vw sharan 1.9 tdi

[martin_5078144]

I have just hade my first outing with my lunar lexon fb 2004 twin ax

215 miles, The car towed the van ok. I spend alot of time packing it correctly, and felt good about the journey. Has any one any thoughts on this set up? I ask as I thought the car was trying hard and being an auto was jumping from 4 to 3 at around 60 I dropped down to 55 and it stopped in 4 Is the car powerfull enough Am I expecting to much of the car thanks alot

Martin

 

[PC_5119929]

If the car is hunting between 3 and 4 it sound as if you are a little under powered from my humble experience.

My old 4 speed auto would the same in head winds and on long uphill slopes. All though out of fashion a rear windslammer type wing partially solved the problem and along with ditching some un wanted weight. My newer turbo diesel auto hadno problem with the same van.

Friend used plug in power booster on his 1.9 diesel and has found he has an easier time towing and MPG is a slight bit better.

 

[Icemaker]

Martin, I really do not know why but the sharran / alhambra / galaxy are all fitted with the 115 bhp engine if you have the tiptronic gearbox fitted, my galaxy was a manual and also had the 115 bhp engine. the cars are absolutely superb as towcars but the 115 bhp engine is a bit underpowered. i have swapped to the 130 tdi manual and found it to be totally competent and 100 % better than the 115 bhp, i have also got a dms dual system power upgrade which i use when towing, this upgrades the engine to 172 bhp and 384 pound of torque and gives 10 % better fuel economy. unfortunately i think the tiptronic is only supplied with the 115 bhp engine due to it not being very strong so a power upgrade could possibly cause your gearbox some damage. even now that seat supply the alhambra with the 2.0 tdi 140 bhp engine the tiptronic is still supplied with the 1.9 tdi 115 unit.

 

[MONKEY1]

Martin,

Could you tell me which TDi you have as the characteristics of the non-PD engines (before 2001) are different to the current range of engines. However what you describe is quite normal for the majority of cars.

Cars by the very nature aren't designed around pulling caravans. Therefore if your car drops a gear or two I would think this is quite normal. Short of buying a VW V10 Diesel Toureng. Your never find a car that will spend all of it's time in top gear.

I drive our VW Sharan Tdi like I would a Truck, i.e. read the road ahead is critical. A good run up and jugging the speed of other vehicles .and relax. The thing about any auto boxes is it can't read the road ahead its change point is through feed back from the vehicle where as a manual you can change ahead and give a different engine load.

Monkeys Husband

 

[martin_5078144]

If the car is hunting between 3 and 4 it sound as if you are a little under powered from my humble experience.

My old 4 speed auto would the same in head winds and on long uphill slopes. All though out of fashion a rear windslammer type wing partially solved the problem and along with ditching some un wanted weight. My newer turbo diesel auto hadno problem with the same van.

Friend used plug in power booster on his 1.9 diesel and has found he has an easier time towing and MPG is a slight bit better.

thans for that .Where do you get a plug in from regards martin

 

[martin_5078144]

Martin, I really do not know why but the sharran / alhambra / galaxy are all fitted with the 115 bhp engine if you have the tiptronic gearbox fitted, my galaxy was a manual and also had the 115 bhp engine. the cars are absolutely superb as towcars but the 115 bhp engine is a bit underpowered. i have swapped to the 130 tdi manual and found it to be totally competent and 100 % better than the 115 bhp, i have also got a dms dual system power upgrade which i use when towing, this upgrades the engine to 172 bhp and 384 pound of torque and gives 10 % better fuel economy. unfortunately i think the tiptronic is only supplied with the 115 bhp engine due to it not being very strong so a power upgrade could possibly cause your gearbox some damage. even now that seat supply the alhambra with the 2.0 tdi 140 bhp engine the tiptronic is still supplied with the 1.9 tdi 115 unit.

Thanks for that where would you get the upgrade fron thanks Martin

 

[martin_5078144]

Martin,

Could you tell me which TDi you have as the characteristics of the non-PD engines (before 2001) are different to the current range of engines. However what you describe is quite normal for the majority of cars.

Cars by the very nature aren't designed around pulling caravans. Therefore if your car drops a gear or two I would think this is quite normal. Short of buying a VW V10 Diesel Toureng. Your never find a car that will spend all of it's time in top gear.

I drive our VW Sharan Tdi like I would a Truck, i.e. read the road ahead is critical. A good run up and jugging the speed of other vehicles .and relax. The thing about any auto boxes is it can't read the road ahead its change point is through feed back from the vehicle where as a manual you can change ahead and give a different engine load.

Monkeys Husband

Yes thanks for that It is a 99 V reg 1.9 tdi with a red i after that thanks martin

 

[Icemaker]

Martin, sorry about the delay replying ive been on a late shift this week so not been on the pc much. I got my power upgrade box from the derv doctor in ashbourne derbyshire, his web address is www.thedervdoctor.co.uk ask for gavin who is the md and an absolute wizz with diesel engines. the mods are not cheep but in my opinion well worth it. If your sharran has a "red" I then this indicates that it is allmost vertainly a 115 bhp engine as vw distinguished the new breed of tdi from the old with a red I but be carefull as some owners changed the I on older cars to make them appear more powerfull.

The dual system that i have is quite a bit more expensive than some others on the market but it has a huge advantage in that you have the module, it is not permanently fitted to the car and once you have reproggramed your ecu the module is removed, if the car is in need of a service then you refit the module reprogramme the ecu back to standard and remove the module again so the service center is non the wiser.

 

[martin_5078144]

Thanks for that I have done some homework and found a guy that has supplied me with a booster box, but I havent fitted yet as the air con comp has had enough so its in for repair. I phoned my dealer who severices the car and they have told me thats its a 110 bhp non pd would you agree? Thanks for taking your time to help me, you all have put my mind at rest as to towing,I agree that it needs a little more power lets hope I have . We are off on fri 21 for our main hols I will let you all know in a couple of weeks how we got on Thanks again Martin

 

[MONKEY1]

HI Martin,

Your car is the same as ours ie MK 1 110 bhp non PD the gearbox is sourced from Jatco (Japanese) To be honest the instalation isn't ideal but that's because Ford and VW worked on the project and with the offset engine a very compact box had to be used.

I have to say we love our Sharan, there are very few cars that use their room and have econony and road manners to match.

Icemaker is slightly of the scent on the RED I badging as VW used it to show the difference between the 90 & 110 bhp models they introduced it in 1997 although most cars come with it from 98 onwards and most Seats at the time were 90's most VW were 110's.

PD engines are very different from no-PD the easiest way to tell is MKII cars are face lifted - different lights and interiors. (Very Nice all the same)

Your right a booster box is the way to go with a non PD engine - lots on ebay!!

It's also funny your aircon pump has given up the ghost so has ours this week, although very often all they need is regassing as garages are usually not to hot on air con (pardon the pun).

Check you MAF is working as they are eatern on non pd engines and aren't as dear as some say. A poor performing TDI is often one in safe mode.

Regards Monkeys Husband