2012 passat engine for offroad rig

I have a current project that i plan on using a diesel engine in, and would like a VW engine. I have a line on buying a wrecked 2012 that I could use for a donor.

I am not worried about adapter plates or engine mounts and what not, but I have read there are emissions things that I would not need for off road use and that people can provide a tune for these ECU's.
kermatdi is the main one i was kind of scanning over, and cost anywhere between $400 and $700.
I dont need any extra features that would effect abs, shift strategies or emission devices I dont think.

I am only interested really in an effectively lobotomized ECU that will work efficiently enough, maybe coupled with an EGT so I can ease off the engine when I need to.
Basically from what I have read is that you dont want this engine, but if i get all of the parts because I have the whole car, and can save anything that the engine needs, I just dont need the extra bells and whistles or transmission control.


I know i kind of rambled on and im sure some of this may have been asked and answered, but I am having trouble finding a lot of information on the newer VW diesel engines other than they are expensive to repair because the emissions stuff always breaks, and just dont buy one.


thank you for your time
Dustin

I was looking into this recently and from what I found the ecu won't work without the inputs from like basically every sensor in the car. Not sure if this is correct but I read you basically need to make a computer to fake the signals to the ecu and it's really complicated and expensive.

You would be better off with a earlier TDI with less complicated sensors. Most people use Alh, I just dropped a Bhw from an 05 Passat into my Tacoma and the wiring was pretty straightforward. Stage 2 Malone tune puts it at 180hp and 300 ft-lbs and they are pretty cheap\easy to find because the auto trannies they came with are junk. I got an entire parts car with a blown tranny for $500 and made $1000 parting it out plus I still have the mint leather seats for when I find a buyer

I kind of noticed that about the newer cars too. I am going to message a couple different vendors that deal with reflashing thses ECU's and see what they can offer by way of deleting inputs.
The other thing is that I would like to get one of the older cars for the ease of conversion, and more knowledge due to being as old as they are. I just cant find anything that isnt $2-3k and I'm not sure if I can justify dropping that much on a car just for the engine.
I noticed that your in the vancouver, wa area and I'm in western washington as well. Do you have any suggestions or resources in this area that mi gh h be helpful to me in my endeavors?
All I know is that at this point I know I want to use a VW engine for my conversion because being a production engine that was used in a lot of cars will help make working on it more economical, that and their is a lot of aftermarket support.
Thanks
Dustin

i just saw a post on here for a running driving rotted out car for a grand on here. I do have a crashed 11 jsw tdi with dsg. 97k miles.mark at Malone tuning will work with you until your tune works for your application. can also check scrap yards or salvage auctions.

Dustinicus said:

I kind of noticed that about the newer cars too. I am going to message a couple different vendors that deal with reflashing thses ECU's and see what they can offer by way of deleting inputs.
The other thing is that I would like to get one of the older cars for the ease of conversion, and more knowledge due to being as old as they are. I just cant find anything that isnt $2-3k and I'm not sure if I can justify dropping that much on a car just for the engine.
I noticed that your in the vancouver, wa area and I'm in western washington as well. Do you have any suggestions or resources in this area that mi gh h be helpful to me in my endeavors?
All I know is that at this point I know I want to use a VW engine for my conversion because being a production engine that was used in a lot of cars will help make working on it more economical, that and their is a lot of aftermarket support.
Thanks
Dustin

Click to expand...

I'm in Vancouver BC. Just check Craigslist and Facebook for cars with blown trannies and lowball them. Had 2 guys asking 2k offer me them for $1000 and a guy asking $1500 who agreed to $500. Just keep an eye out. I found an engine pretty quick once I started looking

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=502394

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=499564


doesnt take much looking. tons of them on here. higher miles, but these things run forever. and fairly cheap to hone and re-ring them.

thank you for the input. I always forget about the BC vancouver, sorry.
Either way im trying to find something in the western washington northern oregon area.

I saw your links for the two you posted and though it would be nice to buy something like that, they are both east coast.
I keep checking Craigslist and salvage auctions too, and im sure I can find something in short enough amount of time.
I dont mind traveling too far for the parts i need. I will keep checking here and other places for cars for sale. The junk yards close to me want pretty steep fees for pulling an engine and harness, that is why i was looking at buying something that runs. If I get something that runs i can be sure I save all of the parts I need and not have to continually go back scavenging for parts.

As for the tip on Malone I will check it out. I like the idea of having someone that will stick with you till you get it right.

Most of all I was curious about the newer diesel engines, just because I havent found a whole lot about them. Most of the searching I found about them was people complaining about emissions stuff that cost them thousands to to fix. The engine being totally integrated into the whole car is only a deal breaker if I cant find someone who can reprogram all of the extra "features" that I dont particularly need.


thanks again for the replys, and ill keep on searching
Dustin

There's a few up here fairly cheap. Just lowball them like $500 and see what they say. I don't think you'll have issues if you are just bringing them across for parts but call the border and find out before you do anything.
https://vancouver.craigslist.org/search/cto?sort=priceasc&query=tdi