[John Ireland]

Reading through the concerns and wear history of other tdi owners I am curious about your experiences with the cam lobe issue.

In my 1.8t days (and before) I used to work the balance of cam and gear ratios so that my rpms were always at a point where the least amount of throttle produced the most effective response...not the peak of the rpm range but a combination of rpm and torque. Lugging the engine was not the way to maximum fuel efficiency or performance. I would imagine the same is true for a diesel, even though the rpms for max torque are much lower.

I was told by a VW service tech that the best way to get the best city milage was not to leave the auto trans in Drive, but rather in 4. That keeps the engine out of overdrive and reduces the number of times it must downshift when throttle is applied.

Your thoughts and milage experiences on this driving technique please.

Also, could lugging the engine be a source of cam lobe wear?

 

[sportriderseattle]

Here is the reason I got my TDI with 6 speed manual and with that I suggest that you drive a DSG like the manual. Therefore, leave it in the "manual" position.

With that, the technique is to drive it at the lowest RPM's without lugging the engine...lugging the engine is very difficult to do in the first place with this trany/engine. I typically shift from 1st to 2nd at about 5mph and I am in 4th by the time I am at 30mph and 5th by 40mph. The engine does not lug. With that I squeeze out currently 49.6 mpg in my last tank of fuel.

 

[Krout]

I drive my alh like I stole it every day and never had any cam wear issues in almost 400k. I get 45mpg driving fast. Left the original cam in for almost 300k and used non sythetic oil for the first 150k.

Sound like you work real hard to get 49.