How will my 06 Jetta do in the mountains of Colorado?

badsnakeii · April 1st, 2012, 20:45

I'm planning a trip to co in June. Im curious how my 06 tdi Jetta will do? Should I be concerned w the altitude? We will be hitting 9000+ft... What oil should I run? Should I be concerned with EGT's?

Any pointers would be great.

vw4life · April 1st, 2012, 20:48

if you hare performed all normally required maintenance you will have no concerns. Drive more, worry less.

JSWTDI09 · April 1st, 2012, 20:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by badsnakeii

I'm planning a trip to co in June. Im curious how my 06 tdi Jetta will do? Should I be concerned w the altitude? We will be hitting 9000+ft... What oil should I run? Should I be concerned with EGT's?

Any pointers would be great.

This is one of the joys of a turbocharger. Your car will run just fine at altitude.

oil? The same high quality synthetic oil you should already be using.

EGTs? No worry, unless you are towing a large trailer. If EGTs get too high, your ECU will simply cut power to keep it in a safe zone.

As stated above: Drive more, worry less.

Have Fun!

Don

jackbombay · April 1st, 2012, 20:57

the 06 TDI come stock with an EGT probe? I did not know that.

My TDI vanagon went to 16,000', no problems.

40X40 · April 1st, 2012, 21:29

If your car is in a state of good repair, it will run fine through the rockies, mine did. You will probably notice a drop in power, but all the other cars around you will too.... LOL

2006 Jetta BRM w/RC1+

Bill

Luskavarna · April 2nd, 2012, 08:48

Hammer down, foot to the wood. I have been to 11,000. Engine will be slightly gutless until the turbo starts to blow. With the VNT you may not notice any difference.

Mk3, AHU, 520's, Ko4, 2.5'' side dump. I notice more black smoke and longer turbo lag. The black smoke is the problem of the guy behind me

FlyTDI Guy · April 2nd, 2012, 09:19

If you've never driven over the mountains in a turbocharged car, you're in for a pleasant surprise. They pretty much drive the same, regardless of altitude. None of the usual 3rd gear, WOT just to keep up. You will be working your turbo harder so make sure everything is in good working order. EGT's will also be higher but that is all proportionate to how much you have to thrash it. You will never really be required to do that if you drive reasonably. Weight is also something to consider. Fully loaded w/passengers and luggage will have some negative effect as well but... overall, TDI's do great in the mountains. I'll even take it step further, it's a real pleasure.

GoFaster · April 2nd, 2012, 09:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackbombay

the 06 TDI come stock with an EGT probe? I did not know that.

My TDI vanagon went to 16,000', no problems.

06 and prior don't have any EGT monitoring. This feature is only on the '09-onward common-rail engines.

Nevertheless, as long as you drive with some common sense, it will be fine. You might - MIGHT - have to downshift to 4th going up some of the steeper hills but you can still go normal speed.

I tow a trailer with mine (and will be doing another towing trip this coming Wednesday overnight into Thursday) and even with that, it doesn't get pushed down lower than 4th gear. On steep downhills I'll gear down to save the brakes - just like a mini tractor-trailer unit

IndigoBlueWagon · April 2nd, 2012, 09:38

FWIW, we sell a lot of turbos to people with BEWs and BRMs (both Borg-Warner turbos) in the Rockies. I think those little turbos work pretty hard at altitude and can fail more readily than the Garretts. As others have said if you've taken care of the car it should be fine, but I wouldn't test fate by pushing it at WOT to redline in 4th climbing over the Vail pass or something like that.

slamhouse · April 3rd, 2012, 17:54

Hehe, I drive to winthrop during the summer many times and through the mountains theres one part in particular where we push i believe 8,000 feet altitude. in my 1995 Pathfinder, i would be WOT in 2nd gear pushing 6k rpms and decelerating while going up this hill. in my 2006 jetta tdi, i downshifted to 4th and carried along like it was nothing

e*clipse · April 12th, 2012, 20:36

I just got back from a road trip to Utah.

We stayed at a condo in Brian Head, elevation 9000ft. The route climbed over several passes over 7500 ft, and performance was not an issue.

I would agree with IBW that the turbo is pushed harder at altitude. For my VNT 20, it wasn't an issue, but the extra heat generated taxed my cooling system. I was also careful to no exceed an EGT of 1100F.

One interesting thing I found was an extremely difficult start at high altitude (9000ft) if the engine was allowed to completely cool off (overnight). It wasn't particularly cold, but I had to plug in a block heater to get it started.

Note all these comments are for a highly modded 1Z in a Toyota truck running B20...

Biz · April 17th, 2012, 09:32

I had an issue on my recent trip from New England to New Mexico with my '12 Jetta TDI. Had just driven up a 10,000' pass near Taos, heading back to Albuquerque when my check engine light came on. I didn't notice a thing different with the way it was running. Stopped at dealer to check it, he said it had failed a regen cycle, and had seen this happen before on cars from out of the area that don't see high elevations often. He forced a regen cycle, no charge, and we left. Car has run fine since then, and hasn't had the problem before or after. 20K miles on the car. Anybody else heard of this?

Other than that, i didn't notice any drop in power even at the high elevations.

lowflyer · April 23rd, 2012, 10:30

Just took my `05 NB TDI to Coal Creek Canyon,Colo. (google it) from Milwaukee,Wi. and back. Had good power in the mountains and kept it at 80mph, 2800rpm most of the way on the interstate. One stretch I got 43 mpg. Worked out very good.

tdi90hp · April 29th, 2012, 10:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoFaster

06 and prior don't have any EGT monitoring. This feature is only on the '09-onward common-rail engines.

Nevertheless, as long as you drive with some common sense, it will be fine. You might - MIGHT - have to downshift to 4th going up some of the steeper hills but you can still go normal speed.

I tow a trailer with mine (and will be doing another towing trip this coming Wednesday overnight into Thursday) and even with that, it doesn't get pushed down lower than 4th gear. On steep downhills I'll gear down to save the brakes - just like a mini tractor-trailer unit

I went up vail Pass in 5th gear once...loaded w passenger. but I was flying....in my ALH....The CR is amazing in the montanas....senor

TornadoRed · May 6th, 2012, 20:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdi90hp

I went up vail Pass in 5th gear once...loaded w passenger. but I was flying....in my ALH....The CR is amazing in the montanas....senor

That is fine, as long as you can keep "flying". But if you run into traffic and have to slow down, then I recommend downshifting so you can keep the revs up. 2600-2700 rpm in top gear is fine, or in a lower gear; but 2000 rpm in top gear on a steep incline puts too much stress on the turbo.