Information has been valuable and so has the guidance

At the end of November I purchased a slightly used 1996 Passat TDI. Ok so it had 240,000 miles on it but the car’s appearance and handling were very good so I took the plunge and purchased for $3,800. I have been lucky to this point as I stumbled upon the TDI forum and for the most part the car has been mechanically sound. The car has zero body rattles or squeaks gets and gets 40 to 42 mpg

1. As with any 13 year old car there were cosmetic / nuisance items that needed to be addressed upon purchase
· New Hella side markers
· Husky floor mats
· Redline shift and brake boots
· Keyless entry w/trunk latch
· Ultimate cup holder
· New cabin air filter
· Hella side markers, new trunk light assembly
· HVAC light fix
· TOTAL = $385 with my labor but a lot of your help and forum guidance.

2. Additional mechanical things that i knew needed to be addressed but took a month or so to get it completed
· New tires, balancing and full alignment
· Fixed frayed rear window defrost wires
· AC completely dead (recharge)
· Total = $630 and my labor on the wires only

3. Some things broke along the way
· Driver window regulator
· New resonator and muffler from just past the catalytic converter
· Total $480 and none of my labor

4. A bit of performance
· Neuspeed performance chip
· K&N Intake filter
· Total $155 my labor + your guidance. Ok not nuespeed specifically but the added power is very nice and I know you all really don’t like the K&N but I have a great success on other platforms. So far so good

5. So at the end of 2.5 months, 3,000 miles and $1650 I was making good progress on a very stable platform. After working thru all of the information on the forum I decided it was time to move forward with other items. In particular with no documentation on the car I decided to act sooner and cheaper rather than later and more expensive

· Timing belt kit, water pump, harmonic balancer (kill the god awful chirp)
· CCV breather tube (broken), new oil cooler + seal
· Total $874 parts and labor. No i did not do this.........I just wrapped up this “major item” today. Certainly I could not have done any of this without the help of the forum. Thanks for the assistance in particular from what I can gather from specific postings and direct feedback from others (paramedick)

6. Remaining items
· New front and rear strut/shocks
· 3 cosmetic dings / dents
· New front lights

I think that is it. thanks

Phil, your post is illegible. Do you want to go back and clean it up so people can read it?

Welcome aboard!

i think i got the post right this time......

Phil, much better, thanks.

Do you like this car?

it is a compromise but overall yes. Why do you ask?

phillke said:

Why do you ask?

Click to expand...

If you like the car, and wish to maintain it for the longest period of time, take the K&N "filter" and throw it in the trash. Now, I'm not saying you need to do this tonight, tomorrow would be fine

Are you attempting to restore this car? Is it a wagon or sedan?

I propose that you take the K&N and put the stock back on, and see if you notice any difference. If you don't, then follow dd's advise above. No one who had tried to do actual measured performance with the K&N has not found them to be any better than stock. Since they don't filter as well as stock, sand wears away metal, and you want this engine to last another 200K, you might consider it.

DD: It is a sedan. No I am not attempting to restore in or at least I never looked at it that way. It is a confluence of factors that are too bizzare to expain but listed below is priority order. I wnat to obtain each.
1) 3 yr total outlay (Car + repairs + reg + ins +gas+ everything) = $12,000. With what I have done to this point and modeling the remaining it would put me just over $11,000. Any added incidental + the remaining items I have on my list will boost that. The resale should bring it back down to $11 to $12k
2) Have a very nice looking car for the next 3 yrs / 60k
3) Safety matters.
4) Fully loaded or as close to it as I can get.
5) 4 doors: 1 for me, 2 for my wonderful 2 children and 1 to weld shut. that should give you an idea on the confluence of facotrs

rdkern: maybe K&N does not show the same results with diesel? it was a monster performance increase on my gas truck.

Phil, I bought eCodes and all new reflectors/lenses for the front bumper of our wagon...it dressed things up dramatically. The eCode is a vast improvement over DOT standards, hi beams were friggin' amazing!

dd- do you still get misty eyed when you see photos of her?

Yes. Believe me, we miss that one too. Wadda car she was!

The day we brought her home:

nice pic's! the headlights really do make a huge difference.

The yellowing is not too bad but i am keeping this on my upgrade list. Initially i had it in the #2 slot just after the strut/shock replacement but after seeing your pic's #2 is in danger of losing its position to a new set of rims. yes i have the stock rims.........ugh

I need to find the thread on the B4 Chirp and add to it's legend. The drive this morning, not just the chirp but all the associated little squeaks have fallen by the wayside. Additionally the overall noise was cut down significantly. This should make the Supreme Commanders list as one of the top 5 cost effective mods

since you all have been right on to this point i guess i have no other choice than to throw away the KN filter

The stock filter allows huge amount of air in. The turbo make sure of that. Just swap it back to stock, and if you don't notice a change in performance, leave it stock. The turbo (among other things) will thank you for the increased filtering.

Funny, I'm doing almost the same with my wagon.

K&N filter removed yesterday............stock fram filter installed.