Does the Caddy 2.0L TDI do well on short journeys?

[Halfling Inventor]

New here so be nice

I'm thinking of getting a 2019 2.0L TDI startline van to turn into a mini-camper, I know the 1.6L has fuel injector problems that are made worse by short journeys. I hope to avoid these problems by getting the 2.0L TDI engine instead, but my trip to work is only 10 minuets, so other than camper-van trips at weekends it will be driven for 10 minuets twice a day through the week

I'm probably overthinking this but is driving lots of short journeys likely to cause problems?

[Doc]

Hi, welcome to the forum.
The main problem with running a diesel of any size on short journeys will be the build up of sooty deposit in the exhaust system.
You might find that components like the DPF and EGR will begin to block up.
This might be somewhat helped right by your weekend camping trips which I assume will be more than a hour each way?

Your battery is another thing to consider. Ten minutes may not be enough to replenish the charge used to start, especially if you have lights and fans running on the journey.
Again, the longer trip will help replenish the charge but whether the battery can sustain the ten or more short journeys in between is questionable. A quality battery in the largest size you can fit will help give you a larger stored energy buffer.

[Halfling Inventor]

Thanks a lot for the information, it helps

My travel time at weekends will most likely be longer than an hour through the summer, and usually only day trips through the winter so usually less than an hour, this is my best guess based on the driving I currently do, I'm a photographer so I almost always go somewhere but I'm very random and never plan anything, it just depends on what I feel like

maybe if I used something like this every so often when I fill up: https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/wynns-di ... _sQAvD_BwE it would help with the DPF/EGR blocking problem?

I hadn't thought about the battery, my dad has a diesel Toyota Verso with a 2.0L TDI engine, he's hardly driven that this year (due to Covid) and yet it still starts first time with no need for jump-leads so I guess I just thought it would be OK

I read somewhere else that short journeys can significantly shorten the life of a diesel engine because the oil never reaches it's optimum temperature, leading to excessive wear etc... , I'm not sure how true it is?

[Doc]

Not sure on the Toyota situation but I always like to give any car a run or at least 15 minutes at idle with no electrical loads on if I'm just going to start it up to turn it over.
Regarding the oil, with variable service intervals, the instrument cluster will calculate the degradation of your oil so it's not something you'll need to worry about. The maximum distance between servicing is taken as a reference when the service indicator is reset, if you do a short trip of say 5 miles, the counter might reduce by 10 miles to allow for the fact the oil has not been up to temperature. Likewise, a 60 mile journey where you beat on the engine the whole way, might end in a reduction of considerably more than 60 miles as the oil is then overworked. The exact science behind how this is calculate is not something I know for sure but it is allowed for on your caddy if the variable service intervals are used.

[Ripley55]

Hi @Halfling Inventor.
There's a couple of threads on here regarding this subject, but basically I'm in the same boat too. My work commute is exactly 3 miles from my front door to the car park at work.

Even in the summer, my Caddy doesn't like more than a couple of weeks of this, and as Doc says when you add the loads on for Winter use, it's not a great combination, and mine starts to do a semi sort of regen almost every day, leaving me to have to go out and do a 20-30 mile journey every weekend just to give it a decent run.

My Van is in the Paint shop at the moment, but sadly, when it's ready for collection I'll be parking it up in the garage for a few weeks over the Christmas period, luckily in having a second vehicle I'm now using my Golf to travel to work.

[Halfling Inventor]

@Ripley55 Thanks for the reply, How does your battery cope with this?

[Ripley55]

Last time I had the regen thing going on, in the end I needed a jump start, and then took it for a good run, and it was fine, but I put it back in the garage and put it on the battery conditioner/charger for a few days.

As I said, running the 3 miles commute in my Golf now until the new year. When I pick up the Caddy this weekend from paint, going to put her back in the garage on charge

[Scoobysrt]

I often do less than a mile trips, I can do 1-3 a day or not even drive it for a week or more, it very rarely does more than a few miles in one trip. So far no problems with my new one.
I drove my '07 tdi the same for 8 years but did thrash it everywhere, it did have the check engine warning light on constantly, after resetting it would instantly come back on, I never had it cleaned out and just drove it with the light on (not saying its right, just saying how it is).
Ive never had battery issues on either van.
From memory they used to say you need 30 minutes of driving to put the same amount of power back into a battery that your starter motor uses on 1 start, my new one has start stop so whether there's problems ahead for me I don't know.
Its no great bind to me to have a trickle charger attached while its parked up if need be.
Ive always put the biggest battery (size and power) in that will fit on the tray.
When it snowed the other day I started the '07 up for the first time in over a month and it fired first time.

[SnoWhite]

As Doc points out, short journeys can clog up the EGR, DPF and Catalyst, which are all expensive components which can also be time consuming to access/replace. Indeed somewhere in the VW sales catelog small print they specifically advise against buying a diesel model for regular short journeys. Once in a while is fine, but for trouble free motoring, diesels really need to be up to temperature and given a decent run fairly often to allow soot in the DPF to burn off during a regen.

I would be inclined to look for a petrol Caddy, which tend to better handle short journeys. Unfortunately petrol models are quite rare, and Caddys with an LPG conversion are even rarer but should significantly cut your running costs and still handle frequent short journeys.

[Halfling Inventor]

Thanks for the replies although now I think I'm more confused than I was before LOL

I would be inclined to look for a petrol Caddy, which tend to better handle short journeys. Unfortunately petrol models are quite rare, and Caddys with an LPG conversion are even rarer but should significantly cut your running costs and still handle frequent short journeys.

I was reading this other thread: https://www.caddy2k.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45206 and I too wish the 1.6 petrol was a thing in the UK, and you're right, petrol Caddy's are rare, and the choice of petrol engines available in the UK is not amazing when you compare the torque/hp to the diesel models

I guess I just have to decide if I'm prepared to put up with battery/DPF issues to have my dream van

[Giddy]

As far as I know petrol 1.6 is a naturally aspirated engine, it has worse fuel economy and less power than 1.4 TSI

[Halfling Inventor]

@Giddy That's interesting to know, I naturally assumed the 1.6 would be more powerful than the 1.4 and never looked up the numbers, although I did spot the same pattern with the numbers for 1.0L and the 1.2L petrol, where the 1.2 is actually slower, it makes me wonder why they ever sold those engines

[Giddy]

I have never looked into the exact differences, but 1.0 TSI and 1.4 TSI are the newest from the EA211 family. The latest 1.5 TSI (EA211 EVO) is an upgrade of 1.4 TSI.

[Halfling Inventor]

Hi, I'm back

someone I know is selling a 2016 startline caddy, it's a 1.6L and I was wondering if someone could tell me if the 1.6L is better, worse or same as the 2L when dealing with short journeys? and are the MK3 1.6L injector problems fixed on the MK4 1.6L or is that still an issue?

also, it has a dark tint on the rear barn-door windows, I'm not a huge fan of that, and it would be good to know if it's a transfer tint that can be peeled off the inside of the glass or an actual tinted glass? Were caddys just offered with tinted glass or a transfer tint as an option from new? because It's been used as a wide load escort vehicle since new and I doubt it's owner would have ever bothered to do any modifications other than the chevron transfer and orange light, so as a guess it is just as it came

[EDIT] the tint is a film that can come off the window, and I've just agreed to buy it so don't worry about replying to this