06 TDI Tuning Box? Chip? Options

Hello,
I just recently purchased (Today) a 2006 Jetta TDI with the 6 speed tiptronic transmission. I don't actually take delivery of the vehicle for a few months but I know I would like a little more power. I really love the idea and the response of the TDI's but I think it needs a little more pull in 4th/5th (I test drove the stick). Now, I don't really want to void the warranty because to be honest it's a VW it's going to have problems (I have 4). So I have been looking into the tuning box options. But, I am not sure which tuning box is compatible with a 06 TDI and/or which of these boxes having the most tunability (I have heard some are just resistors that trick the heat sensors). What kind of power gain/fuel efficency can I expect from one of these tuning boxes?

Thank you,
Nathan

Milo
Congratulation with your new car – it’s a fantastic car !
I just want to tell you that putting a power box in your new car is not a good idea. These boxes is “telling” the ecu in the car what to do – or only pushing more fuel into the motor. It is in fact a box that will try to control another computer – just fooling the ecu and the engine to believe it “has more power”, someday it will go wrong. What you should do instead is to get a real reflash of the ecu unit – new tuned software that will be overwriting the old software in the computer. This flash is being written into the software the same way as the manufacturer of the ecu unit does with the same “language” as the ecu has. This way all the technical in the engine is being taken care of, even the gear ratios. The ecu type in your new car, is called EDC16xx (xx=some software version) which has extensive security functions that the power box do not support. Only a reflash of the ecu will take care of all the security functions in the ecu. Another thing is that the power box is visible – the reflash is not visible in the car.

milo said:

Hello,
I just recently purchased (Today) a 2006 Jetta TDI with the 6 speed tiptronic transmission. I don't actually take delivery of the vehicle for a few months but I know I would like a little more power. I really love the idea and the response of the TDI's but I think it needs a little more pull in 4th/5th (I test drove the stick). Now, I don't really want to void the warranty because to be honest it's a VW it's going to have problems (I have 4). So I have been looking into the tuning box options. But, I am not sure which tuning box is compatible with a 06 TDI and/or which of these boxes having the most tunability (I have heard some are just resistors that trick the heat sensors). What kind of power gain/fuel efficency can I expect from one of these tuning boxes?

Thank you,
Nathan

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Diesel Power tuning box. DIGI PD. I have one on each car and love them! The ECU reflash would not work for me because I do not live close to Jeff at Rocketchip, and do not have access to spare ECUs, nor the time to remove the ECU from the car to send off and have it reflashed. The dealer could notice the reflash if the tech goes for a test drive. Also, if for some reason there is a driveability problem that falls under warranty or TSB, the dealer could reflash your ECU and erase the performance programming. At least with the tuning box, you simply remove it (takes about 5 minutes, you just need a 10 mm box wrench to loosen the battery cables) take the car in, get it serviced, ect and then reinstall the box when you get home. I just did this yesterday when I took my jetta in for it's 20K service. No problems, but it was a slow drive going to and from the dealer with no tuning box installed. I put the box back on as soon as I got home and got my performance back. Also, the boxes are adjustable so you can choose the power output to fit your needs. I run the Digi PD model on my jetta set to E and the Digi PD Pro on the passat on C.

If you can find a spare ECU and are able to swap them out for dealer visits, then go for it. The tuning box from Diesel Power was the best option for me.

The DieselPower tuning box has been problem free for me. The power is incredible, and the customer support by the company is awesome. I have the pro box on my '06 Jetta and love it. My car has been in the shop three times for warranty work or oil changes and removing the power box is no big deal. I strongly recommend it.

I have the DIGI-PD on my '06 Jetta as well.

Much more power and soot.

The DIGI-PD has settings from A to F. Recommended setting is C. Of course I am running F (Balls to the Wall).

Fuel efficiency is a hard one for me. More power usually means you drive it harder, which means less fuel economy. But if you baby it you can expect probably 2-3 mpg more than you were getting.

And depending on what color car you have, you can probably count on washing it ever 1 or 2 weeks to get the additional soot of the rear end.

Bugzilla said:

And depending on what color car you have, you can probably count on washing it ever 1 or 2 weeks to get the additional soot of the rear end.

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What about the soot inside your engine?

Soot on pistons and turbo isn´t very easy to get rid of as I see it.


BTW: I just bought a box my self. Got it of ebay for $65 even tho it costs $4-500 new.
Its just a temporary arrangment until I get it proper tuned later this month.

How bad is the smoke on the mid to low levels of the Digi PD box? I'd like to add one to the wife's car, but she'll balk at heavy smoke. Overfueling also isn't the best for mpg or longevity either so I'm thinking level C or below.

your2slow said:

How bad is the smoke on the mid to low levels of the Digi PD box? I'd like to add one to the wife's car, but she'll balk at heavy smoke. Overfueling also isn't the best for mpg or longevity either so I'm thinking level C or below.

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At C or lower, that will be hardly any smoke. At F setting, it will get some smoke at WOT.

The only extra smoke I noticed with the wireless box was when I would first start up the car, and when I was racing with it. There wasn't very much extra to wash off the bumper. There is quite a bit more with the pro-box, but my foot has also gotten much heavier with the pro-box

Im about to take home a 2006 TDI, manual gear box, package 2, with 9,000 miles (i live in NY it has to have over 7500 to register it) probally gonna have it in a week or so. I dont want tuning boxes, i want an ECU reflash/chip what are good ones, and how much are they? Also where can i get one

freespeed said:

Milo
Congratulation with your new car – it’s a fantastic car !
I just want to tell you that putting a power box in your new car is not a good idea. These boxes is “telling” the ecu in the car what to do – or only pushing more fuel into the motor. It is in fact a box that will try to control another computer – just fooling the ecu and the engine to believe it “has more power”, someday it will go wrong. What you should do instead is to get a real reflash of the ecu unit – new tuned software that will be overwriting the old software in the computer. This flash is being written into the software the same way as the manufacturer of the ecu unit does with the same “language” as the ecu has. This way all the technical in the engine is being taken care of, even the gear ratios. The ecu type in your new car, is called EDC16xx (xx=some software version) which has extensive security functions that the power box do not support. Only a reflash of the ecu will take care of all the security functions in the ecu. Another thing is that the power box is visible – the reflash is not visible in the car.

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You have things here all completely all wrong. Our systems are not inputting any information to the ECU whatsoever! The DieselPower box is an output only and is no form of "Trick" to the vehicle ECU. The Digi PD intercepts the signals which go to the PD injectors. Based on this data the Digi PD fires the injectors at-will to provide more HP and torque and improved engine efficiency.

At SEMA we made sure to pop by the Neuspeed booth (gotta get to know your competitors) The reps made a point-blank statement that Neuspeed was the only way to tune a car. All the other tunes out there were complete crap and tuning boxes simply did not work. There were no exceptions of products to their blanket statement. In my opinion you NEVER put down a competitor unless they are a crook. You will never here me talk crap about my competitors.. Never!


We have several hundred DieselPower PD modules out there with complete customer satisfaction. If the DieselPower systems do not work I would have been run off the TDI Club 2 years ago. Rant over.. Joe

Joe, what is the estimated HP / Tourque numbers that someone can expect with an otherwise unmodded Jetta PD 100? I think your site or wherever I saw it said up to 30%, but are you really saying that the Box adds 30HP? thanks

I have been using the Diesel Power Digi PD for almost a month on my 2006 TDI w/ 6 speed Tiptronic- the same model you will take delivery of- and I am very happy. The Box installs in 2-5 minutes. You twist apart the injector harness on the engine, and twist the Digi PD module in-line. You then connect the + and - wires to the battery. The result is uneventful at first. I started the car and didn't notice anything different. I was expecting something- like difficulty starting, slight stumble or higher idle- something to tell me I have upgraded the car. But Nothing. But when I pulled into traffic, I felt the extra surge of power. It is steady from all RPM ranges and the transmission shifting points seem better suited to the increased power (the 2nd to 3rd gear ratios seem a bit tall for stock power). The best way to summerize it is that the increased power raises the engine performance up to the handling performance of the car. It feels much more like a package now. The transmission shifts less with the added torque. This is at setting "C". I have gone to "D" and felt an increase over "C", but I am still breaking in the car (almost 5000 miles now) and have not gone above "D". I have surprised a couple of drivers already, including a Subaru WRX who must have short shifted thinking that I was not up to the task. But I stuck with him up to the century mark until he realized he was in trouble, then he smoked me. But at least I surprised him for a few seconds.... And next week, when I take the car in for its first oil change/check up, I will simply take 2-5 minutes and remove the unit to maintain the warranty. With a chip this would entail swapping ECU's. Mileage is good if I am good- 37 mpg for combined city/ highway. When I am bad it has only dropped to 35 mpg. Shiftiing manually at or below 2000 rpm gets the best mileage. But, during break-in I read here to keep rpm's over 2000. Smoke is no more than stock. I have always had "Q" cars- cars that look harmless but pack a good punch. This is what you get with the Digi PD. I would recommend it to you if you want to maintain the warranty and have the extra power the car's handling capability needs.

Good response F1

spool time said:

Joe, what is the estimated HP / Tourque numbers that someone can expect with an otherwise unmodded Jetta PD 100? I think your site or wherever I saw it said up to 30%, but are you really saying that the Box adds 30HP? thanks

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Yes, you can expect a 30 HP increase and an additional 65 lbs/feet torque. This is an increase that is sufficient enough that you will feel imediately. With our systems you will not feel any adverse effects on drivability. The car will retain all of the positive characteristics but with the exception of more power. Joe

Sounds good (the tuning box) my only question is why is your gas milleage so low? 35 mpg? i hear plenty of people getting 50? is that wrong? Or do you drive hard (i drive pretty hard some times) If i am planning to do further tuning would it be better for me to get a chip? or does that not matter? Where can i buy the tuning box? thank you so much for the quick great responces. I put a Downpayment on the TDI today and will pick it up in 10 days to 14 days! VERY EXCITED...

Coast2Coast,
My gas mileage hasn't been that bad...When my car was stock, my best mileage was 46mpg, that was 100% hwy miles. With the tuning box, I was still getting 44mpg, that was with a few rounds of drag racing, mostly hwy, and some city driving. So I don't think you have much to worry about in that regard. Enjoy your new car, they are lots of fun!

Coast2Coast,
With the new Jetta PD 100 TDI engines, mileage is lower than the 90hp TDI's. According to some vetran posts , it is because of the added power of this engine, and the added weight of this car. We have two 2002 TDI wagons in the family and driving them hard I get 46-47 mpg. The best I had with mixed city/hwy with the 2006 is almost 38 mpg. I only have 5000 miles on it, and I have not done a purely highway loop. But, the car is much more refined, it is larger, and it is safer than the 2002 car. If the added 10 mpg is very important, a good used 2002-2003 might be a good choice. But, they are selling at a premium now.

Coast 2 Coast,
I forgot to mention this: see the guy 4 posts up for the Diesel Power Digi PD. Joe is a nice guy- I spoke to him briefly- and he has gotten a good reputation for the quality of his product and his customer service.

I read the digi power post, the product seems great!. i had a tuning box in my 1996 Maxima and my '02 sentra Se-r Spec-v, i enjoyed them, but since both were N/A gas cars i know i can expect a real gain with a turbo + a tuning box or ecu reflash. With teh Digi how much boost does it run? Also is there some sort of on off switch for the chip? I had Jet Force V's in the past and as long as you were stopped at a warm idle you could turn the chip on and off, obviously turning it off while in motion was a terrible idea. Does the Digi have an on off function?

Also, i know the guy who i am getting the car from, (i had to go used to get a 2006 because of the stupid NY laws with TDI's) he said he is getting 51 mixed (mostly highway) with the car. Just to throw out the MPG figures, i drive a bit harder but i plan to curb that to join the contest! I hope to see you all at the TDI fest, i know im taking the drive to head out there in the fall!

coast2coast,
The digi PD box does not change boost at all. Only Injector timing. Joe has a post somewhere on TDICLUB that explains this better. Its amazing what power you get from changing the injector timing. It is also safer than messing with the boost. If you want to disable it, you just unplug the serial cable from it and throw it in the glovebox. No need to undo the injector harnesses.

the serial port inside the car? its costly though over $600, upsolute is $400 installed, with bigger power gains. I guess if i add the fact that i have to buy a boostvalve and a boost gauge to make the chip safe and to tune the boost valve im talking the same price anyways. Now is the upgraded power of the chip vs. the digi box as safe?

The serial cable is on the Digi PD box itself. The injector harness connects to the Digi PD thru a serial port and cable. If you unscrew the cable and remoe the Box, the car will run like stock. The major factor I was concerned about was voiding the warranty. I can easily remove the Digi PD box and cables when I take it to the dealer. With the chip, you cannot, unless you get a spare CPU to swap out. This is an added cost. I chose to give up some power for the sake of the warranty.

f1wanabe said:

Coast2Coast,
With the new Jetta PD 100 TDI engines, mileage is lower than the 90hp TDI's. According to some vetran posts , it is because of the added power of this engine, and the added weight of this car. We have two 2002 TDI wagons in the family and driving them hard I get 46-47 mpg. The best I had with mixed city/hwy with the 2006 is almost 38 mpg. I only have 5000 miles on it, and I have not done a purely highway loop. But, the car is much more refined, it is larger, and it is safer than the 2002 car. If the added 10 mpg is very important, a good used 2002-2003 might be a good choice. But, they are selling at a premium now.

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I have gotten as high as 53.4 mpg using the box set at "f" and conservative driving all highway (806 miles). Keep your foot out of it and the mileage won't be bad. Power is there when you need it though.

there are different settings on the digi box? also i thought that chips (reflashes) like the new upsolute on a 2006 jetta TDI wouldnt be dealer noticable!!!

The wireless PD version has settings a through f.

The wired version is even better if you are lucky enough to have it work on a 2006. Mine does - 165hp & 250 lbs!!! Hot D***! It moves! Nothing but wheel hop in 1 & 2!!!!

clambert said:

The wired version is even better if you are lucky enough to have it work on a 2006. Mine does - 165hp & 250 lbs!!! Hot D***! It moves! Nothing but wheel hop in 1 & 2!!!!

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We are currently down in Redding, CA with another system on a 2004 Golf. The car has the PD Pro and another item due to be released in the coming 4 weeks. This will change the way the game is played.. The car will be racing all day tommorow and we expect to be in the low 15 second range. The last time this car raced was at Mission without the "extras" and did a 15.98 1/4
I will post the pics on Sunday. Joe

I'm looking at this here and maybe I should do more research but I see mentioned above a difference in the tunning box. One is wireless and one is not. Can anyone give me a quick explanation of the difference?