TDI Convert
Member
Hi everyone,
I have been meaning to share the results of an experiment I ran last winter. As we all know the A2 TDI fuel economy drops quite significantly in the winter.
I work in a small company, but we are all automotive engineers and like talking about this sort of thing!! After talking to several of my colegues it became clear that the 2 people with non intercooled diesels (one with an older 2.0 DTI astra and the other with a 1.5 DCI 86 Clio (the DCI 106 was intercooled, but the 86 was not)) noticed a much smaller drop in fuel economy than myself and 2 other colegues with intercooled diesels (one with a Merc E220CDI and one with a CLS320CDI).
Armed with this info, I devised an experimant. I made myself a blanking plate for the intercooler, a piece of fairly stiff but still flexable plastic that i could pop into the grooves on the end tanks of the intercooler (on the engine side). I fitted the blanking plate every other week, resetting the average mpg on the DIS each weekend. Running 1 week on, 1 week off gave me a better idea of the size of the change as the average ambient temperature dropped and rose again. I started the experiment at the beginning of Nov 2008 and finished at the end of March 2009.
Most of my driving is a 16 mile each way trip to work which is a mix of some town, mostly A road and some motorway.
The results were very interesting. There was no decerable effect at 10 Degrees, but as the average temperatre dropped i saw upto a 5% improvement in fuel economy with the blanking plate fitted.
You might wonder if it is a bit risky, but you must not forget that car designers have to account for a huge range of ambent conditions. Of course an intercooler will give you more power and keep the engine cooler if the air temp is 35 Degrees, but it is not necessary and as you can see, detrimental when the air temp is below 10 Degrees. The air entering the engine is too cold and the fuel doesn't vaporise as well.
It is a very easy way to boost your fuel economy in the winter and well worth the small effort to make the part in the first place.
Andrew
I have been meaning to share the results of an experiment I ran last winter. As we all know the A2 TDI fuel economy drops quite significantly in the winter.
I work in a small company, but we are all automotive engineers and like talking about this sort of thing!! After talking to several of my colegues it became clear that the 2 people with non intercooled diesels (one with an older 2.0 DTI astra and the other with a 1.5 DCI 86 Clio (the DCI 106 was intercooled, but the 86 was not)) noticed a much smaller drop in fuel economy than myself and 2 other colegues with intercooled diesels (one with a Merc E220CDI and one with a CLS320CDI).
Armed with this info, I devised an experimant. I made myself a blanking plate for the intercooler, a piece of fairly stiff but still flexable plastic that i could pop into the grooves on the end tanks of the intercooler (on the engine side). I fitted the blanking plate every other week, resetting the average mpg on the DIS each weekend. Running 1 week on, 1 week off gave me a better idea of the size of the change as the average ambient temperature dropped and rose again. I started the experiment at the beginning of Nov 2008 and finished at the end of March 2009.
Most of my driving is a 16 mile each way trip to work which is a mix of some town, mostly A road and some motorway.
The results were very interesting. There was no decerable effect at 10 Degrees, but as the average temperatre dropped i saw upto a 5% improvement in fuel economy with the blanking plate fitted.
You might wonder if it is a bit risky, but you must not forget that car designers have to account for a huge range of ambent conditions. Of course an intercooler will give you more power and keep the engine cooler if the air temp is 35 Degrees, but it is not necessary and as you can see, detrimental when the air temp is below 10 Degrees. The air entering the engine is too cold and the fuel doesn't vaporise as well.
It is a very easy way to boost your fuel economy in the winter and well worth the small effort to make the part in the first place.
Andrew
