Chipped PD115 - engine failure

[Passat64]

Hi to all forum members. I am new to the site and looking for some advice.

Had or Passat PD115 Estate chipped a year ago - claimed incease to 165BHP and 300 lbft torque. Engine had done 93K now done 98K.

Chipping was a great success with good smooth power increases. Main reason for chipping was to improve towing of caravan and general driving.

WHilst on holiday car developed a loud diesel knock crossed with a ticking like old fashioned unadjusted tappets.

RAC though it was an engine problem. Local garage though engine crankshaft and our own mechanic thought engine possibly top end although wasnt totally sure.

Now have to fork out £1K for a S/H 70K PD115 engine (includes fitting).

My concern now is will this engine end up going the same way or were we just unlucky?

I thought a well maintained PD 115 was pretty bullet proof and 1000s of people chip them with seemingly no problems.

Any advice/comments most gratefully received.

Jon

[cruiser647]

Depends upon what sort of life the engine has had first of all. Some might say 94K is too many miles to then chip it.

Who chipped it?

Was proper PD oil used in the engine at ALL times?

Any warning lights at all - EVER?

If you need to tow stuff and put extra strain on the engine, then ideally, you should have bought the 130 model. If you chipped it, then you also need to check all air and oil pipes, carefully.

Who is supplying the secondhand engine?

PS - Welcome to TSN!

[Passat64]

Thanks for your post Cruiser.

The chipping was done by Celtic Tuning based at Newquay. It is one of those companys that fits the chip at your home - the car has not been on a rolling road.

Since I have owned the Passat it has always had PD 505.01 or 504/507 fully syn oil with ZX1 added. There have never been any warning lights come up. Any engine management lights that have appeared have been brake pad change and the like - nothing engine related.

I assume by you posting you are thinking this may be down to lubrication failure. I have read a posting on the site by Oilman (?) re tuned engines and the need for a higher quality oil than specifed by the manufacturer for a standard engine. I was intending only to use fully syn from now on with Ecotek 100 - I cant think of a way of providing much more engine protection than this - unless any one has any other ideas?

The s/h engine is being supplied by Silverlakes of Southamption out on an A4 with 3 months warranty. I guess it is near on impossible to verify whether 70K is the true mileage!

Regards

Jon

[shark_90]

Hi to all forum members. I am new to the site and looking for some advice.

Had or Passat PD115 Estate chipped a year ago - claimed incease to 165BHP and 300 lbft torque. Engine had done 93K now done 98K.

Chipping was a great success with good smooth power increases. Main reason for chipping was to improve towing of caravan and general driving.

WHilst on holiday car developed a loud diesel knock crossed with a ticking like old fashioned unadjusted tappets.

RAC though it was an engine problem. Local garage though engine crankshaft and our own mechanic thought engine possibly top end although wasnt totally sure.

Now have to fork out £1K for a S/H 70K PD115 engine (includes fitting).

My concern now is will this engine end up going the same way or were we just unlucky?

I thought a well maintained PD 115 was pretty bullet proof and 1000s of people chip them with seemingly no problems.

Any advice/comments most gratefully received.

Jon

165bhp and 300lb/ft from a PD115? I don't think so. That's about the safe limit for a PD130, maybe a little more hp but definitely no more torque. I usually go to around 280lb/ft,

Have you had an actual diagnosis on the reason for the failure? I think it would be unwise to just plug another engine in and run it with that software on without getting it checked first. 5k miles isn't very far at all so either there was something already wrong with your engine and the remap highlighted it, or the remap is bad.

While your car is off the road you could post me the ECU if you like, I could look at it and see what's going on in there?

Good luck getting it sorted out

[Tipex]

I cant really offer any help or advice here (other than to suggest you take up ben's (sharks) offer), but I have heard of that tuning company before when I had the Mondeo, and from what I remember they were not particularly well regarded.

[EddyH]

I'm sure a few members on Briskoda had turbo failures on PD's with the celtic remaps. I think the general opinion was that they pushed the torque a bit too high. This combined with the extra load on the engine from towing is probably what took it's toll. However if the torque really was that high I'm suprised you didn't have clutch problems.

[Tipex]

I'm amazed the Dual Mass Flywheel didn't just put a gun to it's own head and commit suicide!