Hi all
Thought I would share my thoughts. I've had my Golf GTI for about 15 months now and to be honest I've always thought the car was a little bit sluggish in terms of performance. I run a company in the week and its pretty long hours (including some weekends) so I don't have a great deal of spare time.
In the time I've owned the GTI its visited 2 different garages in the MK area for services etc with no fault codes showing up. One of the garages mentioned I should consider a re-map as he found the car sluggish when he took it for a test drive. Over the last few months I've noticed the car making a whoosh sound on acceleration and its been getting worse to the point where I could clearly hear it inside the cabin. I've read various listings on here that its a sign that the diverter valve is on its way out. Well chaps I can honestly say you weren't wrong!
So yesterday I bit the bullet, phoned AMD Tuning and arranged to get a GFB diverter valve fitted today, the technician mentioned that on Saturday it was a first come, first served basis. So I got down there for opening time for 9am
Within a few minutes of arriving my car was up in the air and the technician was busy taking the old part off.
The rubber valve was totally shot, it was literally in pieces! The chap @ AMD Tuning mentioned that you lose in the region of 30 bhp with a torn diverter valve according to previous tests on their dyno so its definitely worth checking. I only wish I had the required skills to change parts like this myself
Here are some pics of what you get, you can see the piston style diverter valve as well for comparison
All in all, the whole job must have been completed in around 15-20 mins and that included making sure any codes that flashed up on the computer were removed.
As for the performance difference well what I can say but WOW!!! The car actually takes off after 3,500rpm. I honestly cant believe the difference and I'm more than a little annoyed with myself for driving around for the last year or so with a car not running on full boost.
I just want to thank AMD Tuning for turning my car around so quickly this morning. I would definitely recommend their services if you are local to them.
Cheers
George