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New owner 1.7 SDI


Dizzy_PD
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Hi all, lurked for ages but finally pulled the trigger!

Been wanting an SDI for quite a while and the right one popped up less than 3 miles from home last week! Went to view in the dark after work and decided it was good enough for what I needed.

Red 04 plate SDI S with around 170k on the clock, full service history with many stamps and cambelt/water pump done last year.

Drives really well and is totally standard, couple of issues such as creaking clutch pedal.. I'm assuming pedal box, do VW still cover (or partially cover) this job under warranty? Will probably change all the braking components and fit some coilovers and perhaps change wheels (wouldn't mind some banded steels). Other then that it's going to remain pretty standard as it's the daily mile muncher whilst my S3 sits on the driveway.

Couple questions, how can I tell if it has ABS? And does anyone know of any insurance companies that will mirror my no claims discount onto the lupo? I seem to be getting quotes for more than the S3! And that's stage 2+ declared!

Will try to get some photos up soon.

Thanks :)

 

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Welcome to club lupo :)

SDI and Gti are the best Lupos, so good call.

never seen one with ABS, but I'm sure it was an option.

only suggestion is to disable the egr system.

pedal creak could be pedal box. They do creak just before they let go. The rest position of the pedal is the give away- if going or gone, it's lower than the brake pedal at rest.

check gearbox. Flush and refill.

lube gear linkages.

not a lot else really. Very reliable, economical car.

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1 hour ago, Rich said:

If it has abs there will be a light for it on the dash and a pump in the bay, same place as an 8L S3 would have one.

Yes, the SDI can have abs, Danno has one.

Was it a special option? When you get ABS in an SDI, did any other 'things' get tacked onto the extras list? Curious.

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1.7 na diesel thing.

Slow but an economical bone shaking monster.

For some reason people seem to bum them.

The 1.4 3 pot is diesel was far better but still shook you to the bones.

 

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Oh yeah baby. I have two SDIs and a spare engine... I did 130 miles to Dover and back yesterday, so a total of 260 miles, mostly motorway and doing 'average' of about 70 the whole way. Best bit, only used 15 litres of diesel, which works out to about 80mpg. Beat that, any new generation blue or green spec car! Yup, i just love the SDI engine. Ok, so i have gas flowed them, deactivated the EGR and diverted the breather fumes, but still i think standard car should be able to get close to that. 3 pot four stroke engines are just plain wrong. Otherwise i'd have gone for one of them.

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Ok thanks! There have never been any 3 cylinder VW engines on this side of the pond to my knowledge. The first Rabbit (Gulf in your land) diesels in '76 were 1.3 liter n/a. They quickly upped them to 1.6, the turbo diesel came here in '84 (I had one) then sometime in the late '80s they dropped the n/a diesel. We have not seen an n/a diesel since. Interesting!

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Yeah, and i reckon (after only a few hours of searching so far), that the 1.7 SDI engine is probably the smallest direct injection diesel, without a turbo anywhere. Ever. There are smaller and older diesel engines from other manufacturers, but always indirect (with a swirl chamber), or with a turbo. So I'd say it's a bit special. All new diesels come with turbos or if NA, start around 1.9. 

People with SDIs always whinge that they don't have enough power. I've never had a problem and I'm quite brisk on the road. I'm a Mk2 golf driver after all. If you're not cornering on two wheels, you're taking the corner too slow.... On a level motorway, i easily cruise at around 80 with a very light right foot, maybe only 25% throttle/torque demand. Added benefit of such a small swept volume is that the scavanging efficiency goes right up. I wish there were a straight six 1.2L diesel DI engine out there. It'd be amazing. BMW got close a few years back.

I've rebuilt an SDI diesel pump, and the thing is completely electronically controlled (injection quantity and timing). But is still uses the tried and tested mechanical pump tech from yesteryear, which is what makes it so unbelievably reliable. My only gripe is that i think the timing sense injector gets very noisy as it ages. Haven't found a solution to that just yet. Tap tap tap, just like tappets. Irritating.

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Cough cough! Splutter. Mk4 golf? Biggest piece of lumbering german junk ever. I have one. Ok, so it's comfy. That's where the good news stops. So so many serious design flaws. So much to go wrong or OEM stuff that keeps going wrong. And heavy. And not economical. And does not handle. Also true for the R32 too. 

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17 hours ago, Rich said:

1.7 na diesel thing.

Slow but an economical bone shaking monster.

For some reason people seem to bum them.

The 1.4 3 pot is diesel was far better but still shook you to the bones.

 

Agree, the TDI is the car to have, I had an Arosa SDI for a while, very slow and very smelly, good bit was the wind up windows

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Thanks for all the replies! Some good info in here.

To be fair I don't feel the SDI is as slow as people make out. The reason I didn't get a TDi is I can't be bothered with dual mass flywheels and turbo issues etc, I get enough off that already haha.

My daily at the moment until I get the SDI on the road is running 320bhp, and my weekend toy is a mk4 25th anniversary golf 1.9tdi running about 190bhp with loads of torque.. I read a lot online about how the SDI is "so slow its borderline dangerous" but it's really not, you just don't go for a silly gap in traffic which you know you won't make, simples lol.

Anyway I bought it to downsize and save some money, planning on changing all the brakes first. Been looking on euro as its 50% off at the moment. I can't quite figure out which rear brake rebuild kit is for my car. The PR code is 1KH - rear drums, but there seems to be a few kits on the website.. anyone bought the full kits off euro before?

Thanks 

Btw - @mk2 if I disable the EGR will it take longer to heat up the engine? I noticed on my drive home when I bought it the temp hardly went up on the gauge.. is this normal..

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Nah, the 1.7 always takes ages to warm up. With or without EGR. The reason it takes ages is because it is so efficient, where most power goes to the wheels or as heat down the exhaust pipe. The beauty of a DI diesel is that you have a thin boundary layer of air between the piston crown, the cylinder head, the bores and the ball of fire expanding, generating pressure to run the engine. The thin layer of air blocks the heat getting into the engine. Air's a pretty good insulator.

The quick way of disabling EGR is by disconnecting the vacuum hose on the choke flap. Then block the hose. Keeps the air supply clean. But you also need to do the same to the EGR valve, to stop the exhaust gases getting through. EGR is disabled over about 2200 RPM.

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