Hello everyone. First time posting. Wanted to introdudce myself

MikeyMo

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2018
Location
Salt Lake City, Ut
TDI
2004 Jetta Wagon TDI, 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI
Hello all,I wanted to introduce myself. I have browsed the site before numerous times and have always thought about posting, I'm so glad I finally decided to do it. I have two jettas that both need some work done, but I will save that for another post. I feel it would be rude to join your community and have the first thing I post be "HEY!!! I'm super entitled and feel that everyone should help me even though I have contributed nothing"haha:p.

My name is Mike, but my family calls me Mikey Mo. I'm 31 and my fiance is 29. We tried for over a year and we finally made it happen. We are having a baby. We are so excited. We now live in Salt Lake City, Utah. My fiance and I moved here from Portland a year and a half ago, bought our first house, got a couple dogs and starting settling in. We made the move down here in my 2004 Jetta TDI Wagon with roughly 486,000 miles on it. I sooooo wish I had a picture of the car when it was loaded down. Rented the mid size enclosed trailer from U-Haul and had it STUFFED to the rafters. Bought a Curtis towing hitch and put it on myself. Also the car its self was packed. Anyone familiar with the jetta wagon knows how much room can be made playing "SeaTetris" :D or "folding the seats away" for those less imaginative. We had the very back packed from windows all the way to our head rests. Portland is just above sea level, Utah is NOT. So the drive here was overall an "Up-hill battle" the whole time. So i took it easy. With the weight of all our stuff and the two of us i still averaged 39 MPG. WOW!!! From that point on I was sold on VW's. I will own a VW (or more) for the rest of my life. Problem is.....I'm not super mechanically inclined. I know some stuff. My dad taught me the stuff that I NEEDED to know. Like change a tire on the side of the road, rotate tires, change plugs and simple stuff like that. I will be honest and transparent with all of you. I'm not going to try to sound like an expert and carry my ego around with me. I came to this site to learn, be inspired and maybe save some money along the way by NOT having to go to the mechanic every time something small breaks. I also just recently bought a 2003 Jetta TDI Wagon with 199,000 miles on it. Needs just a couple things done to it and it should be a great little car. I have very little experience or knowledge on fixing or diagnosing cars. But i intend on learning a lot more. I have noticed from reading other peoples posts, that the more info a person can give about their situation, will really help everyone figure out what the problem might be. So today I'm going out to to buy a multi-meter and an OBD 2 tool (No its not the actual real deal tool the pro's use, its gonna be the $40 walmart version:eek:) also some degreaser for the engine compartment. Oh, also. any recommendations on a cheap scanner tool? please only real suggestions, not "why don't you just buy a real one?". Forgot to say earlier, money is super tight for us. My fiance and I work hard at our normal paying jobs. but with a house mortgage its tough sometimes to stay above water. So learning to do the work myself will really help save me down the road. Well thank you so much for reading. I hope everyone gets to know me a little better, as I would like to get to know all of you. Have a great day, Mike






dont know how to load a bigger picture
 
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UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
Cheap tools and VAG products don't go together. If you want to learn and to do the actual repairs then a proper diagnostic tool such as VCDS is essential: if you think it's expensive wait until you toss a couple of parts at the car and find that it's not solving your issues- VCDS can pay for itself in very short order.

There's only a handful of "experts" here, the ones that actually make their living working on these cars. Everyone else are but students.

Just about any used vehicle is going to come with some deferred maintenance. Given that there's not a lot of good mechanics for these particular cars these cars tend to suffer a bit. To get things straightened out it's going to range from $1k to $3k. If you're lucky to have verifiable maintenance records that show that the timing belt still has life left (includes all related components) then consider yourself on better footing.

Welcome. TDI Club is the best automotive site there is for TDIs. People here are awesome and ready to help educate.
 

MikeyMo

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2018
Location
Salt Lake City, Ut
TDI
2004 Jetta Wagon TDI, 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI
thanks for the advice on the code reader. my step dad gave me the same advice. Gonna talk to my buddies and see if 4 or 5 of us would be able to save up enough and go in on one. Appreciate it
 

Fix_Until_Broke

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Location
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA
TDI
03 Jetta, 03 TT TDI
Welcome MikeyMo! Sounds like you're off to a good start, thanks for sharing a bit of background on yourself and congratulations on expecting!

While there are many tools that are nice to have, given your financial and soon to be time limited position, maybe we should focus on what you need. A multi-meter and OBDII tool are nice to have, but if you don't need them, save that money for a later time.

First off, what are "a couple things" that the 03 needs? Start simple, what does or doesn't it do that you think it should? The 03 is on the same chassis as your 04, however has a different engine, ECU, possibly transmission, etc so will have a different approach to any engine related issues.

There is a lot of knowledge here and as UhOh said, this is one of the best sites for anything TDI related. Give us some more information and we won't steer you wrong :)
 

MikeyMo

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2018
Location
Salt Lake City, Ut
TDI
2004 Jetta Wagon TDI, 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI
Thanks "fix until Broke" I am going into work right now, but when i get back tonight i plan on kinda going over everything in more detail. a lot more actually. I get to take the bus to work, and ask for a ride home. Gives me motivation to get one or both of these cars running. Im excited to hear all the thoughts people have.
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
When things pop up start a new thread (or add to an existing one as long as it matches up, doesn't muddle). Or... some folks have threads on their entire car, kind of documenting what they're doing (many such cases are about rescued cars ["cheap" cars brought back to life]).
 

JDSwan87

Black Swamp Thing
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Location
Michigan near Toledo
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI, 5 speed Lagoon Blue Metallic(sold); 2005 Jetta TDI Wagon auto
Welcome aboard MikeyMo! Congrats on the kiddo! You certainly picked 2 reliable cars, but they must be maintained.

As for a real deal VCDS cable, you really only "need" Kii-USB, since that will do everything for both of your VW's. The Kii-USB can be purchased used for about $150 shipped. http://www.forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=486303

Major thing with these cars is the timing belt and all associated components. The timing belt tools can be rented from most trusted vendors here, listed in the vendor section.

If either of your VW's are an auto trans, I highly recommend draining and refilling the trams fluid. Lots of information in here, I suggest you go down to the MKIV section and just start reading, every thread that pertains to a repair or advice request.
 
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MikeyMo

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2018
Location
Salt Lake City, Ut
TDI
2004 Jetta Wagon TDI, 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI
When things pop up start a new thread (or add to an existing one as long as it matches up, doesn't muddle). Or... some folks have threads on their entire car, kind of documenting what they're doing (many such cases are about rescued cars ["cheap" cars brought back to life]).
This sounds great. A thread (is that like a new topic?sorry im new to this) kinda tracking the progress along the way, that sounds like something I would like to do. I will search around the site and see if I can find that section....or whatever i need to do. If someone could point me in that direction that would be great. also do you think a newbie like myself, posting in a back-alley topic "my 04' TDI project"....would get noticed and read as much as if I posted in a different appropriate section? not trying to be difficult, just seeing if people here take an interest in other people's projects. I am just getting into the love of cars and dont know how seasoned vets feel about other peoples projects:). I look at other peoples cars and am in aww. and as far as $150 for a scanner, i can do that. Cant pull the $5000 for the snap on model. will update tomorrow
 

1.9ZOOK

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2015
Location
Downstream of a Volcano
TDI
ALH Samurai
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red16vdub

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2013
Location
(617) City of CHAMPIONS
TDI
03 JSW 5spd
MikeyMo welcome!
Great name
You have 2 of the best and most reliable mk4 tdi wagons on the planet. Awesome starting point, Good luck with everything.


Bajan
 

KCTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2002
Location
Kingdom City, Missouri
TDI
2014 Touareg
Welcome MikeyMo,
And congratulations on the family addition. Great choices on vehicles and coming here to learn about them. Using the buddy system to help on initial cost of a VCDS/laptop is a good idea too, but it'll always be at the guy's place who lives farthest away when you need it :D

Another Mike from Mo.
 

hskrdu

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 17, 2003
Location
Maryland and New England
TDI
2003 Golf GLS 4D 5M, 2015 GSW SE 6M
MikeyMo,

Welcome to Fred's. Great first post! Congrats on the baby!

Almost everything you'll want to know about the MkIV series TDI can be found here. If you are not skilled at it yet, my advice is to learn how to best use the "search" features- most members have nothing against you starting a new thread and asking, but you'll often find better answers and information from old threads covering the exact same info. Many of our MkIV experts have moved on over the years, but their efforts and knowledge remain in old threads.

Threads are the collection of posts found under different forums. You started a new thread above with your first post, in the forum TDI 101.

Next, read the TDIFAQs. There are two, one for forum usage, and one for an introduction to the older cars (find it via a google search). The latter is old, and needs to be updated, but for your cars, it's a good starting point. Also, read the stickys at the top of TDI 101, they are the useful threads that always appear at the top of the forum.

If you need VCDS, and can't afford Ross-tech, check the VCDS (VAG-COM) locator, and someone in the SLC area might be able to help you out. I'd say most projects do not require it, but eventually you'll need it.

Starting a thread about your cars (in the Picture Gallery of Member's TDIs forum) is a great way to generate interest and share progress/solve problems. Be sure that your pictures don't evaporate with third party hosting- TDIClub has its own location for storing pictures (photos forum, linked at the top of the forums page).

Also, link up with other members in your area. Attend a GTG, or if none are scheduled, plan one yourself. New moms and babies love hanging out in a small crowd of diesel cars. All you need is a good spot, a place to eat, and send out an invite in the regional forums. As a matter of fact, there's a big parking lot across from Camp Williams in Riverton- just tell the gate guard you're there for the TDI GTG. (Just kidding, for those not from the SLC area).

Lastly, if you find TDIClub helpful, consider donating a little here and there back to Fred to help out. A club license plate frame is cheap, and donations maintain a good spirit which is not often found in other forums.

Good luck!
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
Welcome to the club, were happy to have you too. I'm sure you will find that we are a cheerful group of TDI enthusiasts. Lots of good information and advice here. Sometimes we can get a bit argumentative or snippy, myself especially, but don't let that fool you, we are all here for a reason, good community and the TDI experience.

Congrats on the little one.
getting close to the 500K mark is awesome. keep it running!
VCDS is free if you have the scanner cable VAG-COM. i got mine for $75 used from a seller here. look around, im sure you can find one for an affordable price vs the $300 some that they are new. $100 would be a good price to grab, i got lucky. there is a locator site here http://www.maptive.com/ver3/VCDS_Locator, you can find someone local to you and have them loan it to you for probably a few beers lol. that map only shows who registered the tool, not everyone who has one. ask around.
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
You can upload pictures on this forum, please dont use Photobucket, we cant and wont pay for $40 a month to view pictures. i know there is a chrome plug in that fixes it but it stopped working for most of us.
 

MikeyMo

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2018
Location
Salt Lake City, Ut
TDI
2004 Jetta Wagon TDI, 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI
THANK YOU ALL. I will start a car thread, but most importantly i will use the search bar until my fingers fall off. I will edit my post and upload my pictures using the forums picture server. I'm excited to dive into my projects, especially with the help of so many others that have the same excitement about cars as I do. I will keep you all updated on my progress. Hope to hear from you in a different thread. Thanks:)
 

Nevada_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Location
Reno, sort of...
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI
Mikey Mo, welcome to the club! There are a great bunch of men and women here that really, really love their TDI's. Read the sticky's, use the search function, and be prepared to do a lot of reading... As said before, the MarkIV TDI's are some of the best diesel engines ever built and are commonly known to live well over 500,000 miles without a rebuild. Don't let them overheat, use the correct oil, and they with almost always start and run on the first turn of the key. Congrats on the family addition.
 

jayb79

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 20, 2000
Location
Exeter,NH
Mike if you click on the little icon to the right of the "linked thumbnail" you will see a choice for 2 more picture sizes.
This is a medium size
 
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