Running in my new Golf 2.0 TDI

[Kent]

I picked up my new Golf 2.0 TDI Wednesday before easter. Absolutely love it. Just wanted to keep a record here of how I'm running it in and what the results of my running in process are. I do about 40K per year mostly highway driving.

The car had about 20km on it when I picked it up. It was hard to keep the wheels from cherping (even with ASR on) on the way home. I drove it to work the next day, about a 200km round trip on the Gold Coast / Brisbane Highway. I kept changing gears so the engine was not held at constant revs. I took an exit both on the way up and on the way back to allow me to accelerate onto the highway again using most of the rev range.


Bedding in the Rings
On the Saturday I went for a drive out to Boonah and back down through Woodenbong, Beadesert and home. About 500kms. This was a nice drive. I spent the whole time on Saturday accelerating and decelerating, foot completely off the accelerator to let the engine do all the decelerating work. When there was no traffic behind me I would use third gear and work the revs from about 2000RPM upto about 3800-4000RPM (occasionally redlining) and back down again. When traffic was behind me I would either let them pass or work the rev range from aprox 3K to 4K in third and then change to forth and work the 2K to 3K range. At the end of this drive there was a marked difference in how tight the engine was and its readiness to rev. I've now done about 1150kms and will continue to change the revs constantly untill about the 1500km mark.

[pinzvidz]

Years ago when I used to hot up V8's of allsorts, the first thing I'd do after running the cam in (stationary at 3,500 rpm for half an hour or so) was to go straight up a steep mountain climb (Henri Robert Drive, Mt Tamborine) and load up the engine without revving the ring out of it. This was definitely one quick way of bedding rings in, and since we live up the mountain now, the GTI will be getting quite a bit of ring bedding in after we take delivery of it in a couple of weeks.

[matthewfnorbert]

"bedding in" = generating plenty wear debris

so change your oil out early so that this wear debris does not produce unwanted wear

[Panman]

Looks like we have at least two more people in Brisbane up for a drive.....

My favourite (due to being very close) is Mt Nebo at about 10PM...

No traffic, and the headlights are the limiting factor on silliness..

All good fun, and no chance of picking a motorcyclist out of the grille, unlike a daytime drive on the weekend.

Tambourine is a great one especially if you go over the other side to Canungra after the drive up, the contrast of wide sweepers to the twisty drive up is v. good!

[acdcfan]

I have just started to rev my engine past 3500 RPM. Before that wasn't pushing it to hard above 2500 but now it has above 3000 km we are getting closer to 4000
Before it seemed to me that engine revs at around 2000 RPM were enough for gear change............
And now it is totally different.................... OMG IT HAS WINGS ..........
IT FLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYS.......

And no I did not, repeat I did not feed it Red Bull

[pinzvidz]

Looks like we have at least two more people in Brisbane up for a drive.....

My favourite (due to being very close) is Mt Nebo at about 10PM...

No traffic, and the headlights are the limiting factor on silliness..

All good fun, and no chance of picking a motorcyclist out of the grille, unlike a daytime drive on the weekend.

Tambourine is a great one especially if you go over the other side to Canungra after the drive up, the contrast of wide sweepers to the twisty drive up is v. good!

The road leading from Mt Tamborine (no "u") to Canungra is known as the "Goat Track" and it's just reopened after about 7 months of repairs due to a major landslip. An awesome road, with some crazy sharp hairpins! We go to Canungra often as I have rellies down there... an excellent excuse to take the GTI down each time!

[Panman]

I used to go to Canungra quite a lot, in a previous life I used to be the account manager for DINTC who are based there.

The drive down from Brisbane is always a cracker, and I was always happy to do a site visit.

The R32 loves those twistys....

And thanks for correcting my spelling....

[pinzvidz]

The R32 loves those twistys....

And thanks for correcting my spelling....

LOL, it's only because I live in the suburb I'm always correcting...

The R32 would be brilliant up or down the Goat Track!

[aprr32]

Gunna run it hard, run it in hard.Got the first 1000km on the way to Wakefield and flogged it all day.Uses no oil between services has plenty power, revs to 7000rpm and has 60,000 kms on it and going strong.R32, only the finest!

[Kent]

"bedding in" = generating plenty wear debris

so change your oil out early so that this wear debris does not produce unwanted wear

Thanks for the advice Matthew. I wondered that but I've read here on another thread that VW use a special running in oil for the first 15K, can anyone confirm or deny this. And if it is true what would be the repercussions of changing early...say 10K

Gotta say the thing goes like a rocket esp when it hits about 2700 RPM. And it doesn't seem to mind reving out.

[acdcfan]

Thanks for the advice Matthew. I wondered that but I've read here on another thread that VW use a special running in oil for the first 15K, can anyone confirm or deny this. And if it is true what would be the repercussions of changing early...say 10K.

There is warranty issue.If any parts fail due to incorrect oil used warranty is void.

following is extract from an e-mail i received from VW Australia

"The correct oil viscosity of the 2.0L Tdi golf is 5W30. Please note we supply this grade of oil purely for the convenience of the customer in the case that the VW oil is unable to be obtained. If you are replacing the oil then it must be replaced with the genuine oil only. If it is found that any component has failed due to the incorrect oil being used that part may not be covered under the vehicles warranty ."

[aprr32]

We use Fuchs oil exclusively and have had customers with engine warranty issues and never has a customer been knocked back with a claim,even the ones that never see a dealer for a service!

[acdcfan]

We use Fuchs oil exclusively and have had customers with engine warranty issues and never has a customer been knocked back with a claim,even the ones that never see a dealer for a service!

that is nice to know, but is there people like you in WA which understand that oil change has been done for all the good reasons. If there is I will be first one to change my oil at 5000km using Fuchs or maybe Castrol Edge

[brackie]

Back to running in....

There's been lots of discussion about running in a diesel on this forum. A lot of technique is dependent upon where you live and drive. If you're a city dweller and drive in traffic then you are probably running it it OK without trying. Rapid acceleration, using the gears to decelerate and getting the oil hot quickly are all +es. Driving on freeways at constant speed, idling for long periods and -ives as are short runs. If you're a country dweller and have long runs at constant speed you're not running in properly. As I've said before, the most important factor in running in a diesel is to bed the rings as quickly as possible and constant revs don't do this, they only glaze the cylinder walls. If (like me) you're a country dweller who drives moderate distances on hilly, winding roads with lots of gear changes and using the engine as a brake, then this is also ideal running in procedure. It's very important to get the oil hot on every run and to take it easy until this is achieved. Your water temperature gauge doesn't tell you when your oil's hot!

As for oil changes...Well it's all very well for manufacturers to state 15,000km service intervals, but as an engine beds in a lot of metal gets into the oil and it's common sense that it should be changed before this. I let mine go until 7500km and I had to grit my teeth every time I drove it from 5000km to 7500km because it went so much against my instincts and experience. (Again I appeal to anyone who has detail on just exactly what VW do when they "test bench" run and engine. For how long? And under what conditions?)

Warranty and oil type are not negotiable, according to VW. You must use what they stipulate or your warranty is void.

[acdcfan]

There's been lots of discussion about running in a diesel on this forum. A lot of technique is dependent upon where you live and drive. If you're a city dweller and drive in traffic then you are probably running it it OK without trying. Rapid acceleration, using the gears to decelerate and getting the oil hot quickly are all +es. Driving on freeways at constant speed, idling for long periods and -ives as are short runs. If you're a country dweller and have long runs at constant speed you're not running in properly. As I've said before, the most important factor in running in a diesel is to bed the rings as quickly as possible and constant revs don't do this, they only glaze the cylinder walls. ............Warranty and oil type are not negotiable, according to VW. You must use what they stipulate or your warranty is void.

Brackie

How did you get you hands on oil specified by VW ?

I get a lot of city driving and stop starts and mostly using 4th and 3rd gear to assist in braking but some times i might get 10-15km or even 20km run without having to change gears or stop ( green light though about 4-5 traffic lights) and a very short freeway run of about 10km but then at the first stop i will push it a little bit harder.

Is this OK for bedding rings in? gear change every 3500rpm