406oc.co.uk

Not sure you could really compare a HDi with a 2.2 vtec.

In 30 limits I'm usually in 4th change upto 5th at 40 ish.

Overtaking has to be preplanned, from 45 ish I'd just leave it in 5th , the engine runs out of steam about 3200rpm anyway so you don't want to drop a gear and end up too far up the rev range.

Fog

When I spent some time in a Golf TDI I found it worked well to drop a cog with plenty of revs when you wanted to overtake. There wasn't much turbo lag on it, but high revs helped to minimise it. If I ran out of steam in the lower gear I'd keep the throttle floored, change up a gear and grind the clutch to bring the revs back down without coming off the boost.

Yeah it was a rental, but I still apply the same technique on the rare occasion I really want/need to shift in my petrol turbo.

Hi fella, I too came from the VTEC world and the HDi is a real lazy plodder - don't rev it!

The most Torgue for overtaking is between 2000 and 3000 rpm, if you're sat in this band then you are already in the correct gear.

I've done some monster overtaking moves even in 5th. You can go from 50 to 85 in no time really, just don't try caning the thing - it will have the opposite effect really. Just takes some getting used to, oh and I never really 'floor' the throttle either.

(welcome BTW)

Did you used to be on Hondarevolutions?

.......or get a remap like I have and it will pull like a train from 1700rpm to red line )

I found the easy way to "learn" how to drive the HDI was:
1st = 0-10mph
2nd = 10-20
3rd = 20-30
4th = 30-40/50 (40 for cruising, 50 if you want to go for 5th)
5th = 50 onwards

This will leave the engine at about 1800rpm where the turbo is boosted and ready to go (as much as a HDi will)
Any lower than 1700rpm and the HDi is quite sluggish.
Any lower than about 1200rpm and it's pretty lumpy and jerky.
Just cruise at those speeds and the car is a doddle.
5th is a nice gear but very long so I let the revs climb a bit higher to take me to 50 in 4th before going for 5th.

But at 1700-1900rpm the car is ready to accelerate if needed but still a distance away from the dreaded torque death at 3000rpm.
Using these speeds I'm always between 1700 and 3000 rpm.


Oh and don't use the gearbox to change down when slowing too much.
I used to drop my 306 down through the gears and didn't care if it revved at 5k or 7k on the downchanges.
You WILL care if you take your foot off the clutch and rev to 4k+ in the HDI (As well as going straight out through the windscreen.)

And as Welly said, ignore the last half of travel on the throttle, it doesn't do anything and flooring the car will make little to no difference at all to the speed you travel at.

I generally drive it as low revs as possible when plodding in traffic, mine can pull ok from just over 1k (148k has loosen it off a bit!) its just not fast accelerating from that low rev's.

The best acceleration is between about 2200 rpm to just over 3k the car generally responds better to the pedal to be feed on progressively rather than just shoved to the floor.

I have found with all 7 diesels (all Peugeot) that I have owned over the last 18years that they only start to come on song around the 130,000mile mark, then you really start to get some action!

Welton wrote:oh and I never really 'floor' the throttle either.

eric wrote:And as Welly said, ignore the last half of travel on the throttle, it doesn't do anything and flooring the car will make little to no difference at all to the speed you travel at.

this is because if you do this the turbo wastegate opens, even though it has an electronic boost controller, you will still have the same boost, but the exhaust gas effort used to spin the turbine will be wasted, so you will in effect loose power
also driving a turbo at full throttle causes wastegate 'clatter' which is where the wastgate flap (not sure of the technical term) bangs on the turbine housing, eventually the housing cracks or the flap breaks and blocks the turbine and it seizes

jameslxdt wrote:also driving a turbo at full throttle causes wastegate 'clatter' which is where the wastgate flap (not sure of the technical term) bangs on the turbine housing, eventually the housing cracks or the flap breaks and blocks the turbine and it seizes

Wonder if that could be the noise (like a 3mm nut in a beer can) I hear when asking my car to accelerate. Steady speed on the flat it's not there, but any further pressure on the accelerator makes the noise getting louder with throttle position...

At least the latter half of my accelerator pedal still makes a noticeable difference though

Eric wrote:I found the easy way to "learn" how to drive the HDI was:
1st = 0-10mph
2nd = 10-20
3rd = 20-30
4th = 30-40/50 (40 for cruising, 50 if you want to go for 5th)
5th = 50 onwards.

That's the same as my petrol turbo when not caining it, except I change to 5th at 40mph

Generally I'll change up around 2000rpm (4000rpm for maximum acceleration), Highest I normally rev is 2300 which is 60mph in 5th. I really want a longer 5th cog ;)

I still maintain the 2.0 turbo is the petrol that thinks it's a diseasel!

And as Welly said, ignore the last half of travel on the throttle, it doesn't do anything and flooring the car will make little to no difference at all to the speed you travel at.[/quote]

The remap I had done must of addressed this problem, since I don't have it! The last half of the throttle makes the same difference to the first half. My car pulls cleanly from 1200rpm to red line in all gears bar 5th. The only noise that I have is an injector clatter up to 3200rpm when the second stage injection comes in - it all goes quiet at the point, I understand that this is a common 'feature' of the Bosch Diesel injection when they have covered a few miles; it doesn't effect performance or fuel economy (64mpg on computer).

mjb wrote:

jameslxdt wrote:also driving a turbo at full throttle causes wastegate 'clatter' which is where the wastgate flap (not sure of the technical term) bangs on the turbine housing, eventually the housing cracks or the flap breaks and blocks the turbine and it seizes

Wonder if that could be the noise (like a 3mm nut in a beer can) I hear when asking my car to accelerate. Steady speed on the flat it's not there, but any further pressure on the accelerator makes the noise getting louder with throttle position...

At least the latter half of my accelerator pedal still makes a noticeable difference though

this is more likely cam rattle which is very common on the XU 8v

mjb wrote:

Eric wrote:I found the easy way to "learn" how to drive the HDI was:
1st = 0-10mph
2nd = 10-20
3rd = 20-30
4th = 30-40/50 (40 for cruising, 50 if you want to go for 5th)
5th = 50 onwards.

That's the same as my petrol turbo when not caining it, except I change to 5th at 40mph

Generally I'll change up around 2000rpm (4000rpm for maximum acceleration), Highest I normally rev is 2300 which is 60mph in 5th. I really want a longer 5th cog ;)

I still maintain the 2.0 turbo is the petrol that thinks it's a diseasel!

Changing up at 4k when going for it sounds very low.
I'd have thought it'd still be supplying lots of torque and power up to 5.5-6k

Not sure on the 406 but both the petrol turbos I owned would pull nicely up to 6k.
One fast enough to make you need a nappy but both had the same powerband roughly.
Both of them were boosted at around 2.5k then went crazy till 6k.
The MR2 would start to loose power noticeably over 6k.
The Rover would get to 7k easily although doing this in first would shatter the diff.... As I found out to my cost

Eric, the subject relates to the HDi406 which is diesel, not petrol as you think. Most diesels red line at high 4k - 5k, most petrols (unless it's a Jap screemer) red line at 6k-6.5k.

Mat