600rpm for 6grams? peece off!

[Buller_Scott]

hey guys.

i've had this under my hat for around a fortnight. after having confirmed my feelings, i started thinking...

specifically, my thoughts were "ooh, could i reference a thread that dates back to 2005+ on tdiclub.com, without divulging my source, and pass it off as 'well, folks, i was sitting at home scratching my balls, and i came up with a pretty good idea' " lol. (just playing haha).

but of course one must pay where credit is due, so it is after a few ~~~~ (whatever, i forget) hours of reading that i share this information with you - after all, where would i be in my diesel knowledge if it werent for watercooled, and i really sincerely mean that (it'd be a bunch of cold-start-hard-engine-wear-inducing braps, no cooldown of the turbo after a run, no idea of the proper grades of oil, no idea of EGR / blowby issues etc etc).

my hat's off to you guys, first and foremost. i truly mean that.


now, i can be a bit w4nky and articulate, so bare with me. those that dont - well, it's their loss (or lack of gain, rather).

anyone know / practice the cage mod from tdiclub?

now, i'm sure that im not alone when i say that perhaps 30% of the mods that i've done on the wee polo have been pure placebo:

- aftermarket muffler - "yes, it's straight through, so it must be more powerful" hahahahahahaha
- BMC air filter - "well, i thought things felt a little revvier" hahahahahahaha

NOW. THE TASK AT HAND:
my car = polo tdi 2007 1.9 pd100
usage = it gets thrashed, ONCE WARM
fuel economy = i dont really care, it's so good i dont need to check
play time = anyone with a polo tdi 1.9pd100 9n3 will know that even WITH a tune, these things are DONE by around 4,200-4,300RPM.

that is the baseline upon which i post.

CAGE MOD:
- open bonnet
- locate mass air flow sensor
- it's pretty. dont dismantle it. simply locate where one cord clips into the big sockety-thingy. (really. sounds spastic. it's actually that simple).
- unplug, and you'll see a bunch of stuff, surrounded by plastic.
- blast that sh8t with MAF cleaner. you might have to pour some excess out. if you're like me, and have to do everything at the all night car wash, have a smoke or something - it'll take a few mins to dry.
- once the MAF CONNECTOR + HOUSING is dry, smile - the work's half done.
- once it's dry, get yo' silicone dielectric grease / compound - here is a sample of what is available, and i used this
- pack that isht into yo' MAF connector. seriously. dont be shy - it's only $5 for 3grams, and you'll (at most) need three of the fckers.
- uhm, as per above, literally pack your MAF connector full of this stuff (after you have cleaned it with MAF cleaner of course).
- keep packing it in!
- also bare in mind that you want to connect the (male?) side of the connection, too - dont be shy, now
- once you've got two sides of a MAF equation that are so clogged with goo that you dont know what to do, plug that isht back together. it will struggle. move it back and forth, in and out, do what you need to to get it SEATED.

my reasoning:
- i work on my car on-street. i battle the elements, time of day, and weather patterns. as well as nagging fe-males. this was quick.
- too easy. i had SOME to gain, but much to lose: "what if it throws a CEL and fcks the whole car up?????"
- took me literally half an hour. that's because i went to the closest spot out of the wind / elements, disconnected the maf, and proceeded. with huge caution. and skepticism. this would fail.

my experience:
- did it
- CEL for the first day.... but things felt a wee bit... what? smoooooother. okay.
- CEL went out second day. uh-oh. 4300rpm cutout = gone? WTF>!>!>!
- i was SO skeptical as i am with these things. i have just this to say: RIP ON ME. SLANDER ME. I DONT CARE. WHY?
- prior to the cage mod, my car = perfect. flawless. refs hard to 4250 AFTER my tune.
- AFTER = yeah....... isht tops out at around 4850rpm, and i can FEEL the turbo pulling until it cuts out.

cage's reasoning: what's the point of having a clean MAF if the connection between the male / female seats is prone to contamination over time?
- good point
- i agreed
- i did it
- i SMILE!!!!!

now, i respect the work of those (like you) before me.

this isht is REAL, people!!!!

[Buller_Scott]

as always, i claim no credit for this mod - it came from TDICLUB.COM. much respect to those guys.

DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!

if you dont mind a risk here or there, then you'll be a happy chappy after your CEL clears - CEL dont mean much anyway.

but either way, i claim no responsibility for the utter awesome-ness of the CAGE mod.

p.s. funny how running $10 worth of di-electric jelly can result in 2 weeks of "when i feel like it, i'll rev the fcker out to 4800rpm"

[Greg Roles]

Holy $#@!@@#

I'm off to Supercheap. Now.

This better not be a 1.9 only thing!

[Buller_Scott]

Holy $#@!@@#

I'm off to Supercheap. Now.

This better not be a 1.9 only thing!

i've seenpeeps on tdiclub refer to friends' 2.0 jettas etc. it's an all tdi thing.

do it!!!!

[Stan]

given the theory that it's a clean, good , connector issue, wouldnt this work for all MAF sensors - diesel or not?

[gecko2k]

works on t4s as well. Some pommie guys use it on all their connections and swear on it...definitely makes a difference. Even though some people recommend using a different paste, but there are always smart ars3s around..

[Greg Roles]

Done, and didnlt feel anything on a short test drive, no errors, will give it time.

Mine was all pretty clean, so perhaps it only assists dirty contacts.

I'm wondering how it might work, perhaps it shorts the pins in the MAF and causes the car to default to a backup fuel map or something?

Oh yeah and Scotty you owe me $60 for assorted junk I bought wandering around Supercheap looking for special grease.

[Transporter]

Hmmmm... Scotty?

[gldgti]

Hmmmm indeed

[Buller_Scott]

Oh yeah and Scotty you owe me $60 for assorted junk I bought wandering around Supercheap looking for special grease.

lol

Hmmmm... Scotty?

why facepalm? i know that my literary style is more than lacking, but what negative effect could silicone dielectric grease (designed for spark plugs and other electrical connections) have on.... electrical connections?

i read both 30+ page threads on tdi club before even THINKING about spending a single red cent on this dielectric silicone compound / grease.

i anticipated that there would be people who would argue with the "theory" of it, sure.... but i tried it, and it works - in three and a half years of ownership of my polo i have NEVER been able to get it to rev above around 4400rpm (really, REALLY taking my time to change up). now, it'll rev out to 4800 no problems. it also makes pottering around town at 1100rpm, and the acceleration from that point, much smoother as well.

i'd like to hear any conjecture / theories as to why this would be BAD for a car, though.

i made a calculated decision. it paid off for me (and as per the threads on tdiclub, for a lot of people too). i dont see the facepalm?

[Transporter]

Scotty, I apologize, and I’m glad that it worked for you. I have no doubts that it worked for many that had a bad electrical connection in the MAF connector. Cleaning the MAF sensor itself (not the pins in the connector) with the MAF cleaner will help if it was for whatever reason dirty (wrong or too dirty air filter).

IMO, you would most likely achieved the same with just cleaning the sensor and disconnecting and reconnecting the connector and maybe if you would have just smear the contacts in the connector with that dielectric grease you wouldn't get CEL on. As Greg mentioned, because of the excess of the grease in the connector the resistance and voltage output from the MAF had changed hence the CEL “ON”, after everything warmed up, the excess of the dielectric grease leaked away a bit and the fault disappeared, the CEL “OFF”.

Scotty you should've and anybody who wants to do the same look closely at the pins in the MAF connector first and if corroded you can clean it with the with el. contact cleaner that should also protect the contacts and then just smear them very lightly with that dielectric grease (if you have to). Also check that you can see the shiny lines from the female contact on the male contact surface at the MAF sensor, if not you can adjust the tension by squeezing the female contact (gently). It will work the same for you as long as they were at fault.

Friends again...?

[Greg Roles]

I did it, even though I expect nothing on the MKV, there are a lot of people swearing by it in the USA....

[GoLfMan]

I'll do this next Friday

[Buller_Scott]

Friends again...?

yeah, always!

well what you said makes perfect sense. i should, in all my ramblings, probably have also added (for the benefit of others who didnt want to sift through the tdi club threads) that the reason i performed the "cage mod" was as follows:

- people were hailing it as a great preventative mod - why toss a good maf somewhere down the line, when taking care of the maf / connectors itself, is cheap insurance?
- some people were reporting NO change whatsoever, but were saying "well, at least i know i've taken care of my maf connectors now"
- better still, others were reporting back with increased driveability across the rev band
- even better still, others were reporting the ability to rev higher than before
- best yet, some were pinching themselves, the differences were that good.

i fall into the group of those who had to pinch themselves. perhaps my OP should have been more reserved in its optimism, but dammit, i couldnt contain my excitement - i now "short shift" at 4,000rpm.

i've cleaned the maf itself before, with not this level of difference. and you may very well be right - a little grease would have been more than enough. i was simply "going with the flow" of the tdiclub thread with pertained to packing the living daylights out of the maf connector.

as for your last paragraph, this is what i believe i experienced, trying to get the connector seated - and yes, you're right, it would have been much easier with less grease on there in the first place.

cheers,

scotty

[Greg Roles]

Well my TDI is driving very differently with the "grease/cage mod".

It's also showing MAF errors, and I'm still investigating, but at this stage I believe what this does is short out the contacts, throw a minor error that doesn't register a CEL light, and the car defaults to a MAF-less fuel map.

My TDI is now no longer spiking to 23-24psi and settling to 21-22 on a WOT hill effort. Now it hits a 20psi max, and settles to about 19psi. It is FAR more aggressive getting there, and the car hits boost a lot more freely, it "seems" to rev a bit easier too. Not massive, but quite noticable to me. What I think has happened is the VNT vanes are more aggressive, and there is more mid range wack, but it is limited up top.

Acceleration is definately better on boost, but the lag is the same. On boost the car is now wandering sideways in second, and that's new, it is torque steering a bit. It does however feel flatter up top, but I think the mod has just moved the "area under the curve" towards the mid range. Overall it's a fun change, and I will continue to monitor it and the errors, but if you want a bit of a change for the price of some special grease, it's an easy bit of fun. Perhaps it has a bigger effect on the 1.9 engine, but it would follow that each car has it's own "MAF shortage" default map, so each diesel would be different.

Interesting Scotty, interesting.....and for the record my MAF plug and contacts were pristine, so no bad contacts there!

As always, if you aren't fully prepared to rebuild your engine should it blow up from these backyard mods, just don't do it!