proper operating temperature.


Do not block the intercooler. Higher intake temps have never agreed with my power or economy while driving.

I would make sure the belly pan under the engine is intact also. Unless your sister is committed to mileage that's probably about it for simple things. Just keep everything maintained and it should return 45+ mpgs forever.

[lapeer20m]

did you do any of the mod's to your sisters car? I also just acquired a "new" jetta.

what kind of mpg increase can one expect from the lower grill block?

[Daox]

Nope, and actually that car is now totaled. She was on a trip out of state, hit some ice and went into the ditch. The next morning she went out with the tow truck driver to pickup the car and found 4 other cars in the ditch in the same spot, one was on top of her car.

Thankfully, I found her another TDI a few months later. Its the same year but black and with a few more miles. She got a better price on it too, $7k I think. Still miss the grey one though, the previous owner took immaculate care of it.