# (MrDave's) Rabbit TDI Project: 1 year later



## MrDave (Jul 26, 2002)

The Rabbit TDI Project 
Supplemental: One Year Later

or: you can get there from here, and it's lots of fun


My first "Rabbit TDI Project" post was on April 1st, 2003.
Here we are, April 1, 2004, so I thought I'd post a summary of 
what all has happened since then. And besides, with 
CrewCabCaddy's and Malone's posts on his TDI project, there has been
a renewed interest here on the forums regarding my project.

My TDI is my daily driver. In the last year I've put on about
41000 kms. My economy has been running at about 50MPG (imperial)
for the last few months, and now that the weather is warming up the
mileage is going up, and should get better once summer diesel is available
at the pumps. The fuel tank is rated at 57 litres, and I regularly
run over 1000 kms on a tank of diesel. My record on a tank of fuel is 
1260 kms. Unfortunately, I ran it dry and was kinda stranded till 
some kind soul stopped and gave me a hand bleeding the injectors.

The A4 and the A1 use different electronics with regard to the fuel gauge.
Actually, the indication is backwards, comparing the two. What happened
originally, since I'm using the A4 gauge cluster but the A1 gauge sender, is 
that when my fuel tank was full, the gauge would show that I was empty.
(Complete with the idiot light and bell for low fuel). To solve this, I dropped
the fuel tank, pulled out the sender, and turned around the resistor 
sheet, and now my fuel gauge works properly. The problem is that I
didn't assemble it properly, and my gauge doesn't move till I have
about 700kms on the tank, then it drops pretty quick. However,
empty is empty, and I can't ignore the idiot light. Once the warning
light is lit and the bell rings, it's about 50kms to empty. (learned *that*
the hard way...) 

I had the opportunity to dyno the pickup last fall. Three runs on the dyno, 
the best of which was 101 hp at the wheels. Not bad for a engine that is 
rated 90hp at the crank, especially figuring I hadn't done any performance
modifications to the engine.









(the dyno didn't have a tach pickup for the diesel, so these numbers
come from the hp/speed dyno)









(yeah, ignore the big sweeping pen mark across the middle...)

So then I did do performance modifications to the engine. I contacted 
Jeff at http://www.rocketchip.com]Rocketchip and sent off my ECU.
He flashed the chipset and upgraded my North American ALH ECU to
the European ASV ECU. The ASV engine uses the same base engine 
components as the ALH (injector pump, block, etc) but uses larger 
injectors and is rated at 110 HP. He then upgraded the chip to
RC3.1, or the stage 3 chip. Along with this, I installed .205 injectors.
I haven't had a chance to dyno this combination, but it sure is alot of fun.
Winter was a bit of a problem: Narrow little tires combined with alot of
torque and icy roads results in lots of wheelspin....

Also, used a bit of LaminX on the headlamps:

















Problems:
Problems I've had with my pickup since I put it all togeather:

*1. clutch slip:* 250+ ftlbs of torque (estimated) plus a bone stock 210mm
020 clutch, pp, and flywheel, combined with cold weather. It's 
warmer outside now, so no slip. 'Course, it's an 020 tranny, so I'm
not driving it too hard.

*2. dead oil pan:* The A4 engines have soft aluminum alloy oil pans. Plus, 
the pans are huge. Plus, the truck is low. I hit a speed bump wrong
and the front end of the truck slammed down, and cracked my oil pan.
I hit a bad pothole, and severely dented my pan, and cracked it again.
Solution: pan guard from a NB 2.0. Looks good, feels strong, I
feel alot better now. A whole lot better.

















*3. CEL/DTCs:* Suprisingly, I only have 3 DTCs in the engine ECU. And there
is nothing I can do about them. One for no ABS, one for no airbags,
and the third for no controller/ECU for the rad fan.

*4. glow plugs:* Eeek. A4 Bentley paper manual has the wrong wiring diagram
for the 2002+ TDI. 2002 brought about the new glow plug module
which fires off a different ECU pin, compared to the 2001 and earlier
ALH engines. Plus, I had a 2001 engine harness, so my glow plugs 
didn't work, and I was using the wrong GP module. Changed the 
module, fixed the wiring, glow plugs work.
Got the European ECU, glow plugs stopped working.
Changed the wiring back, changed from a GP module to a simple relay
and now all is well. The ASV ECU, and all european ECUs, including the
European version of the ALH use a dumb relay to control the GPs.
The North American ECU uses a smart diagnostic GP module, I think
as part of the polution control system.
Regardless, all is working now.

*5. Mysterious starting problem: * Sometimes the pickup wouldn't start.
Checked my fuel system, checked all my wiring, checked pretty much
everything, but it remained very tempermental. Finally traced it back 
to a faulty 20+ year old ignition switch. Changed the switch, fixed the
problem. Turns out that the ECU won't let the engine start if there is
no power to the ECU...

The future:
Due to the massive torque of the little diesel engine, I'm planning on upgrading
the transmission. I don't think that the 020 that I'm currently running will
be able to hold the power and last for hundreds of thousands of miles.
So, I currently have a Passat TDI 02A cable shift tranny on my engine stand
and I will be swapping it in hopefully sometime this summer. This will also 
allow me to run a larger clutch and larger CVs. I have the cable clutch 
adapter for it already, and with the 02A, I can simply run Scirocco 16V axles,
so the whole swap should be relatively painless.

Finally, a little bit of badge tuning 








Yeah, pardon the cleanliness of the truck. It's kinda spring around here,
and I've had to do a bit of off-roading lately...

Summary: 40,000 down, 460,000 to go.

-Dave










Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Installing the Engine
Part 3: Transmission
Part 4: Wiring 1
Part 5: Speedometer and Cluster
Part 6: ImmobilizerIII
Part 7: Drive By Wire
Part 8: Intercooler
Part 9: Intake and Exhaust
part 10: MFA and Cruise Control
Part 11: The Dash
Part 12: The Little Things
Part 13: The End (for now)
Part 14: 6spd transmission and brake upgrades
One Year Later
Dyno results
Who Needs a VR6
TDI Rabbit


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## Bus pasS (Oct 6, 2002)

*Re: (MrDave's) Rabbit TDI Project: 1 year later (MrDave)*

this caddy is just amazing i've followed the progress of this and bugged you alot with questions and i love how its turned out http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## vr6Cop (Jun 1, 2000)

Good update Mr Dave http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## Mk1noHID (Dec 16, 2001)

*Re: (vr6Cop)*

I remember those threads, they were great (still is).
Wouldn´t it be possible to use the A4 fueltanksender?
http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## Malone (Oct 2, 2001)

*Re: (MrDave's) Rabbit TDI Project: 1 year later (MrDave)*

I was wondering about your Rabbit, Dave, and seeing this thread made my day! Thanks http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## digiguy (Jan 12, 2004)

Hey MrDave, look forward to seeing you at the airriders season opener. Great post.


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## punkassjim (Sep 22, 2002)

*Re: (MrDave's) Rabbit TDI Project: 1 year later (MrDave)*


_Quote, originally posted by *MrDave* »_The problem is that I
didn't assemble it properly, and my gauge doesn't move till I have
about 700kms on the tank, then it drops pretty quick. However,
empty is empty, and I can't ignore the idiot light. Once the warning
light is lit and the bell rings, it's about 50kms to empty. (learned *that*
the hard way...) 

I'm pretty sure you already know this, but...I had the exact same problem when I finally installed the mk4 fuel pump in my mk3 tank. All I had to do was loosen the retaining ring for the fuel pump/sender, and turn the unit 90° so that the swingarm had a full range of movement. Now I have almost all the range of the gauge. I'm still off by about 2 needle-widths up top, but if I turn the pump another 5° that'll solve that.
Thanks for posting the links, MrDave, I'll have to read up on that whole project







http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## MrDave (Jul 26, 2002)

*Re: (MrDave's) Rabbit TDI Project: 1 year later (punkassjim)*

The A4/MK4 tank sender won't work with the A1/MK1 pickup fuel tank.
(kinda hard to fit a 4" round sender into a 2" round hole).
I think the reason my fuel gauge is a bit buggy is that when I took the 
sender apart, a spring went flying, then I couldn't figure out which 
way the spring went, so I reassembled it in the way that made the most
sense to me, but I think it's hanging up on the swingarm mechanism a bit.
Next time I drop the fuel tank I'll try to fix it. Till then, full is full, empty is empty, everything in between doesn't really matter that much. Besides,
I tend to drive by the odometer rather than the fuel gauge anyway.
-Dave


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## nimbusmk1 (Aug 12, 2003)

Looks awesome Dave. Hope to see you and the caddy at bugthaw.


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## Peter Tong (Jun 17, 1999)

*Re: (MrDave's) Rabbit TDI Project: 1 year later (MrDave)*

Hey Dave,
Love that torque curve...must be a really driveable car around town! Keep up the good work...
regards,
Peter Tong


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## 84_GLI_coupe (Apr 3, 2001)

*Re: (MrDave's) Rabbit TDI Project: 1 year later (Peter Tong)*

We're putting a TDI from a 2000 Jetta into an 80's Vanagon right now. The engine and tranny are together, subframes are made, and it's sitting in the engine bay properly. The wiring harness is laid out on a board, and we have the correct instrument cluster. So mechanically it's done, just gotta get stuff wired.
I'll have to show your project to the guys, so they can get some pointers. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## firestartergli (Feb 14, 2004)

Dave give me a call when you get the chance, I am sure you still have my number, if not just pm me here or on the airriders forum, I wanna see your car plus I wanna show you my turbo rabbit! C U L8R


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## Oilheat (Aug 1, 2003)

*Re: (MrDave's) Rabbit TDI Project: 1 year later (MrDave)*

MrDave that looks great. I am working on a similar project and was 
wondering if you came across similar issues. My 91 Jetta diesel is
receiving a 98 AHU TDI. and trans. The engine and trans are in the frame and 
everything is wired up and plumbed but not running or rolling yet.
Here's my question: the Jetta had 90mm axles; I ordered up 100mm
axles for the same year gas car and put them right in, but I measured 
the distance across the flange faces of the old trans and the new one
and the new trans is approx. six tenths of an inch wider.
Did you find the same thing, and do you think it will cause any 
problems; or will it simply be absorbed by the normal travel of the 
balls in the CV races? Oilheat
and found that the new flanges


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## Oilheat (Aug 1, 2003)

*Re: (MrDave's) Rabbit TDI Project: 1 year later (MrDave)*

OK, OK, my word processing skills are poor and I can't even find
out how to edit a post! Please disregard that last line, it's some 
sentence fragment that crept back in while I wasn't looking.


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## MrDave (Jul 26, 2002)

*Re: (MrDave's) Rabbit TDI Project: 1 year later (Oilheat)*

Honestly, I haven't got to that point yet.
Putting the 02A into the A2/Mk2 is a common thing.
You could probably search the forums and find out.
I'm curious too for my A1/Mk1, but I have yet to read about anyone
running into any problems or having to shorten the axles.
-Dave


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