Does anyone know if it makes a difference whether we tow with a 90 bhp or 115bhp. The only reviews of this car as a tow car was with the bhp of 115. We have a 90, should we get it chipped??? And is it legal??
towing with a seat alhambra 1.9tdi
- Thread starter brenda_374246826
- Start date
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Brenda it depends on what you are towing, 90bhp is fine as long as the van is not too heavy, what van have you got? weight etc
Chipping is perfectly legal but depending on the cars age it may invalidate the warranty
Chipping is perfectly legal but depending on the cars age it may invalidate the warranty
We have a bailey pageant bretagne which is an 85% match. The car is one year old. We just wondered if chipping it would give more power to pull as found it slightly sluggish this weekend, this could also have been due to wind though....
The pageant bretagne is pushing it a bit for 90bhp and chipping the engine would certainly give you the power you are looking for but at one year old it would invalidate the warranty
thanks roy, will check it out with garage this week. Do u know roughly how much it costs to have the chip?
When we bought the car last jan the dealer suggested chipping and at a cost of approx 600 euro (we live in ireland). Bought the van in england though. What do u think?
When we bought the car last jan the dealer suggested chipping and at a cost of approx 600 euro (we live in ireland). Bought the van in england though. What do u think?
Brenda, are you sure it is only 90 bhp ? my alhambra is now nearly 2 years old and when we bought it you could only get the tdi in the 130 bhp version unless you wanted the tiptronic which was 115 bhp. As far as i am aware you have not been able to buy the 90 bhp engine for at least 4 years now, the previous engine to the 130 was the 115 prior to that it was for a short time a 110 and before that the 90 bhp.
I should check with the dealer you bought it from if they sold you a 90 without telling you it was an outdated engine i would be very angry unless i got a massive discount on the car.
I should check with the dealer you bought it from if they sold you a 90 without telling you it was an outdated engine i would be very angry unless i got a massive discount on the car.
I can't find any reference to a 90bhp engine either only a 115bhp version
If the dealer has suggested chipping it that may mean there is an official Seat upgrade in which case would not affect the warranty, have a word with the dealer.
It costs between
If the dealer has suggested chipping it that may mean there is an official Seat upgrade in which case would not affect the warranty, have a word with the dealer.
It costs between
starting to panic a little!! Our Irish registered alhambra is definately a 90bhp bought brand new from seat dealer(also purchased before ever thinking of buying a caravan). I have just checked the towsafe match and because we bought in england they have obviously assumed we owned a 115bhp because that is what u get in the uk....what to do!!
Brenda,
Just to clarify a few points from 1993-2000 the Seat Alhambra had what is known as non PD engine known as the 1.9 tdi and available in 90 and 110 bhp variants. Since 2000 Seat's have been available in 115,130 And 140 bhp in The UK Using the PD engine Somewhere your manual should refer to Pumpe-duse.
In Eire your right you can buy a 90 Bhp Alhambra and yes it can be easily chiped. The question is how good do you want the chip to be if you want it on all the time then you can buy one easily off E-bay new for 44 euro's and irt will work quite well however long term it will wear some components more quickly. How quickly I cant say because it down to a Varity of things including fuel quality, accelerations patterns etc.
However don't be alarmed. Our old VW Sharan which we got rid of 6 months ago did 120,000 miles with one fitted by Dragon Performance, My wifes new Seat Altea (ironically came from S Ireland as a parallel import - to NI Spec ) is plenty quick enough and doesn't need one but by my Renault Laguna II does have one with positive effects.
If you need more help just shout
Regards Monkeys Husband
Just to clarify a few points from 1993-2000 the Seat Alhambra had what is known as non PD engine known as the 1.9 tdi and available in 90 and 110 bhp variants. Since 2000 Seat's have been available in 115,130 And 140 bhp in The UK Using the PD engine Somewhere your manual should refer to Pumpe-duse.
In Eire your right you can buy a 90 Bhp Alhambra and yes it can be easily chiped. The question is how good do you want the chip to be if you want it on all the time then you can buy one easily off E-bay new for 44 euro's and irt will work quite well however long term it will wear some components more quickly. How quickly I cant say because it down to a Varity of things including fuel quality, accelerations patterns etc.
However don't be alarmed. Our old VW Sharan which we got rid of 6 months ago did 120,000 miles with one fitted by Dragon Performance, My wifes new Seat Altea (ironically came from S Ireland as a parallel import - to NI Spec ) is plenty quick enough and doesn't need one but by my Renault Laguna II does have one with positive effects.
If you need more help just shout
Regards Monkeys Husband
thanks a million for your help. this chip on ebay does it have to be fitted by a pro? We are very happy to pull our van with the 90bhp once we are within the safety guidelines but feel we might get ripped off by our dealer if we ask his opinion especially if he has already told us it will cost bout 600 euro when this ebay purchase so much cheaper...
Brenda,
No it really is easy most have instructions either on their website or with the chip, theyall go in the same place which is relatively easy to get to. It would be know more than a 10 - 15 minute on any VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda Engine.
Regards Monkeys Husband
No it really is easy most have instructions either on their website or with the chip, theyall go in the same place which is relatively easy to get to. It would be know more than a 10 - 15 minute on any VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda Engine.
Regards Monkeys Husband
Brenda.
Firstly i wouldn't bother with the ebay chip, its crude and
as this is a new vehicle why risk it.
Having said that if your seat is indeed the 90 bhp pd version,
then you already have more torque than the older 110 bhp tdis
did.
And for towing it is this torque that you need more than outright bhp.
If you do feel after you have been out with the van that it is
somewhat lacking.
please come back and tells us.
Firstly i wouldn't bother with the ebay chip, its crude and
as this is a new vehicle why risk it.
Having said that if your seat is indeed the 90 bhp pd version,
then you already have more torque than the older 110 bhp tdis
did.
And for towing it is this torque that you need more than outright bhp.
If you do feel after you have been out with the van that it is
somewhat lacking.
please come back and tells us.
We have the 115 PD from 2001
In the handbook they also give details of a 90PD which I do not think was available at the time in the UK, it more than likely that different specs are available in different markets.
I believe that Ireland has generally lower road speeds and higher insurance costs so it would make sense to market the 90 there.
I believe the TDI badges on the back of all VW PD engined cars indicate which engine is supposed to be fitted and from memory no red is 90, one red letter is 115, two red letters 130 and perhaps all red would be 150.
In the handbook they also give details of a 90PD which I do not think was available at the time in the UK, it more than likely that different specs are available in different markets.
I believe that Ireland has generally lower road speeds and higher insurance costs so it would make sense to market the 90 there.
I believe the TDI badges on the back of all VW PD engined cars indicate which engine is supposed to be fitted and from memory no red is 90, one red letter is 115, two red letters 130 and perhaps all red would be 150.
spot on with the badge colours Garry, although the new 2.0 tdi has returned to all silver for the 140 bhp and the I in red for the 170 bhp.
Regarding the e-bay item it is not a chip as such it is only a box with a resitor inside which is designed to confuse the engines computer, i looked in to the many options available when upgrading my alhambra 130 and got loads of advice from the tdi club forum, the general consensus was to leave chips well alone and go along the engine re-map route, which is what i did.
The dealer quoting 600 euros is almost certainly going to do a re-map, my module was made by a company called dms and it simply plugs in to the diagnostics socket uploads a new programe to the computer and away you go, up from 130 bhp and 315 pound torque to 172 bhp and just shy of 400 pound torque. if i want i just reconect the module and download the original map and my car is standard again so no warranty problems, and we have tried the mod can not be detected.
Have a look at http://www.thedervdoctor.co.uk/
Regarding the e-bay item it is not a chip as such it is only a box with a resitor inside which is designed to confuse the engines computer, i looked in to the many options available when upgrading my alhambra 130 and got loads of advice from the tdi club forum, the general consensus was to leave chips well alone and go along the engine re-map route, which is what i did.
The dealer quoting 600 euros is almost certainly going to do a re-map, my module was made by a company called dms and it simply plugs in to the diagnostics socket uploads a new programe to the computer and away you go, up from 130 bhp and 315 pound torque to 172 bhp and just shy of 400 pound torque. if i want i just reconect the module and download the original map and my car is standard again so no warranty problems, and we have tried the mod can not be detected.
Have a look at http://www.thedervdoctor.co.uk/
We have the plug in box which as Icemaker says is a resistor in a box, I believe it alters the fuel temperature sensor reading to the ECU, this results in a less weak fuel mixture and extra turbo boost.
I mean less weak rather than stronger because modern engines are made to run on weak mixtures that border on inefficient for emissions reasons, at the last MOT it flew through the emissions check without taking it out.
We had it fitted for the last towing season and have had no problems at all but have noticed very large improvements in power, torque and mpg - I am still checking mpg as changing the fuel temperature sensor reading could give a false fuel used reading to the ECU (for on board computer)but am fairly sure it is better.
There is no doubt that these boxes could give a problem if used by a boy racer or 150 Golf GTI driver with the turbo on full spin all the time.
The main reason I have it fitted is primarily for extra mid range torque and it provides that in spades for
I mean less weak rather than stronger because modern engines are made to run on weak mixtures that border on inefficient for emissions reasons, at the last MOT it flew through the emissions check without taking it out.
We had it fitted for the last towing season and have had no problems at all but have noticed very large improvements in power, torque and mpg - I am still checking mpg as changing the fuel temperature sensor reading could give a false fuel used reading to the ECU (for on board computer)but am fairly sure it is better.
There is no doubt that these boxes could give a problem if used by a boy racer or 150 Golf GTI driver with the turbo on full spin all the time.
The main reason I have it fitted is primarily for extra mid range torque and it provides that in spades for
Brenda,
Don't get confused & seduced by BHP, there are two sets of figures given for an engines power output (imperial,non of your metric muck here!) they are BHP & Torque in foot pounds
BHP = Brake Horse Power = sprinting ability, usually peaks somewhere near the top of the engines rev range.
Torque = Pulling power = Grunt, on a diesel engine usually develops near peak power (torque) at the lower end of the rev range, just what you need for towing.
If you were to put the two into horse types,
BHP = race horse,
Torque = Shire horse,
and you would'nt set a race horse to pull a plough or a loaded cart or a shire horse into a horse race would you? hence the saying "Horses for Courses".
The 1.9TDi (Tubo, Direct injection, not Turbo Diesel injection) engine will tow your caravan perfectly adequetly, personally I would not contemplate "chipping" this engine unless it substantially increased the torque output.
Just try your outfit as is, you may be pleasantly surprised!
GeorgeB
Don't get confused & seduced by BHP, there are two sets of figures given for an engines power output (imperial,non of your metric muck here!) they are BHP & Torque in foot pounds
BHP = Brake Horse Power = sprinting ability, usually peaks somewhere near the top of the engines rev range.
Torque = Pulling power = Grunt, on a diesel engine usually develops near peak power (torque) at the lower end of the rev range, just what you need for towing.
If you were to put the two into horse types,
BHP = race horse,
Torque = Shire horse,
and you would'nt set a race horse to pull a plough or a loaded cart or a shire horse into a horse race would you? hence the saying "Horses for Courses".
The 1.9TDi (Tubo, Direct injection, not Turbo Diesel injection) engine will tow your caravan perfectly adequetly, personally I would not contemplate "chipping" this engine unless it substantially increased the torque output.
Just try your outfit as is, you may be pleasantly surprised!
GeorgeB
I have a VW Sharan, and have two red letters (the D and i), however my logbook says the engine size is 85KWPS which in old money is 115BHP.We have the 115 PD from 2001
In the handbook they also give details of a 90PD which I do not think was available at the time in the UK, it more than likely that different specs are available in different markets.
I believe that Ireland has generally lower road speeds and higher insurance costs so it would make sense to market the 90 there.
I believe the TDI badges on the back of all VW PD engined cars indicate which engine is supposed to be fitted and from memory no red is 90, one red letter is 115, two red letters 130 and perhaps all red would be 150.
Also I amnot aware of a 150BHP variant.
So maybe no red = 90,
1 red = 110
2 red = 115
3 red = 130
just to let u know we have had the car re-mapped it cost 400 euro. We are taking the outfit to England for easter so looking forward to seeing how it performs. The seat people highly recommended the remap and said we should notice a huge difference with fuel consumption. Not sure if its my imagination but car sure feels lighter now!
will let u know how r trip goes. Thanks so much for all your comments. It really helped..
will let u know how r trip goes. Thanks so much for all your comments. It really helped..
George does not seem to understand that chipping an engine gives it more bhp by giving it more torque, bhp is calculated by multiplying the torque by the engines rpm, good to see you have a noticable improvement.
Practical Caravan is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.
Facebook
Twitter