Towing with VW Bora diesel?

(Buck Wild) wrote in message . com...
You have to keep in mind that a VW Bora sold today in Europe has a
much more advanced enging/fuel management system than the ones sold in
the good old US of A. You can only get the 90HP (67kW) engine here,
while the engines sold in Europe have either 74kW (100HP) or 96kW
(128HP) in the TDI-PD version... (PD=Pumpe-Düse or one injector pump
unit per cylinder)
Ulrich Neumann
Diesel Head

Yes, but they won't ship them here, as they are incompatible with
sulpher ppm above 50, and US is upwards of 500ppm.
I am very pleased with the power increase with the Upsolute software.
My automatic wagon will now spin it's wheels & pulls hard to redline @
130mph (Death Valley) Power is now approx 115hp and over 200LbFt,
milage unchanged, low to mid 40's
More info here...
www.tdiclub.com/
www.upsolute.com/
Dan


Dan,

check the tdiclub site. They seem to know that the VW tdi-pd's are
coming in 2004, together with the reintroduced Passat tdi(pd I hope).
Guess I start saving my pennies and get in line!
Thanks for the link to upsolute. I will look into this option for my
Jetta tdi.

Ulrich Neumann

Gerritjan wrote:
Many pilots here use petrol-guzzling sport-utility vehicles to tow their
trailers. I'm trying to get some input as to whether my new VW Jetta
turbo-diesel is up to the task.


You forgot to tell us the weight of your trailer incl.discus...

I'm towing a trailer, total weight 780 kg, with a VW-caddy TDI 66kW, max.
trailer weight 1000 kg. according the manual. Empty weight of the car is
1140 kg.
Great combination, more than enough power.


GJ

You can check VW's information...for example, I'm not supposed to tow
more than 2000lbs with my Subie Outback...

john

European turbo diesels are very performant compared to their size (for tax
and petrol price reasons)

You should NEVER use a turbo for towing. Turbos are only ment for
intermittent operation - towing puts them into near continuous
operation, leading to premature failure.

Of course there will be those that disregard this claiming they have
never had a problem (you never do until you do).

On 25 Aug 2003 21:13:15 -0700, (Tom Seim) wrote:

European turbo diesels are very performant compared to their size (for tax
and petrol price reasons)

You should NEVER use a turbo for towing. Turbos are only ment for
intermittent operation - towing puts them into near continuous
operation, leading to premature failure.

.... not any Turbo Diesel that I know of.
Bye
Andreas

Nonsense - most of the trucks in the World are turbo diesels. I towed for
years with a Saab turbo (petrol) and never had a problem. Diesel turbos are
recommended for towing in Europe.


"Tom Seim" wrote in message
om...
European turbo diesels are very performant compared to their size (for
tax
and petrol price reasons)

You should NEVER use a turbo for towing. Turbos are only ment for
intermittent operation - towing puts them into near continuous
operation, leading to premature failure.

Of course there will be those that disregard this claiming they have
never had a problem (you never do until you do).

I tow with Saab turbos ever since, and when I'm driving up the Nufenen pass
(8000ft) with the Calif (2400lbs) I use every single hp and I'm pretty often
at 5000rpm.

No problems whatsoever. Turbos have come along quite some way since their
introduction. My last Saab had still the first turbo and was doing fine
after 350'000km when I decided that a car with CD player and ABS would be
nice.

For Andreas - the BMW 5 and 3 I've been driving in the US felt pretty much
the same as in Europe.

--
Bert Willing

ASW20 "TW"


"Tom Seim" a écrit dans le message de
om...
European turbo diesels are very performant compared to their size (for
tax
and petrol price reasons)

You should NEVER use a turbo for towing. Turbos are only ment for
intermittent operation - towing puts them into near continuous
operation, leading to premature failure.

Of course there will be those that disregard this claiming they have
never had a problem (you never do until you do).

Tom Seim wrote:

European turbo diesels are very performant compared to their size (for tax
and petrol price reasons)

You should NEVER use a turbo for towing. Turbos are only ment for
intermittent operation - towing puts them into near continuous
operation, leading to premature failure.

Of course there will be those that disregard this claiming they have
never had a problem (you never do until you do).

This doesn't match my experience, nor what I heard about that. I owned 10-15
years ago a Renault R11 with a turbo (petrol), the turbo died after about
75000 km, the nest one survived a little longer (~ 100000 km) then I replaced
the car rather than the turbo. The man who replaced the first turbo said I
was lucky as they rather fail after 50000 km. I used the car mostly at maximum
speed since most of my usage was on highways and almost never in towns. Somebody
explained to me that what kills turbos is stopping and starting the car rather
than using it. This, according to this person, is due to the way they are
lubricated. No oil can stand the temperature found in a working turbo, so
the only way to keep them lubricated is to make a constant flow of oil trough
them which is cooled outside so the temperature never reach the temperature
of the turbo. But when you stop it the temperature is still high and there is
no more flow, so the remaining oil is cooked and produces a solid residue. This
residue is broken at the next start, causing friction and wear at this time.
I don't kown if this is a valid explanation, but it is consistent with the
life time of my both turbos, as well as the way they died, i.e. wear of the
bearings.

Two turbo vehicles later (one petrol one diesel) I must differ.

The turbo diesel vehicles are designed for long hard use and it is not
uncommon for them to last longer than you would want (My brother's SAAB
9-5 was replaced in mint condition at 260,000km).

If turbochargers were unsuitable for hard continuous use surely the
heavy truck fleet and construction vehicles would use a different
technology.

Where I live we have had some problems with turbocharger related failures.

in the late 1990s we had a spate of Isuzu 2.8L turbo diesels with blown
piston crowns, generally caused by aftermarket kits to increase the
maximum boost pressure - you get what you pay for. Make it possible to
overstress your engine, then drive at overboost for extended periods and
something will break. Factory standard engines regularly get 500,000km
making them very popular with the farmers.

BMW 320Ds with failed turbines - the upgraded engine introduced in 2001
had an engine management map that allowed the turbine inlet temperature
to go too high in our hot and high environment.(30+ centigrade @ 5000"
MSL) Coupled to our long open roads and their drivers habit of driving
for hours at full throttle and the little turbine wheels melted. One
electronic change and a cooling system upgrade and the failures stopped.
All handled under warranty.

Second hand European and Japanese imports with corroded injectors and
fuel pumps - this was a problem before 2002 when low sulphur fuel became
available. The jungle juice we had before had far too much sulphur and
some private imports died. The turbo models died quicker because of
higher temperatires I suspect. Again - ignore the manufacturers
specifications and problems are likely - if the manufacturer does not
offer the model locally there might be a reason.

For what it is worth my Isuzu 2.8l Turbo diesel was the best tow vehicle
I have ever owned. Pity it was stolen.