New to the TDI world!

Hello to all, been skimming through the forum a little before I purchased my TDI, looks like a wealth of knowledge in here. I bought a 2001 2 door golf TDI have a few questions. I'm new to the TDI world but not new to diesels, I own a twin turbo Duramax that makes decent hp and I consider myself decent with a wrench. I bought the car because of a separation, I no longer have an SUV if you know what I'm saying lol ?

Anyways, I bought this car for $3500 has 240,000kms on it, no rust, new cyl head and new timing belt. Clutch seems good, has a tune installed as well. It got amazing mileage! I was blown away, 450km trip home still have 3/4 tank!!!! amazing! Everything seems ok but I have a few questions.

Being from Canada, building engines for my truck and what not I know it's really hard to find good parts suppliers, anybody know of some good ones?

The car is going to need front brakes and rear struts. Also, being a diesel guy I popped the hood and noticed an EGR system right away. Looks simple to delete, any kits made for my car? I also see crank case breather going into the intake, can I plug that bad boy off and route it into atmosphere? Or will does it create excess crank pressure due to loss of vacuum..? One more, any decent mpg gain by opening up the exhaust a bit? Nothing crazy, just a straight pipe or something

Anyways, thanks for the add and hope to learn more in here!!! ??

Welcome aboard. You'll love the 2001 and the ALH engine. There is a lot you can do with it.

And parts are easy to find for the car. There is a recent thread on that subject in the Ontario form.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=465677

mjhandy said:

Welcome aboard. You'll love the 2001 and the ALH engine. There is a lot you can do with it.

And parts are easy to find for the car. There is a recent thread on that subject in the Ontario form.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=465677

Click to expand...

Nice, I noticed they have different era's on engines like a Duramax (lb7,lly,lbz,LMM etc) so mine is an ALH? Does that stand for anything or just the RPO code?

Good thread too by the way

Another thing I noticed this morning too is it was like 5* C here this morning and you can tell she isn't going to like the cold. How do these things start in -40? Lol

For cold starts you should install a coolant heater. Canadian Tire seels a Zero Start unit.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/circulation-engine-heater-0303295p.html

I'd go no higher than the 1000w unit. Easy to install. This may help: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=264053

Have you checked to make sure your glow plugs are working properly? Both of our cars once it cools off need glow plug system work and I know a lot of cars out there don't have fully functioning systems.

Also guessing you have a manual trans. We also have coolant glow plugs. These will not give a cel as far as I know and I've seen quite a few with harness issues from age.


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Nice, seems like cheap insurance. Fort McMurray winters can get brutally cold. I've seen -40 or colder for weeks on end some winters. My Duramax has a grid heater and glow plugs and would start really rough plugged in all night...this one has a pan heater, but I see no block heater...? Or am I missing something...?

That little thing from CT looks like a wicked buy! I'm going to find one eh

It's a lot cheaper than a webasto LOL

make sure your battery is good, and your starter is amazing and you will probably manage. It may be worth looking into refreshing the bushings in the starter, and cleaning it up, the bushing kits are cheap on eBay. I have a 03 and never had a block heater, but not as heart wrenching cold here as it can be in Alberta.

A pan heater may be enough to be honest, it keeps the oil warm and heat rises. They chatter like a mofo when cold for about 15-45 seconds, its a beautiful thing really

Roseland, as mentioned above, is fantastic for parts. ALH is your motor code, the mkiv(the generation of car) had 2 different tdi engines while it was being produced, so you will see this reference a lot when asked what engine you need parts for.

Duramax_tdi said:

Nice, seems like cheap insurance. Fort McMurray winters can get brutally cold. I've seen -40 or colder for weeks on end some winters. My Duramax has a grid heater and glow plugs and would start really rough plugged in all night...this one has a pan heater, but I see no block heater...? Or am I missing something...?

That little thing from CT looks like a wicked buy! I'm going to find one eh

It's a lot cheaper than a webasto LOL

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I do miss it. I can't get one installed on the Treg, and the Webasto is a expensive add on.

Got a brand new battery, plugged in the pan heater to check it out she gets toasty. I always run conditioner and anti-gel in the winter as well...

I'm just happy about the MPG out of it, amazing. The guy said it had a tune, I didn't even ask what kind.

So, what kind of truck do you have and which model year? I'd love to put an LBZ into my Avalanche. (It's been done.)

FWIW, I just changed the glow plugs on my 2000 yesterday. Took about an hour, including going to the hardware store for a 10mm long socket.

I love my pan heater...they work really well even on the coldest days and warm up the oil for quicker lube pressure.....better than a frost heater in my opinion.
Make sure all 4 glow plugs work.
Make sure that cam and especialy injection timming is bang on or slightly advanced....greatly helps cold weather starts.

Perfectreign said:

So, what kind of truck do you have and which model year? I'd love to put an LBZ into my Avalanche. (It's been done.)

FWIW, I just changed the glow plugs on my 2000 yesterday. Took about an hour, including going to the hardware store for a 10mm long socket.

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Twin turbo LMM, built trans all the supporting mods. Makes 60+ psi

Let's just say the TDI feels like a total slug haha but it still makes me smile when I hear it rattle ?

drool!

I remember the SoTP feel in the duramax diesel trucks. 650+ torque - nice!

Leave the EGR alone, it helps the engine warm up faster in winter. I'd get a tune with dynamic EGR so it works when its cold and turns off when hot, that way intake coking is minimized.

Exhaust helps, the cats are a restriction.

A tune, new nozzles or injectors, no cat if allowed, no muffler or a Magnaflow type or resonator will do wonders for your ALH.

Check the timing belt, you don't want that to break.

You can delete the crankcase vent but using a catch can or provent but if you turn off the egr, there isn't really any reason to move or delete it.

Perfectreign said:

drool!

I remember the SoTP feel in the duramax diesel trucks. 650+ torque - nice!

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My truck makes 700rwhp roughly 1200 ft-lbs she's an 8000 pound crotch rocket lol.

Flick of a switch I can go back to 400/900 and pull a 15k trailer with EGT's that never rise above 1000. She will get 20mpg if you nurse it empty on the highway too.

turbovan+tdi said:

Leave the EGR alone, it helps the engine warm up faster in winter. I'd get a tune with dynamic EGR so it works when its cold and turns off when hot, that way intake coking is minimized.

Exhaust helps, the cats are a restriction.

A tune, new nozzles or injectors, no cat if allowed, no muffler or a Magnaflow type or resonator will do wonders for your ALH.

Check the timing belt, you don't want that to break.

You can delete the crankcase vent but using a catch can or provent but if you turn off the egr, there isn't really any reason to move or delete it.

Click to expand...

Good call on the EGR, I know how they can gunk up an intercooler tho...I'm not even sure what tune is in it tho, if I romp on it she blows smoke. So it's getting some fuel...I'm gonna park it up on some ramps and take a peak this weekend see if I can jimmy up a straight pipe somehow cheap.

Timing belt was done 800kms ago, along with a new head. At a VW dealer, how long do they typically last?

Timing belts should be changed roughly every 80-100k miles (128k - 160k km) based on what I've read.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=229870


Why a new head?

Buddy let it go too long and dropped a valve or something toasted the motor. Car has brand new head installed at dealer. Getting blue smoke until it's warmed up tho, I don't think it would be valve guides right? Probly just Cold smoke, my Duramax smoke blue as well before it warmed up in cool weather.