Can i run just a tune?

luke.weiser

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 17, 2017
Location
Portland, Maine
TDI
1998 Jetta MK3
Can I run just ECU chips?

Hey guys. Found used malone stage 3 chips online for cheap. Gonna buy em and throw em in.
Engine is completely stock with 140000k on it
Can I just add them to the ecu and do the injectors later?
More importantly, will I screw something up by using the stage 3 tune with stock nozzles, or will it run fine just with less power than with upgraded nozzles?
 
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luke.weiser

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 17, 2017
Location
Portland, Maine
TDI
1998 Jetta MK3
Malone tunes are software based and the software is installed via the ECU port. What are these chips you found?? :confused:
Malone tunes for older TDI's are actually installed as chips directly into the ECU. You just pull the old ones and replace.
Tha malone website says you have to upgrade the injector nozzles and the clutch. I'm good for the clutch, but Will the tune work safely on stock nozzles?
 

aja8888

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Location
Texas..RETIRED 12/31/17
TDI
Out of TDI's
Malone tunes for older TDI's are actually installed as chips directly into the ECU. You just pull the old ones and replace.
Tha malone website says you have to upgrade the injector nozzles and the clutch. I'm good for the clutch, but Will the tune work safely on stock nozzles?
Maybe you should e-mail Malone and ask them?
 

JSWTDI09

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2009 JSW TDI (gone but not forgotten)
Tha malone website says you have to upgrade the injector nozzles and the clutch. I'm good for the clutch, but Will the tune work safely on stock nozzles?
It might be safe enough, but that doesn't mean that it will be an improvement over what you have. If the tune was written for bigger nozzles, it probably won't work very well with stock nozzles. However, the opposite is also true. If the tune was written for stock nozzles, it probably won't work very well with bigger ones.
The software has to match the hardware to get the best performance. Good Luck.

Have Fun!

Don
 

Owain@malonetuning

Associate Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jul 1, 2016
Location
Vancouver
TDI
PD jetta wagon
Pre 2000 TDIs require chips to be installed into the board. 1Z/AHU come with sockets, ALH ECUs need to have sockets soldered in.

Yes you can run a more aggressive tune on stock nozzles, it'll just be at most as powerful as a tune set for stock nozzles, since stage 1 is designed to safely max the nozzles while more aggressive files will have shorter durations to compensate for larger nozzle sizes.
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
"found online" you mean eBay? enjoy your scam lol
make sure it matches your ECU model number too. Malones tunes are cheep enough. If your going to be doing other mods in the future i dont see why you would buy a tune you dont have a grantee on. how much are you getting them on eBay for, $150? malones tunes are $300 and worth the price. A tune is custom made for you exactly to what you have under your hood. Why on earth would you buy a 20 year old car if you just are going to throw away 45mpg with a tune on an engine with out the parts to support it? your going about this all wrong. Go buy a different car with more power and better parts if you want that, but we love MK3 jetta's like yours for a reason, properly built, they get 50mpg+ and are a blast to drive, parts are getting rare now but we love the way they look too, slamed or not.

My point here is, dont go with a tune just cause its cheep, build your tdi the way you want, the right way. Yes a tune will work but its pointless. minimal gains. you would go cheepo with an Evry mod, hammer mod, and swiss cheese air box, for next to nothing and probably get as much power as the $tune your getting on eScam..i mean Bay

Decent mod list goes, fuel, turbo, supporting air flow, 1st tune,
then you move on to, Clutch, more fuel, head work, new tune, internals and so on.....
A tunes usually the last thing you do in a build. Your going to need the supporting parts for that stage 3 your getting and you have not yet spent the money on those parts. Your spending money before your supposed too imo.
 

h4vok

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Location
Denver (ex MN)
TDI
2003 Jetta TDi 5sp 171k
If you are looking for more power maybe just start with some new bigger injectors. They will give you a power increase even without a tune. Then you can add a tune after you have the injectors down the line if you still want it. Otherwise if you are going malone you need the stage 1 for stock injectors. If you ran a stage 3 on stock injectors it would probably perform worse then the stage 1.
 

PB_NB

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Location
Vancouver, B.C.
TDI
1999 New Beetle
You can try to find a tuning box like a Digi8/10 for cheap as a solution until you go to the next step in your upgrades.

I did that for a few years and was surprised at the extra bump in power. Downside is lots of smoke at WOT.
 

Helmut3

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 14, 2007
Location
Erlangen & USA on the road
TDI
Golf 2001 TDI
You may even see less power if the 'chip' is expecting more to flow with bigger nozzles and the diameter difference has been factored into the 'chip'. In that case better to just upgrade nozzles and not buy 'chips'. That way you can flow more by default because it is not factored in.
 

jimbote

Certified Volkswagen Nut
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Location
spiral arm, milky way (aka central NC)
TDI
Tacoma 4x4 converted to TDI
put em in! you'll get more boost and probably an egr delete or modification... your clutch will be fine as it's already a 228mm on a smf .. you can swap out the disc and pp later if you over power it... as for the negative comments about ebay i think if you're a discerning and savvy buyer you'll be fine... i've been an ebay buyer/seller for close to fifteen years, bought hundreds of items and nearly all were positive experiences...
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Good news is, with the PROM chips if you do not like it, you can just pop them back out.

I'd replace the tube to the MAP inside the ECU while you are in there, if you have not done so already.

My Upsolute chips caused my OEM clutch in my '98 Jetta to slip on colder days. But it still lasted until the clown I sold it to crashed the car, 200k+ miles. 5th gear, if you laid into the go pedal too hard on a hill especially, it would slip.
 

Scott02

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2006
Location
near Youngstown, OH
TDI
Too Many
Drove my old 98 mk3 for a long time with stock nozzles and a RC tune written for 0.205's, IIRC.
It hot started a little odd from time to time, but other than that, it ran fine with zero, Zero, smoke ever. And got better than normal MPG to boot.
 
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