HELP !!! Helga's engine has bit the dust

[axeman]

reading through this thread it reads is if people are singing the parses of tdi upgrades, of which i am sure there are many i am sure, but i do find myself questioning the statement that aaz is fine if you live in the uk, as when i was talking to the several members french syncro club last year namely a older gent called Eve in a 16inch panel van, he was telling me about his travels in his van in a broken english and a even more broken french, the long and short of the conversation was that he has covered over 300,000km in the van as he bought it from new and travled all over in it, and the what engine is he and every other member that i met? 1.6td jx.

neil

[max and caddy]

So he doesn't live in the uk...! The AAZ is only suitable for uk use...French people need the JX

[lloydy]

Nothing wrong with a JX, would rather have one than a AAZ. I had a JX when I first got the van, it drove fine. BUT, it was damn noisy! You had to shout to each other when diving on the motorway. And in a 16" you were limited to 50-55mph. It did do good mpg though. The OP doesn't have a JX anyway...
A TDI is not the answer to all ills, you need to be a regular driver of your van to make it cost effective, and as we all know, it's not a cheap conversion ( but prob pretty similar to a 1.8T, which is the only other engine I would like to have) but every time you feel that big lump of torque hit you in the base of your spine, you know it was worth it...

[jed the spread]

I love this forum and how it spirals way of course

AAZ is a good engine for roads like you get in the UK turns into AAZ is only good for UK use, and the JX is good for 300,000km told, and here is the irony in broken English , poor olds Sausage Fingers simple thoughts about engines turned into sleepless nights about gear ratios, Lloyd got his cogs all mixed up, You need a complete gearbox rebuild with longer 3rd & 4th if your going TDI apparently, And the higher up you go the more unlike the UK it gets....


Brilliant

Jed

[AdrianC]

AAZ is a good engine for roads like you get in the UK turns into AAZ is only good for UK use

<cough>

If you only ever drive a Syncro in this country then an AAZ is a good option

You considered a career in politics, Jed?

[syncropaddy]

Wasn't there a guy in Holland who use to tune the JX up to 90bhp without touching his gearbox or the roads in the UK?

[max and caddy]

Isn't holland flat as well?

[jed the spread]

AAZ is a good engine for roads like you get in the UK turns into AAZ is only good for UK use

<cough>

If you only ever drive a Syncro in this country then an AAZ is a good option

You considered a career in politics, Jed?

I seriously cant be arsed going through the whole thread quoting when I must have said the AAZ is a good engine on roads like we get in the UK and I probably mentioned that mine was fine and I would have been happy for it not to drop dead and I killed mine because I was driving like a knob. I still say the AAZ is a good option for driving in this country and they are fine.

Jed

[max and caddy]

Yep...mines fine...the JX was dire in comparison although it was ill...however I have driven many over te years and non of them were s good as the AAZ....no guts in em...but do rev better.

[jed the spread]

The JX is the only engine I have never driven so I wouldnt know. I did drive a 1.6 n/a a couple of times in a 2wd van and that was really really loud and slow but really good on fuel and never broke down and probably never would. I am not bullshitting now (and LHD will back me up here) I saw one do 82mph once

Jed

[jebiga41]

Hmmm just my two cents but if you can get one at a reasonable price another AAZ would be the easiest replacement if you can get one with a good crank, regards heat I'm running an AAZ with a chargecooler and an oil cooler and a new rad in the camper, she keeps cool the highest the needle has ever got was just under the diode normally it sits around halway betwen the diode and the white mark. The other AAZ in "The Horse" is bog standard no oilcooler but have never seen the needle move over the diode but she is a light van. With a chargecooler and fuelling set up right a JX or AAZ can easily put out 90bhp which is the same as a 1Z, figures for a 1z also include intercooling, thus I would say that a 1Z without intercooling would be probably about the same as a stock AAZ figures but could be wrong.
Also bear in mind that TDI's are very different in their torque curves to TD's which are designed to rev a lot higher and so drive differently.
At the end of the day its what you want from the vehicle and how much you want to pay, a tdi is considered to be a better engine by those who know and has the crank issue sorted that was the AAZ's weak spot and judging by the sound of it good AAZ's are very rare in the UK, another option would be a 1Y which you can turbo (making it an AAZ). However a TDI is an expensive way to go whether you go mtdi etdi or do you gearbox mods or bigger wheels and associated upgrades needed such as brakes, lifting etc, either way thats a lot of diesel.
Power although nice is not needed for overlanding, reliability is what counts, Power corrupts !! Bicycles, motorbikes, splits, bays and various other underpowered vehicles have been all over the world.

[max and caddy]

Also...the gearbox is only one issue with a tdi...the intercooling is important and expensive, and means lots of home brew parts to fall off as well.

Intercooler won't work on a muddy syncro so charge cooler is the only way to go...I guess you can just not bother but the intake temp sensor will start backing off the power on the tdi...you could just lie to the ecu of course bit at some point it will melt.

[syncropaddy]

Intercooler won't work on a muddy syncro so charge cooler is the only way to go...

How do you work that out?

a tdi is considered to be a better engine by those who know .....

... or those who have spent a poo load of money getting it and even more money getting it sorted ....

[jed the spread]

Power although nice is not needed for overlanding, reliability is what counts, Power corrupts !! Bicycles, motorbikes, splits, bays and various other underpowered vehicles have been all over the world.

Good post Paul and totally realistic

I have noticed other people talk about what best pump to run in the Himalayas, tyre choice etc, when overloading on this forum and apart from Jake, Russel and Andrew a good few years ago nobody has ever done any over landing on here in a Syncro at all from what I can remember from the UK and Ireland on the Syncro forum in their vans. Sausage Fingers defiantly doesn't want to right now so it doesn't really effect him at all but I have been talking with loads of Syncro owners from over seas through CC over the last year or so who have and we have been logging routes/mapping and taking loads of advice etc..

If your going to go to the effort to go overlanding properly and you want to make the most of your 4x4 and do the routes other 4x4's do then you need to take lots of weight with you. You need to carry that weight (fuel, water, stuff... ) if you want to stay "out there" for any amount of time. If you hit soft sand you will obviously be airing down to the correct tyre pressure but not to much that your tyre will come off the rim and land you in deep s**t unless your in a group with others you can share spare wheels with. If you hit dry soft sand, and I believe you use up to 40% more fuel (from the overlanders I have been speaking with) compared with doing the same route on gravel. That 40% more fuel is used up in dry soft sand because sand zaps the power from your engine, especially when fully loaded in places you want to go because you have a 4x4 and want to make the most of it. To use 40% more fuel through power zapping soft powder sand then your going to have to have an engine that runs cool enough and with lots of power to push you through. If it runs hot as hell slowly then works hard as hell for a long time with weight it might be worth considering other options for real overlanding and dare I say it, these conditions are outside the UK. That said there is a great thread in the Camping & Traveling forum a fella in a 2wd lowered Westfalia Hightop running low profile tyres that is in Morocco at the moment and although he confidently posted that 90% of the pistes can be driven by 2wd he has not actually driven any apart from dipping in the edges of a couple for some wild camping so I will take that with a pinch of salt. That said a big respect for the fela to be actually out some place in his van enjoying himself like The pistes that will be on our route that we have got from Syncro owners from Europe confirm its quite unlikely a 2wd T25 will get through them but there are plenty of other roads like you get in the UK that 2wd vans will drive through no worries. Although we will probably see the odd bay window van and maybe a split screen van on a holiday at the odd petrol station I can say with the upmost confidence that when we are out in the wilderness with no other people for hundreds of miles out on the pistes its unlikely we will have some "Glampers" rock up next to us with rugs from TK Maxx and dressing up for the occasion. Though you have coursed it now and that is probably exactly what will happen

We will defiantly see bikes and motor bikes though

Hope this helps,

Jed

[max and caddy]

Intercooler won't work on a muddy syncro so charge cooler is the only way to go...

How do you work that out?

a tdi is considered to be a better engine by those who know .....

... or those who have spent a poo load of money getting it and even more money getting it sorted ....

Intercooler won't work if its caked with mud...and it most likely will be very soon as its low at the back..you know this..