'01 Jetta TDI

[Smileybug]

And TDI makes 3! 3 VWs in the driveway that is

Picked up this gem last night in a last minute decision. Its going to be the hubby's DD (so I am a bit jealous) but I'll have my hand in the repairs of this one just as I did the mk1. My car will still be faster and more fun, the TDI will just be a bit more economical. But who wants economical with a 1.8T?

Its an '01 with 114k on it. GL trim so no sunroof, fogs, and crank windows (exactly what we were looking for believe it or not). Tan cloth interior. Body is pretty perfect. Engine is a bit dirty but sounds very strong and healthy. Interior needs a really good cleaning with that tan cloth, but should clean up alright. The only issue is that its an auto...and its potentially dead. It won't come out of neutral or something. You can move the shifter but nothing happens. You can rev the car but no movement. It will roll forward but not backwards. Got a number of codes to track down...hoping it may be an electrical issue and not too hard to fix. Will need a timing belt most likely (no records so we'll check the belt, but we know better...better safe than sorry on those!). It will also get a manual swap sometime as well. Sooner if the auto is dead. Later if not. We have a donor car here locally we'll be picking up for that.

So we have another little project on our hands for sure, but its going to be a really great car. And hopefully will help keep the miles down on my GTI

Its a she I'm pretty sure but no name yet. Here she is:

With her brother Gunther:


Its apparently the elusive Ja edition. I mean, it is a TDI, ja!


114k on a TDI...that's nothin'!


Gotta clean her up a bit:


I'll update as we start troubleshooting. Its going to be a bit slow going...February is jam packed full of stuff going on but we'll get it all going before long.

[Caveman]

Looks nice! Engine does need some detailing, that's for sure haha! How is the interior? You said it needs some attention. Any drooping of the healiner, etc.

I'm looking at a new TDI jetta fully loaded for myself. My wife's beetle drives so well that I just might get rid of my tank.

[Smileybug]

Didn't take a peek at the headliner now that I think about it. I had the headliner dropping in my NB for a number of years. Its more that its just dirty. The guy we got the car from did try some spot treatment on a seat and got a lot of it out in one spot, but he knew he wasn't fixing the car so he didn't clean it up all the way. No problem with a little elbow grease. I'm sure we'll end up just getting another interior but for now, its fine.

We love this because its base model. Nothing fancy to break. No window regulators to fail, no sunroof to leak (which we looked at a 2.0 Jetta wagon with a pretty bad leaky sunroof/clogged drains). Bare bones, but my NB was the same way and it was awesome.

Good luck with your search. They're hard to find with any sort of low mileage. If they're low mileage, they're usually expensive. We just got lucky on this one since we a) have a big garage now b) have a great support system in terms of info on repairs and such and c) have most of the tools and certainly the ability to do a lot of this work ourself. We had been looking for a TDI but all but given up for finding one in our budget because of how expensive they are. Started looking at VR6 Jettas/GLIs and wagons in other engines (TDI Wagons are $10k easy, but usually more like $12-13k+). Finding a 5-speed was tough too. This is the only condition that we would even think about buying the auto to be honest. Dealing with a dying auto on hubby's Honda which is what prompted our car search in the first place.

[Caveman]

I can order one through the local dealership if I decide to get it. The insurance is gonna kill me on it though I think. An extra $40/mo it looks like xS Hopefully by then my business at my work picks up some. It was gonna cost about 25.9k which isn't bad at all. That includes navigation and everything, but I may not need the navigation. I still do not know. I may just go and get a pre-owned one.

[kcfoxie]

Pre-owned is always better than new.
Nav systems are a scam - avoid them.

Words to live by, foxie.

[Caveman]

Originally Posted by kcfoxie

Pre-owned is always better than new.
Nav systems are a scam - avoid them.

Words to live by, foxie.

It's about a 50-50 shot on a pre-owned being better. As for nav systems being a scam, I'd have to look into it for VW, but for GM they are pretty nice. I work at a Chevrolet Dealership so I mess with them quite often.

[Smileybug]

I'd agree to that, except the nav thing. Android has free google maps with turn-by-turn directions. Find myself using it a lot more than our Garmin for sure.

All depends on maintenance and such as to if a pre-owned is better. I thought about a brand new TDI Golf 4-door before I bought my GTI. Couldn't afford it was the biggest issue, but I also would like to run bio in it and these new clean diesels aren't very bio friendly. But if you got a used car and it needed a ton of work, not really a good deal. Again, we're lucky that we can do the work ourselves and have a really good shop who can if we can't. And we got the car dirt cheap so that helps.

[Caveman]

How much did you pay if you don't mind me asking?

[kcfoxie]

Unless you're going to keep the car for 10-15 years, pre-owned is always going to be better return on investment up front. I hear a lot about upkeep, and the biggest concern I'd have is the timing belt. I've factored that into the purchase of every used car, along with a complete brake overhaul and oil change the day I pick it up. Having come from both sides of the fence -- I lost far more money on the new purchase vehicle than I ever have on any single used vehicle I've bought. But I'm also a higher-mileage driver.

NAV from anyone is going to cost you upwards of $200 to upgrade in a year. Telenav or Teleatlis does the updates and they're far behind Google, Bing, and the open source map project OpenStreetMap. I want to say most of the new BMWs still don't see the complete 540/west in our area that opened up in 2008. The new Toll extension is certainly not going to make it in for a solid year or two. I can buy a garmin with more updated maps every year for that, and it's not limited to the single vehicle. Also, when that system fails (as has happened with the VWs) you're looking at $3k to have your RADIO replaced (because NAV is integrated into it, and often they won't let you downgrade from NAV to radio when the nav fails....case in point was an 09 TDI Jetta that the battery was draining on because the NAV head unit was faulty and never fully shut off).

TDI to TDI... I'd much rather take a 100k questionable upkeep ALH or BEW PD TDI over a brand new CR TDI. It's 1/3 the cost, and for the cost it takes to rebuild the head on one plus belt plus clutch you're still looking at about/or less than half the cost of a new one, with far less to go wrong (that exhaust system is still new, till it gets well over 200k on it, and they suggest replacing parts of it at 140-160k to the tune of $2k), and far better fuel economy - and a wider variety of tuning options.

That said you won't get Bluetooth, USB, or any of those fancy features in an older TDI. So I understand the trade off, but again, if you can't make a 10-year commitment and you're paying at or above sticker.... I don't think it's wise, or at least, I cannot afford that.

[Smileybug]

Originally Posted by Caveman

How much did you pay if you don't mind me asking?

Got it for 2. We're hoping to be in this car for under 5 when everything's done (swap, timing belt, any other work that it needs).

We got lucky in that the guy is a mechanic (so he knows cars enough to know that its worth the time to someone) but doesn't know TDIs or VWs very well and wasn't willing to put in the money himself. It was priced very low for what it is. There is a wrecked Golf TDI that the seller is asking $3k for.

----------------------

Checking out some fuses and stuff now. Cleared the DTCs. Got the donor car lined up and will be getting the stuff for the auto-manual swap hopefully in a few weeks.

[Caveman]

We need to check the timing belt for my wife's beetle to see if we need to change it, and we probably will. Tax return! Haha

[Smileybug]

How many miles on the car? Even if mileage is low, you're at 11 years so its due.

[Caveman]

Originally Posted by Smileybug

How many miles on the car? Even if mileage is low, you're at 11 years so its due.

Almost 101k, but I don't know if it has ever been done. I am going to contact the previous owner and see if they had it changed, and if not, then I will get it changed. Any idea of what this might cost at a dealer?

[Smileybug]

Probably $900-$1000 or so. Try to find an independent VW mechanic. Much better deals to be had that way.

[Caveman]

That is a lot lol. It is supposedly only a 3 hour job. Roughly $100/hr is what the local one here charges I believe. Hopefully my dealership (GM) can do it with one of the general knowledge Techs. I know we've had quite a few VW beetles come through that they did have to change it on. Maybe I need to have that checked out lol

Off subject, are you always here Smileybug? You comment on almost everything haha

[Smileybug]

Haha. Fairly often I guess. Living through everyone else on here with a NB since I don't have mine anymore

[dnyed]

One of the best J A years, and a TDI to boot!

[kcfoxie]

You guys did get it for a steal, and even with the cost of the manual gearbox swap you should come in under-budget I hope, even with the timing belt job.

[Smileybug]

No clue what else the thing will need since we haven't even had a chance to drive it yet. But got a great deal on the swap from Evan. Going up there in 2 weekends to get everything hopefully. I think we're going to try to tackle the timing belt job ourselves too. We've done the Mk1 diesel enough times now. And we have the Bentley and lots of great how-to's online.


Picked up some dolleys at Northern Tool last night and they are under the front wheels so we can move the car around in the garage now. No fuses looked to be bad but who knows. Radio doesn't come on so not sure on that. Battery is kind of week though. Getting a battery charger on Wednesday to get it charged up again. Cleared the codes last night too so we want to get the car started and see if they come back right away or if anything changes. Slow going for sure, but I'm looking forward to the journey with this car.

[Smileybug]

Got some updates on this beauty. Still no name for her But I'm waiting until we really start working on her and get her up and running. Things have been a bit crazed lately so we haven't spent much time with the car.

Well folks, this is why you change your trans fluid often! 114k, all original fluid and a trashed trans. A good 1/8-1/4" of metal sludge on the magnet, filter material falling out of the filter:


Fluid was black and smelled like nothing I've ever smelled from a car:


We got all of the parts needed for the swap. Yet another steal. Also ended up with a spare turbo, alternator, radiator fan assembly, cluster, and a bunch of other goodies. Here's some of them:


Power washer + Purple Power = one clean engine bay:


We picked up a headliner for free locally and got a shift boot and knob for cheap. The headliner in the car is sagging. Trying to decide if we'll re-cover the one we got or just try to get the very few loosening spots glued back down for now. We'll always have a spare so that's good.

Also got the headlights cleaned up. I was out of the town over the weekend so Bill got to work on cleaning up some stuff. He used the 3M kit and it worked great! Pre-cleaning on the left, post on the right:


Finished:



Bill hurt his back on Sunday so we've been taking a break from the car so he can rest up. He then left for a work trip to TX on Tuesday but home now. So hoping this weekend to get more progress in. He got an engine hoist last weekend and its all setup in our garage. The front bumper and all is off already (wanted to do the headlights anyway so that worked!). We'll be taking the engine and trans out together to make the job easier. That way we can do the trans swap and timing belt with less effort. We want to get the engine out this weekend for sure. Updates to come!