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VW Jetta TDI

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    gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    Is there way to circulate heat to the DSG with your engine heater?
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    bpeeblesbpeebles Member Posts: 4,085
    I have no specific knowledge about the DSG... but all automatic xmissions that I am aware of have their hydrolic fluid heat-exchanged with the engine antifreeze.

    In laymans terms this means, the transmisstion temparture is SHARED with the engine. In this way, any heat generated in the xmission is disapated out thru the radiator.

    (Some xmissions have their own seperate cooling system....)

    With this said, I would expect that using a plug-in engine-heater would also tend to warm the xmission once the engine is started and the fluid starts to flow.
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    m6userm6user Member Posts: 3,181
    Well, EXCUSE me if I asked a question not directly related. Cosmo, I wasn't inferring that you provided bad info I just noticed the difference and was wondering about it. Have a good one.
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    shriftyshrifty Member Posts: 255
    To explain the miles, I have been taking regular trips to NYC almost weekly, drove up to Saskatchewan for vacation, and many business trips for work. Oddly enough, tomorrow will be 2 weeks that my car has NOT been running, which is the longest the car sat in one place since being built. So much for the 3 year warranty! That has expired about 2 months ago. It would be nice to see an option for a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty.

    Typically I put on between 30-35K miles a year, and I've had the car a bit over a year now. I spoke with the dealer about the 40K service, they said the DSG fluid alone was roughly $350! I think the total would run in the 700 range... :mad:
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    shriftyshrifty Member Posts: 255
    A few weeks ago I was traveling down the highway when I hit a piece of re-tread, and it got stuck in the lower plastic front grille piece in the center of the car. I believe the only thing broken is the plastic, does anyone know about how much that will cost to replace?
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    longo2longo2 Member Posts: 347
    You can buy a new Jetta Grill on eBay for about $40.00 delivered.

    Not sure exactly where your damage is, but if it's the grill unit, it comes out in about 2 min.

    However, the guy only sells the ones for cars with the front license plate.
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    jogousajogousa Member Posts: 402
    Amazon sells one for 30 plus shipping.
    Replacement is a piece of cake - go on eurotuner's website for step-by-step instructions. All you need is a philips screwdriver and T20 torx bit/screwdriver.
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    newtdiguy1newtdiguy1 Member Posts: 2
    Went looking for a 2010 TDI found that while there are NO incentives . Prices quoted are lower than invoice on web sites???? Is there any factory to dealer Cash?????? If so how much?? I know they are NOT losing any money
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    sebring95sebring95 Member Posts: 3,241
    TDI sales are strong and I wouldn't expect to see any incentives for awhile. There are a couple big TDI dealers selling for invoice but most of the small dealers are not discounting much at all. They were selling back in the summer for a lot less but VW had some incentives on the end of year 2009 models.
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    british_roverbritish_rover Member Posts: 8,502
    Lower then invoice or lower then MSRP? Are you getting the two confused? Which website are saying this?

    Edmunds TMV shows pricing about 400 dollars below MSRP for a base Jetta TDI which sounds about right to me for average. Maybe you can buy one for right at invoice or a little above some dealers. An invoice deal would be about another 900 dollars off.
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    gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    Invoice on any TDI would be good right now. Worth flying and buying I would think. CA not giving great deals yet as most TDI models sold before they are unloaded from the truck.
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    shriftyshrifty Member Posts: 255
    I would have to look at the damage a bit closer, but I believe the only part messed up is the black plastic grill. I don't have a front license plate, and would really prefer not to have one as I personally don't think it looks as good with one.
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    ydwydw Member Posts: 14
    The speedometer dial on my 2010 Jetta TDI has the equally spaced major tick marks (equal by angle measurement) labeled with the speeds (sold in US, so in miles per hour) 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160. I find this strange since the speed interval is 10 below 80 mph and 20 above 80 mph. So does the speedometer needle suddenly rotate only half the angle for each mph when the vehicle speed exceeds 80 mph?

    The speedometer dial also does not have speed markings in km/hr, which I think is strange too. I can convert between mph and km/hr without difficulty, but what does VW expect American Jetta drivers who can't do the math in their heads do when they drive their Jettas to Canada or Mexico? Isn't this a potential safety issue for such drivers?

    Does anyone have a 2010/recent-year-model Jetta with equal-interval markings and markings in both units on their speedometer dial?
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    altair4altair4 Member Posts: 1,469
    That's pretty funny. I just took a look at VW's website and found a picture of the speedo on the Jetta sedan page and you are 100% correct.

    http://www.vw.com/jetta/gallery/en/us/#/interior/0/
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    gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    Maybe there is a move a foot to get rid of those Krazy Kilometers and just have Miles Per Hour as it should be. :shades:
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    ydwydw Member Posts: 14
    That's exactly what mine looks like. I haven't tried driving over 80 mph and comparing the speedometer and MFI speed display yet. Speaking of the MFI, maybe VW expects the driver to use the MFI to display the speed in km/hr if needed when driving in Canada or Mexico? I still prefer to read the speed from the needle.
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    shriftyshrifty Member Posts: 255
    My '08 Grand Prix had one set of numbers on the speedometer as well, and no indications of MPH or KPH. In one of the settings you could switch the units between MPH and KPH, which would recalibrate the speedometer to use the same set of digits. I'm not familiar with the '10 TDI, but I would suggest looking in the settings for your car to see if this is how it works.
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    shriftyshrifty Member Posts: 255
    I had my car in today, and had some additional work done as well. I'm not sure as to why, but they did not change the DSG fluid today, they mentioned something about it not being necessary since most (99%) of my driving is highway, and will do it at the 50K mark. I think the estimate for the work according to the book for the 40K service would cost approx $700-800. The DSG fluid alone is about $350.
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    ydwydw Member Posts: 14
    Now that you mentioned this, I remember coming across this feature in a Cobalt rental car that I drove last year. I actually liked being able switch the speedometer between mph and km/hr.

    The Jetta, does not seem to have this feature. Nothing that I could find in the owner's manual anyway.
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    shriftyshrifty Member Posts: 255
    Agreed, I liked this feature as well. I found it much easier than trying to read the minuscule numbers for KPH. It seems odd that they would design the speedo in such a way that doesn't show both MPH and KPH in one format or another.
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    rrollntdirrollntdi Member Posts: 52
    shrifty... Thank you for the info on the 40K service costs. That sure is a chunk of cash for maintenance service :( . Maybe I can try to save a few $ and do some of the work myself, like the air and cabin filters or fuel filter, if they are on the list to be performed. I may shop around to see who else might be able to perform the services. I know the fluid, filter and seal can be had on tdiparts.com for about $190. The air and cabin filters are less than $20 each. It's nice they gave you a 10K mile extension for the services.
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    strada9strada9 Member Posts: 1
    Hello guys,
    I purchased a brand new 09 Jetta SW TDI from Danbury CT and i am writing this post for advice about my mileage. I am only getting 37.2 mpg and after talking to numerous new model TDI owners that are supposedly getting 42 mpg i am reaching out for help. Some facts
    1- I've tried several different brands of diesel but routinely goto the same Sunoco station and same pump
    2- I commute 90% highway miles at speeds of 60 mph and keep the rpms below 2k
    3- I have a 6 speed and keep it in sixth for the entire trip
    4- I have the Contisport OEM tires on the 5 spoke 17" rims. I've been checking the pressure at fill ups.
    5- I have 15,500 miles on the car and the tires were rotated and balance checked(i know alittle much here)
    6- I eco-drive and accelerate slowly to the chagrin of other motorists.

    Like i previously said i'm only getting 37 mpg and i dont know if this is normal or if something is off. The car has just broken in and runs awesome. I opted for the Nav system which was a good choice. Any advice from any of you veteran diesel owners will be much appreciated Ben F Westchester NY
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    jogousajogousa Member Posts: 402
    Driving in the 6th gear does not always mean you get the best mileage. I suggest you switch your on-board-computer display to the data, that shows you actual MPG for each gear, while shifting.

    On slight uphills (when you don't downshift) you may have it in 6th gear but your actual MPG drops due to the high torque of that engine. You may not feel the need to downshift but if you do, you can get a better MPG.

    If you keep the "light" foot (on gas pedal) and shift to neutral on downhill grades, you may get an increased MPG reading. Cruise control has to be off to get the best MPG, especially on up-and down-hill terrain.

    This is my personal experience with 09 Tdi SW with 10 K on it.
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    sebring95sebring95 Member Posts: 3,241
    17's might hurt you a little.

    I would try driving different. Accelerate normally and adjust your speed a little. A diesel will burn more fuel if you're lugging the motor as opposed to operating in the power band. I never noticed much difference between driving normal (which was more aggressive than what you're describing) and flat out flogging it.

    You may not see optimal gas mileage until well into the 30k-50k mile range. Especially if you baby the thing. Best way to kill a VW is to drive it like a Buick. YMMV. :P
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    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    I think two factors are at play here: 1) the car's mileage will improve as you rack up more miles and 2) people with fuel efficient cars are notoriously careless in how they calculate (or report) their mileages. Even if they are using the computer, they often tell you the BEST mileage they ever got and give you the impression that this is their average, as in "I'm getting 42 mpg". Does that mean all the time or yesterday's reading?

    You may have noticed that when car magazines do longterm testing of fuel-efficient cars, and keep careful logs, they never match the top mileages reported in more anecdotal references.
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    eliaselias Member Posts: 2,209
    37 mpg does seem low.
    i agree you may be lugging the engine. think about 5th gear for your low speeds (60).
    shifting to neutral causes nonzero fuel use. stay in gear with foot off accelerator if you want to use zero fuel instead.

    also i concur that flogging the TDI does not reduce its mpg, at least not for me. I floor my 06 5-spd TDI early and often, such as every time i enter the highway. it gets a solid 42 mpg winter, 44 mpg summer. calculating the mpg for it has gotten boring - it's quite consistent.

    a few times i kept speeds below 70 for the whole tank and got 49 mpg.
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    jogousajogousa Member Posts: 402
    aaahhh... "lugging the engine"... thanks Sebring 95 and Elias that you could articulate the issue better than me! (didn't even know such expression describes, what I have described...).

    The best, in my opinion, is to switch the on-board computer display to show MPG and you could see how "light" your foot is on the gas pedal and if to down-shift or not..if you really want to achieve the maximum MPG.... .in a gas engine it's a simple vacuum gauge - not sure, what it is in Tdi engine...

    I also test the red-line once in a while to "lubricate" the turbo....some of the drivers next to me (red-to green light) seem to under-estimate what a wagon can do...is it also called "road rage" perhaps? Main thing, I was told while living in So. Calif., is to avoid eye contact!
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    eliaselias Member Posts: 2,209
    tnx, Joe-Go-USA. personally I try to avoid the "instant-mpg" dashboard display - I don't like my eyes being drawn to it - i want to be watching the road & other cars - not my mpg.

    with the 5-spd TDI, 50 mph is the lowest speed where I try 5th gear - usually 60 mph is better. It lugs in 5th at 50 mph but is ok for downhill or gently maintaining-speed.
    For the 6-spd, I'm not sure what the optimal shiftpoints might be, but checking the dashboard display at "steady-state" in 5th vs 6th is a good way to find out - maybe using cruisecontrol on a flat/mostly-empty road.
    I think the mpg-meter on the TDI operates by counting "fuel injector pulses" or something like that.
    Indeed it is funny to sometimes surprise other drivers by "freight-training" them with a TDI - especially going uphill... (It means "pulling away fast" in the ls2gto forum.)
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    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    You can also use your tachometer to tell if you are lugging. I think diesels like a fairly narrow RPM range.

    Lugging is about the worst thing one can do to an engine--puts a great strain on it.
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    newtdiguynewtdiguy Member Posts: 4
    I have a quick question regarding 17" wheels.

    Is it a known fact that they get less mileage? I have been looking at 2010 sedans and most of them with sunroof and automatics come with 17" wheels I think I read they are more to replace?? But I want to find out about mileage too.
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    moparbadmoparbad Member Posts: 3,870
    What is your average distance per trip one way?

    I do not average above 40 mpg on trips less than 20 miles.

    For the information you have provided, I would expect 40 mpg or more for the style of driving you describe. My driving is more agressive and I have higher mpg with fewer mile on my TDI.
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    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    It's kind of a law of physics---larger the wheel, more unsprung weight, more rotational mass, less torque at low speeds. Probably the fuel efficiency for larger wheels will vary from worse at low speeds to maybe not a factor while in overdrive on a flat road.
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    sebring95sebring95 Member Posts: 3,241
    The other question is...what size tire is on that 17" rim? Typically....you see a slightly wider tire when you go up a size and THAT will smack your mpg in addition to what Mr. Shiftright noted. I haven't researched the bigger tires on Jettas so I might be all wet, but I recall in past generation Jettas, bigger tire meant wider as well.
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    moparbadmoparbad Member Posts: 3,870
    I have the 16's on my TDI. It was factory equipped with 17's and I requested 16's be installed and credit for the difference in cost.
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    jogousajogousa Member Posts: 402
    Same here... I did the same thing!
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    bpeeblesbpeebles Member Posts: 4,085
    You said ==> "shift to neutral on downhill grades"

    No, no, NO, Never -ever "idle the engine" while the vehicle is moving forward. This will consume MORE fuel. This truth holds for any modern fuel-injected engine. (Gasoline and Diesel)

    FACT: The onboard computer turns off the fuel-injection anytime the roadspeed exceeds the requested speed of the throttle-pedal. This means when the you have your foot off the throttle and the vehicle is 'coasting' down a long hill, There is ZERO fuel being injected. The weight of the vehicle is keeping the engine turning.

    HOWEVER: If you put in neutral and allow the engine to idle down the same hill, you are burning fuel keeping the engine idling.

    This feature of the computer to turn off the injection can be used to your advantage to improve overall MPG. One simple way is to keep the engine in gear as long as possible while decellerating to a stop....push the clutch only after the engine RPM gets down to the idle-speed. This will turn off all fuel-injection to the last possible moment.
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    bpeeblesbpeebles Member Posts: 4,085
    37.2MPG is not really all that bad considering your engine is a baby and has barely cut its first tooth. Your MPG will increase over the next 50K miles.

    Also, during these winter months, Diesel fuel is premixed with kerosene to keep it from gelling. The addition of kerosene to the fuel reduces the amount of energy per gallon of fuel.

    Additionally, cold weather really cuts back on MPG. Your engine takes much longer to get up to its most efficent running temparature.

    Heck... My TDI usually gets over 750 miles per tank of fuel... but the combo of cut-fuel and cold ambient temps has reduced me to a lowly ~680 Miles per tank.

    With only 15K miles on your engine, you should be focusing on proper BREAK-IN of your engine to promote high MPG in the future. There have been many write-ups explaining the driving-habits which can promote well-sealed piston-rings thus a high MPG engine.
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    shriftyshrifty Member Posts: 255
    Is it possible that the speedometer and related gauges need to be re-calibrated due to a larger tire/wheel size?

    I'm thinking that a bigger tire won't rotate as often as a smaller one, the recorded distance would be shorter, and therefore the mileage would be perceived as being lower?
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    shriftyshrifty Member Posts: 255
    As others have pointed out, the more miles you rack up, the better your mileage gets. I would say that my driving is 99% or more highway, and around 75 MPH I consistently see around 42 MPG. Slowing down to around 60 I can reach 45 - 47 MPG, and I am around 41K on the odometer at the moment. When I first got the car it was around the numbers you have quoted, so if I were you I would expect to see an increase the further you travel.
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    shriftyshrifty Member Posts: 255
    Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! Wherever your travels may take you this holiday season, I wish safe travels for everyone. Hopefully no-one will have any first hand usage of the safety features on their vehicles, but if so I hope the TDI is a safe one to be in!
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    jim314jim314 Member Posts: 491
    If a given car model can be fitted by the mfgr with different sized wheels (e.g., 15", 16", 17"), then the tires fitted by the mfgr will be sized so that the diameter at the tread will be the same for all the wheels, giving the same number of rev/mile. The larger wheels will be fitted with lower profile, and usually wider, tires.

    Examples

    15" wheels could have 195/65-15 giving nominal diameter at tread of 25.0"

    16" wheels could have 215/55-16 giving nominal diamater at tread of 25.3"

    17" wheels could have 225/45-17 giving nominal diameter at tread of 25.0"
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    jogousajogousa Member Posts: 402
    As far as I know (and correct me if I am wrong) speedometers are connected mechanically or electronically to the transmission so the diameter of wheels has nothing to do with speed gauges.
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    jogousajogousa Member Posts: 402
    Exactly!
    On many websites (e.g. tirerack.com) you have a calculator so that you can figure out the wheel/tire/diameter ratios when you are shopping for larger or smaller tires/rims, to keep the original configuration.
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    jim314jim314 Member Posts: 491
    The speedo and odo will both be inaccurate if the diameter of the tires is larger or smaller at the tread than the tires the mfgr calibrated the speedo and odo with.

    As you stated, the speedo reads the rpm of the output of the transmission. (On some vehicles the sensor reads the rpm of a drive shaft, which is locked to the output of the tranny.) But if larger diameter tires are substituted (larger at the tread giving larger circumference), then the vehicle will travel a longer distance for each revolution of the tranny output shaft. Therefore the true speed will be larger than the speedo indicates.
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    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    If you want to know how different tire speeds affect speedometer error, this is a handy calculator

    TIRE SIZE SUBSTITUTION CALCULATOR
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    gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    Cool calculator.

    A bit larger tire can get you a ticket if you push your speed to the max.
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    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    It is suggested that the speedo error not exceed 3%. Not sure if this has to do with speed safety or with screwing up modern car electronics.
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    chadxchadx Member Posts: 153
    The main disadvantage is that it harder to modify, heavier, and gives slightly lower fuel economy compared to a traditional manual transmission.

    It's lighter and there's less parasitic power loss. You should also notice faster shifting and better fuel economy than a slushbox.
    ------
    The above was copied from the article you provided a link to(I provided the bolding). Not quite sure I understand. Is it heavier or not? I'm not sure I would take a lot of what the author says as gospel when he says the direct opposite in two paragraphs.
    -----

    m6user,
    I just glanced through the article you quoted. No need to be down on the author as it looks like you are misreading his text. The answer to your confusion is right in the two paragraphs (above) that you copied and pasted. Just look a bit closer. :P You are quoting one comparison to a slushbox (standard automatic tranny) and another quote comparing the DSG to a manual transmission. The DSG is heavier than a manual tranny and is lighter than a slushbox. The author is correct in that regard.

    Nothing a little attention to detail can't clear up. Ha. ;)
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    m6userm6user Member Posts: 3,181
    Thanks. You're right, it's apples and oranges and I read it wrong. You're correction was polite and I appreciate it.
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    bpeeblesbpeebles Member Posts: 4,085
    Incase you were not aware, you can "tweak" the speedometer compensation using VagCom.

    However, it is always better to maintain the OUTSIDE diamater of the tires as close as possible to OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). Usually, when larger wheels are fitted, the rubber sidewall is thinner thus the OUTSIDE diamater remains the same.
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