PDJetta said:
How was the white smoke (amount) and idle on this start? I am curious because I am considering this modification. I still have the ceramics and the dealer AIN'T touching my car!
Thanks.
--Nate
Go for the steel GP update but have Jeff (RC) do the tuning update to your ECU. Get those "time bomb" ceramics outa there!
My 05 ATD PD JWagen starts easily in the cold with the recall GPs and RC2+ tuning, even in single digit temps although I've only had one chance so far to try it at +7F. No problem in the 10's and 20's for temps.
My original BEW engine (before the timing belt disaster happened) with RC2 tuning would behave like stock tuning in below freezing temps. It would start easily but the idle would be rough and smokey and stumble around for the first 10-15 seconds of running. The white smoke would be bad enough to engulf the back of the car durnig those 10-15 seconds. If you gave it a little throttle and enough to raise it to around 1500 RPM, the stumble would instantly smooth out.
My original BEW engine had the time bomb ceramic GPs. My BEW engine's timing belt failure in July forced my decision whether or not to do the update. The new ATD PD engine (aka PD100 in Europe) came with steel GPs but different from the recall GPs. They weren't the ALH type 11V GPs either. Mrchill installed the recall GPs in the ATD engine and sent my ECU out to Jeff (RC) for the steel GP update.
With the steel recall GPs and updated RC2+ tuning, the new ATD PD engine starts INSTANTLY, like an ALH engine, with NO stumbling around. The idle jumps to ~ 1500 RPM at startup and then drops down to normal a few seconds later. I think the tuning update may have modified the starting conditions for a cold start to prevent the stumble. With temps in the mid 20's F, preglow time is around ~ 2.5 seconds. With the one cold start I've done at +7F, IIRC the preglow time was only about a second or two longer. From my experience so far, the steel GPs do appear to heat up fast.
I don't think my new PD engine has much to do with it given that it has lower compression than a fully broken-in engine would have. I think it's because: Jeff (RC) got it right FTW "For the Win!"
and my RC2+ tune has an aggressive timing map and different starting conditions. Cold start injection timing is probably more advanced than before.
I recommend going ahead and do the update:
1.) Have Jeff (RC) do the GP update with whatever tuning updates you want. Jeff pleasantly surprised me by updating my tune from RC2 to RC2+ given the hardware upgrades that mrchill was doing during my PD engine swap.
2.) DIY and get those "time bomb" ceramic GPs outa there ASAP.
Good luck.
