How do I know what is done to my car?

[samussamus1]

Hey Guys,

I really want to find out what has been done to my car.
I bought it off a woman that had no idea what she was talking about.
My turbo is very loud (screams)
My car almost keeps up with a BMW M3 evo (old shape)
Its faster than a mk3 1.8 Turbo remapped with a fmic.
It easily beats a Honda crx vtec (163bhp standard) with type R bits and bobs.
My car smokes like mad when I put my foot down and leaves a trail of smoke behind.
I have just had a engine mount snap (top mount), the garage said its due to the power.
My car has a strut brace, cupra intake and has some weird lead that goes to the OBD port which is fed behind the dash then comes out in the passenger footwell to a serial cable.
There is a mass amount of custom cables behind the Dash.
In the wet if I'm say doing 20mph in 3rd gear, put my foot down, soon as it boosts it wheel spins....It seems to have a mad amount of power...
It has a standard intercooler but looks like at one time it may have been played around with, and before the weather got this cold, my turbo did overheat and I have seen the Oil temp go to 120c....
Is anyone able to shed some light on this or tell me what to look for, or maybe someone knows the previous owner that did all this work....
My car came with a tow bar which is now gone if that helps identify it lol...
Heres some pictures....

BREATHER FILTER IS NOW OFF AND BACK TO STANDARD.

Cheers guys!

 

[Chino_UK]

Worst my-car-is-fast thread ever.

lol.

Only kidding, certainly sounds like it's been remapped. If it's breaking engine mounts it's got to either be unlucky or have a lot of torque, only ones I've seen do that are ones running hybrid turbo's. I'd get it on a rolling road and see what it puts out. If it's 160-180bhp you're looking at a stage 1 map I'd say, if it's over the 200bhp mark I'd say it's most likely had a turbo swap.

 

[samussamus1]

Hmm ok, I need to find somewhere local to do this next week or so then, apart from a RR have you got any other ideas from getting under the car and looking or something similar ? Maybe serial Numbers?
I don't know if everything I'm saying sounds like BS but its not
I really want to make a video to show you guys the 0-60 which is around seconds but every time I now use any sort of power whilst steering I get a big grinding noise due to this bloody engine mount, will be fixed tomorrow so If its dry I will video it

 

[Chino_UK]

If it is running a high torque figure you may well find you need to uprate the engine mounts or it will just keep happening. As for serial numbers, I'm not sure, wait for some of the diesel guys to get in here, they may have some better ideas.

 

[samussamus1]

Ok Cheers, I read that a minute ago where they will keep going if its the power causing it, hope this wont happen
I just need my car for Thursday as I have to go 56 miles for work....
After that it can break all it wants!

 

[Chino_UK]

You can get Vibratechnics uprated ones I think that will prevent so much movement but from when I investigated they were several £££.

 

[samussamus1]

Yeah I would love to get one of them, but a original mount from VW was £120, I got a second hand one in mint condition for £25.....Just for now anyway...I will try and find a price for the Vibratechnics one...

Cheers!

 

[FR_MATT]

I'd guess it wasn't running a non standard turbo as surely you would replace the intercooler first? Unless he sold the intercooler separately and didn't have a standard turbo to swap back over???

The cable is probably just to plug into a laptop for VAGCOM etc

Standard PD130 will spin in the wet at 20mph, (also clutch won't last long if you are flooring it below 2000rpm)

 

[.Phase]

I'm interested to know how the insurance works out, how can you declare what's been done if you don't know?

 

[samussamus1]

yeah good point O_O

 

[FR_MATT]

I'm interested to know how the insurance works out, how can you declare what's been done if you don't know?

A simplistic veiw would be he can see whatever the insurance people can should the worst come to the worst

 

[lawrieIbizaMk4]

I'm interested to know how the insurance works out, how can you declare what's been done if you don't know?

Happened to me! Had to call the insurance as soon as I found out and pay the extra monies.

My thoughts on this are that it's a stage one map. The reason it feels faster than the previously mentioned cars is because it is a light car with all the torque of the diesel engine + a map.

I would also say it hasn't been made stage 2 or big/hybrid turbo die to the standard intercooler but if you can take the bumper off and look to see if it has been trimmed back at all then that is a definite give away that there has been an fmic on there at some time in it's life.

You won't really know until you've had it on a rolling road

 

[vroomtshh]

A hybrid tdi won't keep up with an E36 M3, So I'm guessing that inside your block is a jet engine. The afterburn is what is causing the smoke.

On a more serious note, that breather filter is dangerous, and your EGR has the vac pipe removed.
Do you have an EML on? If not, this would suggest that you have a map at the very least as the EGR must have been mapped out.
It has a PD160 intake, and what looks like a miltek exhaust.

So I'm going to guess that it has a very aggressive stage two map, and probably had an intercooler at some point.

If you log boost, it might help a bit

Edit to add: You also appear to have pink writing up the windscreen, this alone is probably worth around 20bhp.

 

[FR_MATT]

tut tut everyone knows stickers only add 5bhp

 

[lawrieIbizaMk4]

Edit to add: You also appear to have pink writing up the windscreen, this alone is probably worth around 20bhp.

Lol!

 

[vroomtshh]

tut tut everyone knows stickers only add 5bhp

Yeh but pink windscreen stickers are extra special

 

[lawrieIbizaMk4]

And to add: did alarm bells not start ringing when you realised the woman didn't know what she was talking about?

 

[samussamus1]

Thanks for all the answers guys, yeah the pink sticker must be it!
Alarm bells didn't really ring, she knew about the general car but when I came to ask her if it was mapped and who did the boot dynamatt she said she has no idea whats done to it, she said she bought it off a guy 3 years ago....
Do milltek tag their exhausts at all?
Also on the insurance side, I would call them but if I don't know whats done to it then I'm sure they will just charge me a bomb or go crazy ?
In a way I kind of hope that it hasn't got a different turbo ect....

The breather filter is removed as mentioned next to the picture and the Vacuum pipe is taken off so the EGR is permanently closed (runs like poo if I put it on) and I dont get any dash light come on, so no Idea....

 

[samussamus1]

Heres some more pictures.... if it helps...

 

[samussamus1]

Lol ok, well I shall do some investigating later, will have a close up look at the turbo with pictures...its probably standard but we shall see....