'06 TDI auction Gamble

I've never posted on this particular TDI forum, but I'm not new the the forum or new to the MK5 TDI's. But since I'm anticipating spending a lot of time here in the coming months, I figured I'd introduce myself.

I drive an '06 MK5 TDI Jetta (BRM). I've had this car since 12K miles, and just about to turn 200K. I've done multiple timing belts, Colt Cam Stage 2 camshaft, EGR delete with EGR delete tune and dynamic idle, and few other various repairs. So, to some degree I know my way around this particular car.

The reason for starting this thread is that I bought an '06 TDI Jetta at auction yesterday, virtually sight unseen. I know it runs and drives and the body is straight, 240K miles, but I don't know much else about it. For $850, I figured it was worth the risk.

I'll be bringing it home later today and will share what I find.

I know I'll be doing all fluids, filters, timing belt/water pump. Fingers crossed. Cheers.

I got the '06 Jetta home today.

I bought it at auction yesterday without having the chance to inspect it. It looked OK from the pictures, and I knew it ran and drove. I was only able to see it come in the lane at the auction for about 10 seconds before the bidding started. I could tell that the motor sounded off, but thought it was worth the risk. I ended up getting it for $600, but with sales tax and "buyers fee" and "handling fee" the final cost was $968.

When they brought it out to the loading area I was happy to find out that it didn't smell like smoke and that the interior was in decent condition and probably only needs a good detailing. Upon starting the motor a very pronounced knock was heard.....bummer. I'm betting camshaft or rod bearing at this point. I opened the trunk and to my suprise found a used (and worn) camshaft, 4 used pistons, and the lifters. It looked like these parts were swapped out and left in the trunk. The lifters were dished and one was worn through just a bit. The pistons looked ok, but I'm not sure what to specifically look for.

All the parts were in parts boxes that the new parts probably came in. These were inside of a cardboard shipping box that had an address label that showed the shipper and the garage that they were shipped to.

Here's where it gets interesting. The parts came from Rothenbacher Engineering. A quick google search of this vendor returns many negative reviews regarding junk chinese made parts and very poor customer service. It really makes me wonder how all this comes together with a Jetta TDI at an auction that is in fairly good condition but with a noisy engine and used engine parts in the trunk that would likely be associated with the engine noise.

The garage is a "mom and pop" type garage in a small town about 2 hours from me. They don't specialize in imports. Just say they'll "fix anything if it's broken" on their Facebook page. My guess is that they got this car in for camshaft related issues and purchased parts on ebay or some other online retail space associated with "Rothenbacher Engineering". Perhaps the parts were so bad that the repairs didn't fix the issues completely. Who knows if this is anywhere near the actual case, but I'm just wondering.

At this point I think I have a decent project car that I hope to get back in good driving condition. This will be my soon-to-be 16 year olds first car. I am hoping he will be motivated and willing to help me diagnose the issues and perform repairs. If I can stay under $3K total cost I will consider it a win.

My plan is to get a VCDS in order to find out what the CEL is related to. Once I have the error codes I will start by pulling the valve cover and oil pan and seeing what I see.
I'm willing to pull the motor and perform repairs if I need to.

I did drive it long enough to get it up to temp. It drives decent, but seems a bit under powered. Not sure if I'm just used to my manual transmission (this one's an auto) with Colt Cam Stage 2 cam and the Malone Stage 1.0 tune.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Cheers.

Nate

Sounds to me like you bought a mess. But it is an 06 Jetta TDI, which is a great car, so you can probably make it work. Good luck!

I’ll bet your speculation is correct. The garage bought the parts from Rothenbacher (prothe) and when they put everything together as is usual for parts from this source something(s) doesn’t fit like it should resulting in a knock.

At least you have an idea of what you need to replace. Everything that’s in those boxes with quality parts from one of the reputable vendors here on the forum.

Idparts.com
Metalmanparts.com
Cascadegerman.com and others

I just found an 03 Jetta with a snapped timing belt. The owner told me he had driven it 140k miles without changing the belt, I’m picking it up,this weekend, but it’ll be a couple of weeks before I can start on it.

You may be better off trying to source a known good engine. One that hasn't been prothe-tooefed. Because obviously the entire previous work is suspect if they used those garbage parts.

Hope you get it sorted, though. Sounds like a worthy project.

About ready to remove the engine

Motor is out and all accessories have been removed