Bought this car on the internet from a dealer down in Naperville, IL. It was put together from a wreck in Texas. When the windshield got foggy, "flood" appeared having been written on it. The windshield was from a flooded car. Right side had obviously been hit, because the headlight was foggy. It ran well and got me 49 1/2 mpg right away. The first thing I did was have Jason in Madison (the TDI wizard) put a new timing belt in and that kind of stuff. It has a bunch of little cosmetic issues which I can work on.
Basics: 1.9 liter turbo-diesel
Brake pads
ReplyDeleteThe first issue that came up was replacing disc brake pads all around. When I did the rear pads, I had a real difficult time pushing the pistons back in the calipers and had to beat on them with a hammer. I'm sure I may have chipped them and it is likely that next time I will have to replace the calipers. I have found out since then that some rear pistons need a special tool to rotate them as they are pushed in. Perhaps this was the case.
Glove box
ReplyDeleteThe glove box was locked shut and there was no key for it. The door of it had to be popped and damaged to get it out. I was able to order a new glove box, which just slides right in, on the internet for about 54-bucks. Worked just fine.
Replaced glove box
ReplyDeleteThe car has a number of small cosmetic issues. One was that the glove box was locked shut and there was no key provided. The door had to be broken to get it open. I was able to order, on the internet, a matching box that slid right in. No problems with it.
Windshield washer
ReplyDeleteThe windshield washer pump hummed when the control was depressed, but no fluid. Had the car down in Pass Christian for the winter and tackled that problem. Because it was a put-together car, when they put the right fenders on they just cut the lines. I had to loosen part of the dash and pull it back, exposing all that. Then I simply patched in a piece of clear tubing with clamps, which they could have done easily enough. Works fine ever since.
Shocks and struts
ReplyDeleteI had gotten new tires and was rotating them every 6000 miles. When I went in, the passenger rear tire was all cupped. I took it to Jason (TDI wizard) in Madison and he put new shocks and struts in. He also identified the louder than normal diesel clicking as a broken cam plate in the injection pump. That will probably become a problem. Also there is a lot of body pinging when accelerating. One thing he found was the dog-bone bushing was worn out. He gave me a new one, which I threw in the trunk. Drove to Florida on the old tires, then bought a new one to replace the damaged one and had them all rotated.
Dog bone bushing
ReplyDeleteIt was a piece of cake to jack the front end up, put stands under it, and replace the dog bone bushing. The ping had gotten quite bad. Did it on my driveway in Florida. 4 bolts off and on. The biggest ping disappeared, fortunately, but there are still some little ones. Need to look at that more carefully when I go back up north.
I have religiously changed the oil, filter, and air filter every 10,000 miles since having this buggy. I use DelVac 5000 from Mobil. Had it done at Classic Lube in Mount Dora on 4/16/12 at 150,154 miles. They recommend a power steering flush. It's worse than that...I've been having to put fluid in it. Gotta look into that. They noticed the engine noise, too, from the cam-plate.
ReplyDeletePut new brake pads in front upon getting to Mount Dora in January. Chris was there and helped. Had to keep going back to the parts store to get the right size Allen key to get the calipers off, but finally got it. I put the tool in the trunk along with the lug nut key and the jack and spare wheel. After that, everything went uneventfully and it turned out to be a fine job.
ReplyDeleteDrove the Jetta TDI home, loaded to the gills, trunk and backseat. Stopped in Tallahassee to see Dalton Headley Purdue, a motel in Mount Vernon, IL, and overnight at Ken Stogis' before picking Cathy up at O'Hare and driving up to Wisconsin. Total miles of 1253 and used 25.94 gallons of gas. Computes to 48.2 mpg
ReplyDeleteaddressed one of the issues this car has...we'll see what happens. Got a can of power steering stop-leak and started filling the reservoir with that. It says results will be had, sometimes after 2 cans are used, so I'll just stick with it and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteput in a new brake light on the driver side rear. tried to figure out why the window sprayer quit working. Doesn't seem to be a fuse. Left for Madison, however, and it drove normally all the way and quit right at the Hw 30 exit ramp to Fair Oaks! Would not restart and the only new light on is the red battery one. Serp belt OK and timing belt looked OK. Cathy and I pushed it over to Courtesy Motors, a VW and TDI guy about ten blocks away. He's going to look at it.
ReplyDeleteInitial finding: injection pump did finally go. e-mailled Jason TDI to get his estimate. Courtesy's was 1800 to 2000
ReplyDeleteJason said the VW new pump was 1150 and 3 or 3 1/2 to put it in. Also there might be one available for 500 used with only about 18 months on it. Cathy and I towed the Jetta from Courtesy (which charged me 90 bucks for work so far) down Milwaukee St, down Atwood and Monona, down Broadway, and down the beltline to Fish Hatchery Rd and over to Jason's and left it.
ReplyDeleteJason tried the used fuel pump in it and it was no good. Gave him the go ahead to put in a new one from VW since a rebuilt one was only a couple hundred dollars less. Told him to check bushings for ping, check the squirter motor, and the glow-plug or injector that was weak, as well.
ReplyDeleteGot new pump, new injectors, he fixed the squirt motor for the windshield cleaner, tightened up some motor mounts, and put in the glow plug. Picked it up and it runs great.
ReplyDeleteHad a new windshield put in today. 300-bucks! WOW, all for the stupid mistake of sticking a ten foot PVC pipe up on the dash. Oh well, it looks great! And the car is running great. The only thing it needs right now still is the turbo advance valve and new windshield wiper blades. The installer was not impressed with how the old windshield was put in, which doesn't surprise me either because it was chopped together.
ReplyDeleteGot to the bottom of the leak problem on the passenger side. Hood up, there are 4 screws that allow a tray to be removed. Beneath is an air filter which can be cleaned off, and an opening to the wheel well which is gunked up with insulation pieces and leaves. Shop-vacced it all out.
ReplyDeleteCathy and I have decided to put the TDI on Craig's List for $6500. It has 155,000 miles on it and all this new stuff and they are listed for that much. Our intention is: If it sells, we put that $$ toward a brand new Jetta and we'll have a reliable, warrantied car for quite a while, that we can baby and not need to worry about having all junkers. If it doesn't sell, we'll try and put 250,000 miles or more on it and keep it neat as heck. I took an afternoon and did a great cleaning and detailing job on it.
ReplyDeleteShowed it to a guy named Jason from Janesville while at the Edgerton Chili-fest. He test drove it and really looked it over carefully. Has not gotten back, so we're thinking he doesn't want it. I told him he could contact Jason Daniels.
ReplyDeleteShowed it to a guy in Madison named Juan, and his dad. Turns out they must have been interested in another adjacent Jetta on Craig's List next to mine, because they didn't want a diesel after all. Nice guys and all, but a bust. Spent an extra day in Madison, too.
ReplyDeleteWe sold the Jetta TDI to a kid and his mom from Mayville, WI for $6000. Immediately began search for a replacement new one. I teared up when I walked away from my baby at the EastTowne Mall parking lot.
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