What's different about gassers?

dqa

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2002
Location
Alabama
TDI
RIP: 1999½ New Golf GL TDI satin silver
After 13 years of owning an A4 TDI, I'm now stuck with an A4 gasser.

For someone who's learned most of what he knows about these cars from this board, I'm probably making some assumptions about my newish car that are faulty, just because I've been trained from a diesel perspective.

What differences should I keep in mind with my gasser?

[I realize I'll probably need to take most of my engine-related posting to another board, but I thought this thread would be instructive for owners of TDIs and gassers alike who are ignorant of the differences]
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
When in doubt, downshift. After 10 years of driving only diesels my switch to a Miata for track days has taught me that the power is between 5-7000 RPM. It's an adjustment.
 

dqa

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2002
Location
Alabama
TDI
RIP: 1999½ New Golf GL TDI satin silver
I was wondering more about maintenance and upgrades. For instance,

Is there the same benefit to installing a metal skid plate?
Can I get 100k miles on a new timing belt?
Can I still go 10-20k miles using synthetic oil?
Can I use my bottles of 5W40, or do I need to get something different?
Any other maintenance intervals that are much longer or shorter than I'm used to with the TDI?
forget about 600 mile tanks!
I hear that. First tank was ~300 miles. I usually got 680-690 in my TDI.
IndigoBlueWagon said:
When in doubt, downshift.
More bad news: it's an automatic.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
1.8T or 2.Slow? What oil do you have. If it's 505.00 or better it'll probably be fine in either engine. The 1.8T has a 5000 oil change interval, I think, and the 2.Slow is 7,500. Timing belts are 75K, IIRC. Other intervals are the same, except fuel filters are generally only replaced as needed.

Automatic? Just mash the accelerator and keep it there.
 

greengeeker

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Location
Cambridge, MN
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS
Depending on what year you have there are a number of things to know about the gasser vw's. The early years of the 2.0L are known to have oil consumption issues AND are coupled to the same failure-prone 01m as the tdi's. IF you have a later 1.8T it should be coupled to a 09A which is a much more durable transmission. Personally I wouldn't have an issue with owning a 2002+ 2slow/5pd or 1.8T auto or manual. Cheap transportation that's reliable and will last nearly as long as a TDI.
 
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dqa

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2002
Location
Alabama
TDI
RIP: 1999½ New Golf GL TDI satin silver
Personally I wouldn't have an issue with owning a 2002+ 2slow/5pd or 1.8T auto or manual.
This is a 2003 2.0/auto.
turbocharged798 said:
The 2.slo is 10K OCIs, just like our TDIs.
Is that with the fully synthetic, or regular oil? I also seem to recall that oil analysis over on the Lubricants forum demonstrated that most people did just fine with 15 or 20k changes - is that less likely in a hotter engine?
IndigoBlueWagon said:
What oil do you have?
I have leftover Rotella 5W40 (CJ-4/SM) from Wally World for my TDI.
 

Bob_Fout

Oil Wanker
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
I really hope people aren't blindly running 15K to 20K intervals...
 

Ski in NC

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 7, 2008
Location
Wilmington, NC USA
TDI
2001 Jetta ALH 5sp stock
Gassers seem to have more of a sludge problem than diesels. You really need neglected oil in a diesel to sludge it up. Gassers seem to do it even when oil is changed at the interval. I change my gasser vehicle oil (old truck) at about 4kmile, and there is some gunk building up in oil fill.

In the 2.slow, I wouldn't bother buying synthetic, but I'd probably change it sooner than spec, maybe 5kmile. And it should be fine using your left over rotella syn.
 
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