Modified 15 golf tdi turned in today

TDI BR · Apr 12, 2017

Hey guys just an update on my case.
I bought the car new in November 2014. In August 2015 the DPF, EGR and adblue systems all got replaced with a turbo back exhaust and the Malone stage two tune. Submitted documentation December 22, 2016, documents approved finally end of February. Buyback appointment completed today April 12. I was worried for months about turning in a modified vehicle. It currently leaks oil and due to the removed parts it blows coolant bypass caps regularly. This morning(turn in day) on the way to work it blew another cap. Today after work before my 530 appointment I rushed AutoZone and got a foot of fuel line and some hose clamps. Replaced the two caps that normally blow and connected them with the fuel line. Refilled my coolant reservoir to an appropriate level, got a shower and headed to the appointment. When I went to the dealership for the buyback appointment I handed over the keys, title etc. We went outside, got the mileage(51,004 on the clock) and I followed her back inside. Most ironic part... The buyback specialist didn't even turn on the vehicle. Months of worrying for nothing.
All said and done, very quick appointment and I'll be happy when I get my electronic fund transfer in a few days. Going to use it as a down payment for 2017 Subaru WRX.

IndigoBlueWagon · Apr 12, 2017

Dealers have been approved to resell bought back '15s. Odds are they'll reflash the ECU and discover the missing emissions gear, replace it, and resell the car.

2015vwgolfdiesel · Apr 13, 2017

TDI BR said:
Hey guys just an update on my case.
I bought the car new in November 2014. In August 2015 the DPF, EGR and adblue systems all got replaced with a turbo back exhaust and the Malone stage two tune. Submitted documentation December 22, 2016, documents approved finally end of February.

Buyback appointment completed today April 12. I was worried for months about turning in a modified vehicle. It currently leaks oil and due to the removed parts it blows coolant bypass caps regularly.

This morning(turn in day) on the way to work it blew another cap. Today after work before my 530 appointment I rushed AutoZone and got a foot of fuel line and some hose clamps. Replaced the two caps that normally blow and connected them with the fuel line.

Refilled my coolant reservoir to an appropriate level, got a shower and headed to the appointment. When I went to the dealership for the buyback appointment I handed over the keys, title etc. We went outside, got the mileage(51,004 on the clock) and I followed her back inside. Most ironic part... The buyback specialist didn't even turn on the vehicle. Months of worrying for nothing.

All said and done, very quick appointment and I'll be happy when I get my electronic fund transfer in a few days. Going to use it as a down payment for 2017 Subaru WRX.

MODs caused all this

TDI BR · Apr 13, 2017

2015vwgolfdiesel said:
MODs caused all this

I'm well aware. It improved power, torque and mpg. Was fun when it didn't have issues. Glad she's gone.

GIDDY_UP_GO · Apr 13, 2017

Would like to hear more about your mods and where you had them performed. Doesn't sound like it work to well to me!

TDI BR · Apr 14, 2017

GIDDY_UP_GO said:
Would like to hear more about your mods and where you had them performed. Doesn't sound like it work to well to me!

Work was performed at German Diesel Motorwerks in PA. It started leaking oil from the top right 2 injectors. It can't make the full 10k between oil changes before it's low on oil. I'd change it at 8500 and carry oil in the car just in case.

The 2 coolant bypass caps located near the oil dipstick would start to crack since they were under pressure. Connecting the two with fuel line solved that.

During the DPF removal I think they lowered the right axle. I think that's why my front passenger wheel bearing went up at 27k miles.

My flywheel would also shudder in 5th or 6th gear if I stomped it at 2k or less rpms.

The only think I'll miss about it is the fuel economy.

turbobrick240 · Apr 14, 2017

I wouldn't blame GDM for your problems. Though the coolant caps sounds like an avoidable issue. Lowered your axle? You must be kidding. When you volunteer as the first beta-tester and get free labor you should be prepared for a hiccup or two..

TDI BR · Apr 14, 2017

turbobrick240 said:
I wouldn't blame GDM for your problems. Though the coolant caps sounds like an avoidable issue. Lowered your axle? You must be kidding. When you volunteer as the first beta-tester and get free labor you should be prepared for a hiccup or two..

Nowhere in my posts have I blamed anyone. Another member asked where the work was performed. I simply answered his question.

Mr_robs · May 12, 2017

Glad they didnt hassle you turning it in!

Thanks for sharing your modding experience too as a lot of new owners including myself are considering a dpf delete in the future.

Did you upgrade your clutch or flywheel?

Seems like the delete could be solidly reliable if you just bypass those two caps like you said and keep some injector o-rings handy.

Owain@malonetuning · May 12, 2017

2015vwgolfdiesel said:
MODs caused all this

How would a relatively mild bump in power cause oil leaks, coolant bypass caps or fuel line connections to fail? Those are completely unrelated components. The only problem as a result of software was the flywheel shudder, which is a quality control problem from VW, but it should have been de-tuned. We de-tune the vehicle's torque 10-20% as required. This is a problem on a small percentage of vehicles, say 2-4% tops. Have many customers with 20,30,50K+ miles on these tunes without flywheel problems.

We're increasing boost and rail pressure slightly and modifying the injection pattern. Injection pressure is increased maybe 5% maximum wide open up top, that should not be enough to cause failure or oil leaks.
None of the OEM ECU parameters are being deleted, EGT limiters are still there, coolant and oil temp protection is still there, these are OEM designed files. Mark has been doing this a very long time and puts an extensive amount of work into every product before releasing it to the public. Modern vehicles are in many cases intentionally designed to fail as dealerships make more off servicing than selling cars. Having bean counters build the vehicles to the bare minimum does not help either. It's a shame that these vehicles aren't going to live up to their mk1-4 counterparts.

Congrats on the subaru, those things are a blast! have a close friend with a 2011 wrx that has gotten air many times and is basically treated like a rally car. 90K miles without a single hiccup, not even a check engine light and nothing but a set of plugs and oil changes. Hopefully the Germans will smarten up and maybe even make a car for the people once again.

2015vwgolfdiesel · May 13, 2017

Owain@malonetuning said:
How would a relatively mild bump in power cause oil leaks, coolant bypass caps or fuel line connections to fail?

Might be your question could be directed to the OP, as he owned the car, and made the statement(s). In general, I know less than nothing about MODs

We're increasing boost and rail pressure slightly and modifying the injection pattern. Injection pressure is increased maybe 5% maximum wide open up top, that should not be enough to cause failure or oil leaks.
None of the OEM ECU parameters are being deleted, EGT limiters are still there, coolant and oil temp protection is still there, these are OEM designed files.

no knowledge as stated above.

Modern vehicles are in many cases intentionally designed to fail as dealerships make more off servicing than selling cars. Having bean counters build the vehicles to the bare minimum does not help either. It's a shame that these vehicles aren't going to live up to their mk1-4 counterparts.
.

Loathing bother bean counters, and "planned obsolescence"

turbobrick240 · May 13, 2017

I think time will prove out the mk7 platform and ea288 powerplant to be extremely durable and efficient. Perhaps not the cheapest to maintain, but none of the tdi's are. The fact that they are widely used in industrial applications is telling.

740GLE · May 15, 2017

Owain@malonetuning said:
How would a relatively mild bump in power cause oil leaks, coolant bypass caps or fuel line connections to fail? Those are completely unrelated components. The only problem as a result of software was the flywheel shudder, which is a quality control problem from VW, but it should have been de-tuned. We de-tune the vehicle's torque 10-20% as required. This is a problem on a small percentage of vehicles, say 2-4% tops. Have many customers with 20,30,50K+ miles on these tunes without flywheel problems.

We're increasing boost and rail pressure slightly and modifying the injection pattern. Injection pressure is increased maybe 5% maximum wide open up top, that should not be enough to cause failure or oil leaks.
None of the OEM ECU parameters are being deleted, EGT limiters are still there, coolant and oil temp protection is still there, these are OEM designed files. Mark has been doing this a very long time and puts an extensive amount of work into every product before releasing it to the public. Modern vehicles are in many cases intentionally designed to fail as dealerships make more off servicing than selling cars. Having bean counters build the vehicles to the bare minimum does not help either. It's a shame that these vehicles aren't going to live up to their mk1-4 counterparts.

Congrats on the subaru, those things are a blast! have a close friend with a 2011 wrx that has gotten air many times and is basically treated like a rally car. 90K miles without a single hiccup, not even a check engine light and nothing but a set of plugs and oil changes. Hopefully the Germans will smarten up and maybe even make a car for the people once again.

I'm not knocking the tune nor the great work you guys do, but would the OP have the same issues (minus the DMF shudder) if he didn't have the tune?

I look forward to having a stage 1 for the Passat, but I think anything beyond stage 1, the owner should be ready to trace down other issues that pop up and correct. There's a reason these didn't come from the factory tuned this way.

Owain@malonetuning · May 15, 2017

No, he wouldn't have had problems with bypass caps if he didn't install bypass caps. They weren't installed correctly by the sounds of it, and an oil leak would be totally unrelated. That's like blaming software for an oil pan leak. It's not like a ~4-5% increase in injection pressure is going to cause the injector to push itself loose and result in an oil leak. These cars run more rail pressure than what we tune for stock in Europe on higher power models. We tune a lot of these and this is the first I've heard of either of those, DMF shudder was addressed during development and tunes were made weaker before release because of it. Still a problem on a small percentage of vehicles and we have no problem re-tuning if needed.

If it was heavily modified, sure, there's plenty of people who have bent rods and lifted heads running upwards of double the factory boost pressure on earlier TDIs. This car had a downpipe and a mild tune, which works around all the stock ECU limiters and hardware. If he blew the HPFP, popped a turbo, lifted the head, by all means start pointing fingers. I'd be far more worried about the little resistor style rail pressure "tuning boxes" floating around that make the pump work overtime all the time.

Overall the EA288 is a really solid platform, far better than the ea189s. With a first year car, and given how complicated these things have become, you're almost certain to run into some kind of problem. Leaking injectors on a brand new vehicle is very odd.

IndigoBlueWagon · May 16, 2017

I understood that early ALH hot start problems were caused by no fuel being delivered until the engine was spun at 300 RPM by the starter. Older starters and batteries couldn't do that, hence the hot start problem.

I'm a little hard-pressed to fault VW for issues the OP had with his tuned car.

If hardware and software are appropriately matched tuned cars can be reliable. I've owned more tuned TDIs than most. They've all been bulletproof. And some have had very hard use, including track days.

bhtooefr · May 16, 2017

It's not 300 RPM specifically - and 280 should get it into the range at which it's fueling properly on startup.

VeeDubTDI · May 16, 2017

What are coolant bypass caps?

GoFaster · May 16, 2017

No idea. Obviously we don't have the whole story on what was modified on this vehicle. But at this point ... The shredder won't care.

740GLE · May 17, 2017

guessing its for the EGR delete which means it doesn't need EGR cooler.

Modified 15 golf tdi turned in today

TDI BR

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