My HID assembly to GTI w/o HIDs?

STRANGETDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2001
Location
East Hampton, CT
TDI
2013 Audi A3 S-Line Premium Plus Quattro - APR Stage II
Can I swap my entire HID headlight assemblies to a MK6 GTI w/o HIDS?

Is it an even swap or is there extra wiring involved?

This is if I sell my TDI Tech Package back to VW and get a GTI. A lot of mk6 GTIs do not come with HIDs. I don't recall what trim level does. But if I get one that doesn't have it, I would like to swap them before I return the car back to VW.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
VAG's HIDs are wallet flushing liabilities. So tired of hearing people cry over the need for a $1000 headlight assembly. Just did one this morning on an Eos. Ridiculous expensive and fragile.

I do not know if you can swap them or not, other than to say I would not recommend it due to their high cost and high failure rate of parts inside them.

Of course, the ENGINE on the GTI will probably eclipse any worries about the headlights.

I'd keep your TDI.
 

KITEWAGON

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Jun 29, 2009
Location
Seacoast, NH
TDI
2014 Touareg Exec, 2014 JSW
Of course, the ENGINE on the GTI will probably eclipse any worries about the headlights.
Love my HID's!! I didn't know they were a liability. I have zero need for the leveling and cornering and my guess is that is where the liability comes in. But the brightness is SO much better than the junk halogens. I don't see well at night I guess and the HID's make a world of difference for me. If I was going to retro-fit I'd try to find a set of OEM quality non-adaptive HID's.

But I do fear that engine. Its pretty nice when its running well....and mine has been great over the short 7k miles that I've had it. But I fear it. I've read about way to much fail. I'm thinking a 2013/2014 TDI wagon is in my future.

To the OP, if you want a GTI with HID's I'd buy it that way. Seems like way to much hassle to swap around. I tend to agree with Oilhammer. Your Golf with tech package is pretty rare. I'd keep it. The GTI gets crap mileage on premium fuel. Its fun to wind up and pretty peppy, but I get about 25 MPG on average. What I love about the GTI is the sportier styling and handling, the seats, the steering wheel and the headlights. I'd transplant a TDI engine into it in a second and make it a GTD if that was easily doable.
 

KITEWAGON

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Location
Seacoast, NH
TDI
2014 Touareg Exec, 2014 JSW
This is if I sell my TDI Tech Package back to VW and get a GTI. A lot of mk6 GTIs do not come with HIDs. I don't recall what trim level does. But if I get one that doesn't have it, I would like to swap them before I return the car back to VW.
OP, by the way, the trim with the HID's is the Autobahn, at least on the 2012's. Mine might be for sale soon if you're interested. Its the fully loaded Autobahn and its in the best color they offered it in - Shadow Blue Metallic. My GTI pretty mint, but I miss driving a TDI.

I really like my GTI too so I'm actually pretty torn about whether to keep it sell it and get back into a TDI wagon. It sounds like you're torn as well! Haha.
 

STRANGETDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2001
Location
East Hampton, CT
TDI
2013 Audi A3 S-Line Premium Plus Quattro - APR Stage II
I'll made the decision to sell my TDI back (90% sure, did not fill out the paper work yet). My thoughts are that it has about 119,000 miles on it already. If I got the fix, and after that warranty expired, I just don't know what it's value would be, when I decide to sell it. VW will give me 19,000 for it now.

Looking for a rare low mileage MK6, MK7 GTI or R

How many miles on your GTI? I could be interested.
 

STRANGETDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2001
Location
East Hampton, CT
TDI
2013 Audi A3 S-Line Premium Plus Quattro - APR Stage II
VAG's HIDs are wallet flushing liabilities. So tired of hearing people cry over the need for a $1000 headlight assembly. Just did one this morning on an Eos. Ridiculous expensive and fragile.

I do not know if you can swap them or not, other than to say I would not recommend it due to their high cost and high failure rate of parts inside them.

Of course, the ENGINE on the GTI will probably eclipse any worries about the headlights.

I'd keep your TDI.
Forget the TDI for a second; out of the TSI, FSI or TFSI(Audi A3) engines which one is the best one?
 

20IndigoBlue02

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 22, 2001
Location
Was North NJ, now SoCal
TDI
2002 Golf TDI-- deceased
HID's are wired differently than H7/H15 assemblies.

The connectors are different and the BCM connections are different, plus you need to do some recoding.

Is the money you think you're going to profit going to be worth the cost of conversion?
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Forget the TDI for a second; out of the TSI, FSI or TFSI(Audi A3) engines which one is the best one?

That covers virtually every VAG engine sold here with spark plugs in the last decade, save for the NCS Jetta S 2.slo and the 2.5L 5cyl engines.

So for a vague question, I will give a vague answer: any engine that uses a proper BELT to runs it overhead cams instead of a chain or chains. :eek:
 

msantram

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Location
PA & NYC
TDI
2011 SportWagen TDI DSG (Buyback 2018.01.30)
I had installed GTI Bi-Xenons into my '11 Wagen. I did the full swap and even went down the road of getting AFS to work. Had to replace the CECM, kufatec harnesses, loads of coding changes, and patience. It was $$$ but a fun project to solve. I loved the lights so much that I bought a '13 GTI to replace my Wagen. The GTI is great!

OP - I did keep my Bi-Xenons from the wagen, which are up for sale. DM me for more info if you would like. Good luck with your decision.
 

msantram

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Location
PA & NYC
TDI
2011 SportWagen TDI DSG (Buyback 2018.01.30)
Also - I have put on about 3k miles on the '13 GTI. @KiteWagon is right that the mileage is pretty crappy coming from a TDI. I used to get 500+ in the Wagen. Now I get about 330 in the GTI on premium.

I was worried about the 2.0 Engine from many posts like @Oilhammer's, which is why I hunted for a CPO. You can definitely find one if you do not pick up @KiteWagon's. Good luck!
 

STRANGETDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2001
Location
East Hampton, CT
TDI
2013 Audi A3 S-Line Premium Plus Quattro - APR Stage II
That covers virtually every VAG engine sold here with spark plugs in the last decade, save for the NCS Jetta S 2.slo and the 2.5L 5cyl engines.

So for a vague question, I will give a vague answer: any engine that uses a proper BELT to runs it overhead cams instead of a chain or chains. :eek:
My research tells me that the FSI and TFSI run on belts.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I think better context would be in order. VAG throws a lot of acronyms on things. But all the direct injected gasoline engines (there are inline 4, V6, VR6, V8s, V10s, that are all DI. Some have turbos, some have superchargers, some are naturally aspirated.

And for all inclusion, there is a DI inline 5, the new TT employs such a beast.

If we were to limit the comparison to just inline 4s, which are all turbocharged (sold here, anyway), then we could narrow it down to really just two engine families, the newer of which is on its 3rd generation. But of those two families, I feel the older one is an all around better engine, and it has a belt driven overhead exhaust cam, with a small chain running to the intake cam, in essentially the same basic manner as the old 1.8t engines did. The later (and still in use) DI turbo 4 uses an excessively complex triple chain system...but there are so many other issues with that engine family that the chains are almost a secondary concern.

This is not to say the older engine doesn't have some issues, it certainly does, but they seem to generally be less common, and easily contained and dealt with.
 
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