1999 VW Golf GT TDI engine Restriction question

[john purdie]

A colleague of mine has a 1999 T reg golf GT TDI and it apparently has been "Restricted".It is incredibly slow/sluggish and wondered if anyone knows anything about this or how he can remove it and costs/hours involved on doing this and perhaps the best place to do it (Bearing in mind VW dealer is going to be so expensive).

Any advice would be much appreciated

Cheers

[kevinday]

Never heard of this before.

[M@H]

Is that the same engine as the Audi/Passat 1.9 tdi.. if so it comes with two variants at 90 and 110 BHP (BHP figs depend on year actually as there are 115's and 130's too). Having driven a 90 BHP Passat the other day I can happily say it was the most lack lustre sluggish tractor-like experience I have ever had in a car, the 110 however (which I drove 1/2 hour later) was quite a different animal.

With the Audi and Passsat, you can tell the difference by the "Red I" insofar as a part of the "TDI" badge is Red, rather than all the letters being Silver.

Perhaps your mate has a 90BHP model..?

Cheers
Matt

>> Edited by M@H on Tuesday 19th April 09:44

[edc]

Get on a friendly VW board such as uk-mkivs and see if anybody local will kindly run a diagnostic check using VAG-COM

[pdV6]

M@H said:

With the Audi and Passsat, you can tell the difference by the "Red I" insofar as a part of the "TDI" badge is Red, rather than all the letters being Silver.

I thought a red "i" denoted a turbo?

[M@H]

pdV6 said:

M@H said: With the Audi and Passsat, you can tell the difference by the "Red I" insofar as a part of the "TDI" badge is Red, rather than all the letters being Silver. I thought a red "i" denoted a turbo?

I think you'll find that the "T" does that

[edc]

And equally you'll find there's a lot of badge swapping

[M@H]

edc said:

And equally you'll find there's a lot of badge swapping

Yeah.. every bugger with a 90BHP model slapping a Red I badge on their cars..

IIRC the "Red I" came in to existence in late 1995-6.. before that the 1.9TDI's were all 90's (could be wrong)

[stevieturbo]

re M@H
I can happily say it was the most lack lustre sluggish tractor-like experience I have ever had in a car


If you think that about the VW's diesels, then I can assume you have never driven any other diesel car before ??

Ive driven quite a few diesels, and currently own a Rover 400td. Even a 90bhp VW puts it to shame despite supposedly having less power.
The VW range, including the lowly 90bhp engines are some of the nicest torquiest diesels Ive driven.

[M@H]

stevieturbo said:

M@H said: I can happily say it was the most lack lustre sluggish tractor-like experience I have ever had in a car If you think that about the VW's diesels, then I can assume you have never driven any other diesel car before ?? Ive driven quite a few diesels, and currently own a Rover 400td. Even a 90bhp VW puts it to shame despite supposedly having less power. The VW range, including the lowly 90bhp engines are some of the nicest torquiest diesels Ive driven.

Hey I wasn't being personally critical, yes I have driven several diffferent diesels, mainly the french 1.9 in both Citroen and Peugeots plus their Turbo version in a Citroen, also I have driven 110,115 and 130 Audi TDI's, plus of course my first Series 2 Landrover.

As posted, my comment was based on driving 1x 90bhp Passat the other day.. now thats a BIG car for 90BHP (larger than the Golf or Audi, or indeed your Rover 400) and also as said in my post.. the 110 is a totally different animal (i.e. Much better)

I didn't Tar all the VW diesels as being the same and certainly don't "think that about the VW's diesels" but I can honestly say that the 90BHP engine trying to haul a huge Passat about that I tested was definitely lack lustre and sluggish.
Cheers,
Matt.

[stevieturbo]

I actually owned a tdi Passat for a couple of years. It was one of the first of the modern range of engines, 94 car.

I stupidly sold it in favour of a 525tds, which was one of the biggest heaps of sh1te Ive ever owned.
The Passat was an excellent car, plenty of room, plenty of power ( for a diesel ) and very very economical.

After losing a fortune on the BMW, Im now on the Rover. Its slow, noisy, reasonably economical, but very cheap to buy.
Its lighter than a Passat, but the engine is rubbish by comparison, despite VW being only the 90 model.

But I do agree, the modern 130's and indeed 150's are excellent diesel engines.

Personally I hate anything french, including their diesels, most of which eat head gaskets every 50k, unless they are driven very easy all their life.

[busa_rush]

If you want to try a sluggish diesel try a Mondeo 1.8TD ! Mine does exactly what i ask of it and it costs almost nothing to run but it's not quick, or quiet, or even terribly refined. But at 70mph on the motorway it does almost 50 mpg, reasonably comfortably and depreciation is something other cars suffer from

[flooritforever]

stevieturbo said:

Ive driven quite a few diesels, and currently own a Rover 400td.

stevieturbo said:

After losing a fortune on the BMW, Im now on the Rover. Its slow, noisy, reasonably economical, but very cheap to buy. Its lighter than a Passat, but the engine is rubbish by comparison, despite VW being only the 90 model.

What is your Rovers exact model? Is it actually a '420 TD'? As apposed to a '420 SDi' or '420 GSDi' or similar? Cos if it is an actual '420 TD' then I have some bad news. The 420 TD was not fitted with the 103 BHP L-series diesel. It was fitted with an 84 BHP version of that engine. And yes, this engine is an absolute dog. SLow, noisy and actually less economical than the more powerful engine. Check if your engine has an intercooler. If it doesn't then you only have 84 BHP.

If it does have an intercooler, then something is wrong with it. Cos the with the 103 BHP engine it should be comfortably faster than a 90 BHP passat. Check when the fuel filter was last changed. And does it have good oil in it? I have never heard the 103 BHP engine described as 'slow', even when fitted in a Rover 600. Noisy yes, but not slow.

[stevieturbo]

It doesnt have an intercooler, and it is horrible...lol

[flooritforever]

stevieturbo said:

It doesnt have an intercooler, and it is horrible...lol

Yup, just as I thought! Only 84 BHP then. I had one of these in a 200. It was absolutely bloody awful!

The 103 BHP engine is a totally different kettle of fish. If I remember right, it won several awards in it's time. Trade yours in and get one with the better engine. They only go for a couple of hundred quid more.

[jvaughan]

Check out the Audi /VW section of PH. Loads of stuff on the TDI engines etc there

[grahamw48]

Hmm, I also run a 400 Rover (SLDi Turbo) with the intercooled engine.

Sluggish is not a word I would use to describe it.
Handles great too, and beautifully put together.

0-60 on one of these cars is 10.6 secs. Not bad for a 103 horse diesel doing 52mpg all day long, and engine not touched other than belts changed, and oilchanges during the last 50,000 miles.



>> Edited by grahamw48 on Monday 2nd May 00:42

[victormeldrew]

I thought the GT TDI variants were all either 130 of 150 bhp? And I had a 110 that didn't have a red i, 96 vintage.

[grahamw48]

victormeldrew said:

I thought the GT TDI variants were all either 130 of 150 bhp? And I had a 110 that didn't have a red i, 96 vintage.

I thought that too.

Also, why pay extra for the GT model, and then 'restrict' it ? Makes no sense.

[stevieturbo]

There are so many variations of diesels in the VW Tdi range, its hard to keep track of them.

They have 90, 100, 110, 115, 130, 150, and no doubt a couple more somewhere !!!