Thanks for saving us!!

Me & my wife have been looking for a tdi for awhile and thought we found one this weekend. But, after doing some research on here, we decided to pass because of Rothenbaucher parts being used for the new turbo, timing belt, etc. So thanks to everybody that takes the time to post useful information that us noobs can search for and find!

The good news is we found a '01 golf TDI a day later and bought it yesterday. We bought it from the 2nd owner, who bought it about 5 months ago but was forced to sell after putting alot of $$ into it using good parts and a good mechanic. It's higher mileage (278,900), but it runs great and with the timing belt done, new clutch/bearing/etc, new rotors, brakes, tires, & a few other things, we think we got a great deal. The guy we bought it from almost cried when we left.

Congrats and welcome. Shame about the seller's circumstances, but perhaps now you have a good reason to keep the car rolling along...

Many of us have well over that amount of miles, too!

Thanks! When I saw that the car had been well cared for & heard it run, I wasn't scared of the mileage at all. We're looking forward to adding to it!

Good catch on noticing the "Prothe" parts on the first one.
Except for a starter, heater core and a sliced (by a shop I think) CV boot on a 77 Sirocco, in 5 Dubs, with the highest mileage being about 190K miles, I have never had to replace starters, alternators, radiators CV axles, struts etc. on any of them.

On the 93 Caviler we bought new, the R/H strut was completely shot by 50K miles. By 100K miles, I had replaced every part of the cooling system because of leaks and I had replaced the alternator several times.
With the high miles, at some point you may have to refresh the suspension. Did the PO replace the struts and if not, do you notice any clunks, vibrations or a floaty ride?

My condolences to the PO........................

All around good story. Post a picture of your new purchase.

Welcome aboard and kudos for your ability to search.

Thanks for the welcome. I haven't had a chance to get any pics yet, but I will. The body isn't perfect and it needs cleaned inside and out, but I'll get it with my buffer and I think it'll look pretty good, minus 1 or 2 dents. It's black though, so they aren't super noticeable.

One other interesting part of the car's story: the original owner (who owned it till about February) was a bee keeper. He put about 22-25,000 miles a year on it transporting his bees & honey. A traveling honey salesman!

Ol'Rattler said:

With the high miles, at some point you may have to refresh the suspension. Did the PO replace the struts and if not, do you notice any clunks, vibrations or a floaty ride?

My condolences to the PO........................

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I added up the receipts for the work he had done in the 5 months he owned it...totaled just under $6400 . I kinda feel bad cause we got it for alot less than that. PA has fairly strict yearly inspections, which it just passed, so it's good until August 2013 & is up to snuff. I have some mechanical ability, so if something the struts comes up I can handle that. But it's just inspected, the major work (timing belt, water pump, cluth, etc) is done and it has all fresh fluids (oil, coolant, brake, cluth/tranny) & it isn't a rust bucket.

I'm done talking for now...nobody cares what I have to say! Less talking and more reading for me!

kiddpitt said:

PA has fairly strict yearly inspections, which it just passed, so it's good until August 2013 & is up to snuff. I have some mechanical ability, so if something the struts comes up I can handle that.

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These cars are great if you can work on them youself or have local access to someone who knows what they are doing. Otherwise they can be money pits.

You're right on about the PA inspections. I bought a B4V this spring from a guy who said the dealership wanted $3500 for it to pass the PA inspection and he had already put like $1K into it the previous year. It only needed $150 worth of suspension busings and a brake light to pass the Maine inspection.

I'm in the process of looking for a factory service manual, the one for my cars has been worth every dime.

kiddpitt said:

I'm in the process of looking for a factory service manual, the one for my cars has been worth every dime.

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Get a Bentley manual for it.

http://www.amazon.com/Volkswagen-Je...qid=1342794858&sr=8-1&keywords=bentley+manual

Yeah, the Bentley manual was the one that kept coming up when I looked. Can someone tell me how well it covers the regular maintenance schedule and troubleshooting/diagnostics? For example, how well does it cover inspecting the timing belt and timing belt replacement? Will the book walk me through diagnosing a no start, or low boost?

I know that alot of that information is also on this forum, but I'd like as many good sources of info as possible.

Though a bit strange to navigate, the Bentley manual is the basis for most you read here. It has diagnostics info in it but you will probably need to rely on a variety of sources (like here) when it comes to identifying problems. If you plan on working on your TDI, I would call a Bentley manual essential.

Having a Bentley manual is awesome. It's worth double what they sell them for. So nice to have something to refer too.

It looks like there's 2 Bentley's available. A 1 volume soft cover and a 2 volume hard cover. Which is better? The 2 volume has more pages and I'm wondering why....

IDK about better but I bought the 2 volume hard cover and it is paying for itself right out of the box.
Way better than the Haynes I have been using all these years.
Worth the 75 bucks for sure.

congrats on your purchase. Have you found a 'guru' near you to be your go-to mechanic? It will help you avoid sinking unnecessary $ into it as well..

pics!!

After the Bentley or Factory Service CD, the next purchase is to go to www.ross-tech.com and pick up your own VCDS copy. Great tool and you can get a discount on the Factory Service CD.

kiva822 said:

congrats on your purchase. Have you found a 'guru' near you to be your go-to mechanic? It will help you avoid sinking unnecessary $ into it as well..

pics!!

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I'm probably 2 hours from Sunbury, PA. If anything major comes up, that would be the first place I contact.

I'm planning on doing alot of stuff myself, but I'm not the "throw parts at it until it's fixed" type. That's why I asked about the diagnostics in the book.