110 130 or 150 Diesel.

[cordoba lad]

I had a 90 in my old cordoba and I've got the 150 in the Leon, chalk and cheese I would say the Leons engine revs much more cleanly throughout the range available. But I preferred the 130 engine when I drove in a fabia VRS, as there is less lag. However if you are going to modify things like the brakes then go for the 130 or 150 as there is less work required to fit TT, S3 parts. Plus if you go for the FR+ you get the LCR looks.

 

[JigsJigz]

I had a 90 in my old cordoba and I've got the 150 in the Leon, chalk and cheese I would say the Leons engine revs much more cleanly throughout the range available. But I preferred the 130 engine when I drove in a fabia VRS, as there is less lag. However if you are going to modify things like the brakes then go for the 130 or 150 as there is less work required to fit TT, S3 parts. Plus if you go for the FR+ you get the LCR looks.

yours Icelandic grey? (from the pics) i love that colour!

 

[cordoba lad]

Luna Grey is the official colour but looks quite blue in that photo is is more silver to be honest.

 

[putridmocha]

I had Luna grey and it looked a bit blue

 

[JigsJigz]

Thanks guys! really appreciated! ok another noob question how do i tell what 1 im looking at? as ive seen a few on ebay but dont list what bhp it is... when i ask they seem to have no clue either!... i dont really want a 90bhp!... (trying to stick to a 130-150 i guess u can tell by the dials and 6speed.) but incase i want a 110.

 

[BenG]

150TDI has front-mount intercooler - there's a large plastic pipe which passes across the front of the engine, behind the oil filter housing and down towards the passenger-side front wheelarch. The pipe then passes behind the wheelarch liner to one end of the intercooler.

Build sticker on the boot floor under the carpet will have 'ARL' written on it if the engine is a 150. Also, the 150 only came in Cupra or FR trim levels, which were not available with the lower-powered diesels. TDI badge on boot will be all red.

Not sure how you'd tell the difference between the older, non-PD 90hp and 110hp engines but someone here will know.

Personally I preferred the power delivery of a 130TDI I test drove in a VW Polo to the Leon, which feels laggy in stop-start driving and only really comes into its own at higher speeds and revs.

 

[Muttley]

TDI 90 and 110 engines are distribution pump diesels, and have the pump driven by the cambelt. It's a big block on the offside of the engine bay with fuel pipes going to it and four hard metal pipes going to the injectors. You can only really see it with the engine cover off, though.

My old TDI 110 looked like this with the engine cover off:

The only difference between the 90 and 110 engines is the turbo, which is difficult to see. Best to check the build sticker, but bear in mind that it only tells you what engine the car came out of the factory with.

My current build sticker (with the chassis number blanked out of course)

The engine power in kW is shown as part of the code on the sticker - mines 110 kW = 150 BHp.
96kW=130BHp, 81kW=110BHp and 66kW=90BHp

TDI 130 and 150 are PD engines, the injectors are under the cam cover and fuel pipes go from the fuel filter to the flywheel end of the engine where there is a low-pressure pump to circulate the fuel to the injectors. Again, only easy to see if the cover is off.

My TDI 150 looks like this under the cover

TDI 130 has a side-mounted intercooler so there should be no boost pipes going across the engine. TDI 150 has a front-mounted intercooler and the boost pipe from intercooler to engine inlet goes across the front of the engine, behind the oil filter.

 

[MrBen2k7]

110 is insurance group 6 & the cheapest to run imo

My 150 is better on fuel than my 110 was.. by quite a way.

 

[Muttley]

The PD engine is generally better than the distribution pump, the control of the injected quantity is more precise as it's done right at the point of injection.

My PD 150 is doing slightly better than the 110 used to do, but I'm still giving way and using the extra power far too often On the few occasions I've done long motorway miles, it has shown up much better, though. And I know I've a slight boost leak, where the pancake pipe has been damaged and lost a lug through what looks like striking an obstacle in the road - the undertray is badly bashed about on that side too.

I've just turned the EGR down using VCDS, and the mpg on the trip computer has shown a significant improvement - about 10%. However I'll wait until I've had a few tanks of fuel through it and can compare the true mpg using my fuel spreadsheet.

I'd completely disabled the EGR on the old TDI 110.

 

[BenG]

My 150 gets 50-52mpg on a motorway run (based on brim-to-brim testing and driving mostly at 70-75mph). Computer reads 5mpg optimistic.

Short trips it's more like 48-49mpg (driving gently).

Remap (175hp/300lb ft) made no difference to economy, but I'm sure it would if I ragged it everywhere...

 

[JigsJigz]

Cheers Muttley!

 

[JamesL]

Use parkers to check dates and use spec levels as well. For example, broadly speaking you will be able to tell from the photos. 90's generally have grey interior and be classed as 'S' level, 110's will be 'SE' (or 'SX'?) and will have much better interior, resembling the Cupra interior more closely than they resemble the 90bhp version. The SX was released post 2003 (?) generally on 53 plate onwards.

Did they not release the PD engine around the 2003 mark? There are loads of things you can use in the picture to identify the models once you have looked at enough.

 

[Brettyboy]

Main giveaway with 90 & 110 is the I,110 has a red I of the rear badge TDI & on the engine cover

 

[JigsJigz]

thanks guys.

 

[Muttley]

TDI badging for 1.9 engines

TDI 90 - all silver
TDI 110 - red I
TDI 130 - red DI
TDI 150 - all red

This applies to the rear badges only, if you find TDI badges on the front they can be almost any colour.

The badge is relatively easy to change so if you have suspicions, check the engine code itself if you can.

Trim levels: The TDI 110 is mostly found with SE (special equipment?) level trim, which includes climate control, cruise control, CD changer, electric folding mirrors amongst other bits. Not leather seats, though.

 

[d1n93r]

only thing missing on my 110 is the cruise control but thinking of getting it fitted

 

[Engimaneer]

Regarding badges, that was the correct factory spec, but as people found with the mk4 golfs, the customer had the option to change the badge from the factory to whatever they wanted, and people de-badge and re-badge them.
IMO the only way to tell is the engine code and google or the V5.

Cruise control is simple to fit, done it to a few vag cars now, it just requires to confidence to rip the dash too pieces and rebuild it all.

 

[d1n93r]

is there much dash to take apart?

 

[JigsJigz]

is there much dash to take apart?

nope few screws mate.

 

[JigsJigz]

kinda weird of me but i like the r32 dash and wanted to upgrade the steering for the stereo?