How can I drive my car without damaging the engine?

Muttley

Catch that diesel!
Mar 17, 2006
4,987
31
North Kent
The vanes default to wide-open, and with the engine off will rest at that position. On startup they will wind in to their minimim-aperture positions, reducing the effective size of the turbine inlet but keeping the gas flow smooth: minimising the aperture increases the gas speed across the turbine blades to get it to spin up earlier and give boost at lower engine rpm. As soon as the turbo hits max-boost the vanes start to move out under ECU control, increasing the effective size of the hole through which the gas flows and keeping the turbo at max boost while reducing the impedence to the exhaust.

The VNT turbo's are sized so that max power is reached when the vanes are fully open. These turbo's don't have a wastegate.

Having said that, I thought that all the non-diesel turbos (and a lot of the diesel ones) were not VNT - but I'm away from my references at the moment.

Wide open vanes shouldn't cause limp mode, but will reduce boost at all rpm except max, making the car feel vastly underpowered, a lot like limp mode in fact.

Lots of good advice given above, all of which I agree with :)



If I were you I would change up at higher revs. Your peak torque is at 2200 rpm, and I think that one strategy for good performance is to change up so as to drop back to the torque peak, so changing up at 3-4000 rpm I'd guess. Changing at 2500 will drop you down to 12-1500? which is well below even a VNT turbo's boost threshold, so you're wasting fuel pushing the turbine around without getting enough of a boost from the impeller to balance it. Turbo usually starts to be effective at 1800 rpm, I think (although I have a diesel, and they may be different in turbo range).
 

Tom B

Active Member
Apr 2, 2002
4,710
16
Northampton
Its worth mentioning that the 1.8T engine is pretty much bulletproof if you don't over-tune it and warm it up and down after a blast.

There's a red Octavia vRS taxi in Northampton that has well over 450k on it, I used to sell him the service bits for it every 4 weeks! The engine, turbo, box and clutch are all original...the only issue he had was with MAFs.
 

DOLBY

Active Member
Jun 24, 2006
2,934
98
North of London
www.facebook.com
well yes hes probably a c()ck.
However i dont see how that stalls to turbo. Especially as you cant build up much pressure without load on the engine.


i dunno mate, i thought if the car is in gear, and your hitting peak power delivery with the clutch depressed, and your not moving....thought it may stall the turbo....

hold my hands up if im wrong.....
 

andycupra

status subject to change
get them up... ;)

fairly common miss-understanding that you can build up boost at a standstill in neutral or with the clutch depressed. The ecu needs a load on the engine for it to build up boost.
You can build up a little boost, but not very much at all, and only momentarily.
 
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LEE69

Stage 2 Revo'd
Dec 10, 2004
21,262
74
C\UK\Devon\Torquay
avoid short journeys that don't allow engine to warm properly - as discussed above - cos when ECU selects 'choke mode' the petrol/air mixture squirts in more petrol, which 'washes away' engine oil, thus causing more engine-wear.

Mine goes of "choke" very quickly, if i had to guess about 1/2 mile.
 

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
i had heard much the same, thats why with suspect pipes that maybe collapsing you can see them doing it on a rolling road, etc. but not at stand still with the bonnet open and someone revving it
 

J_Cupra210

LCR 210
Sep 27, 2006
49
0
Blackcountry Boy!
I have no idea why you'd buy a Cupra R and then drive it aorund at no more than 3000 rpm.. might aswell have got the 1.6 or something.

But on a more seriuos note.. the 1.8T is a stong engine and takes a good beating.. let it warm up and cool down correctly, service every 6 months (6000 miles) and you should be good to at least see the other side 4000rpm every now and then lol
 

AK1210

Guest
why drive a a cupra r at low revs......

I dont need to be ragging around trying to reach a decent speed at over 2500 thats the point the mk1 cupra r is quick just getting to 30. Like i say i can drive my cupra r at about 2500 to 3000 revs and beat most. i just didnt want to do excess damage driving at higher revs in the lower gears. peace
:D
 

filbro

Active Member
Jun 23, 2008
337
0
Derbyshire
AK121, Always use a good quality fuel, Super Unleaded pref Shell V-max. I guess you won't be tuning your leon, but Super Unleaded helps prevent pre-detonation (pinking).
 

Andy_J

Active Member
Sep 20, 2006
162
0
The Kingdom!
simple answer - you cant! lol

it's gonna wear however you drive it, just be kind and change the fluids regularly, wait till heated before driving it hard and let the turbo cool before turning off ignition.. as for gearbox, be smooth and it should last forever!
 

g1

Guest
let the oil get warmed up....i usually start my car up and let it idle for about 2 mins ...but i get to my work place within 10 mins....is this a bad thing?!
 

Neg.

Active Member
May 11, 2007
132
0
Bristol
let the oil get warmed up....i usually start my car up and let it idle for about 2 mins ...but i get to my work place within 10 mins....is this a bad thing?!


buy a bike if your that close :p
 
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g1

Guest
lol thanks for the practical advise! on a serious note - is this such a bad thing?
 
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