Tips for getting an entire A4 TDI to 500k?

mrGutWrench

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 29, 2002
Location
Carrboro, NC
TDI
'03 Jetta Wagon, 5-speed, 563K Miles (July '23)
At 250,000 put in a new turbo. You're risking too much if you go beyond that. Also new injectors.
At 500,000 put in a new injection pump.
Just turned 600,000 myself.
I'm at 510,000, with a twist -- I bought a TDI sedan new in 2002; I drove it 129,000 miles. I babied that car and it was perfect. My best tank was 900 miles from Wash DC to Nashville, then part way back to eastern NC. That tank was 62 Mpg, I also had two over 1000 mile tanks. Perfect.

Then a drunk driver running 110 Mph+ slammed into it. Even before the rolling and tumbling stopped, I knew it was gone.

After the (insulting) insurance payoff -- they have you by the balls anyway, they want to pay you wholesale while you're expected to go out and replace it retail -- I ended up with an "off-lease" 03 TDI wagon with 108,000 miles on it. So I gained 21,000 miles, one model year, and moved to a wagon.

Talk about a trashed POS. The MAF was gone, the "oh, yeah, timing belt was done within the past 10,000 miles" wasn't, there was a birds nest in the cabin air filter housing, the HVAC blower and thermal fuse were burnt out, the turn signals wouldn't turn off, the rear window washer was dead, there were receipts in the glove box showing that the oil had been replaced with semi-synthetic Castrol every 20,000 miles, the EGR intake was clogged, and the sunroof leaked like a South Carolina roof gutter. And to top it all, there was a groove in the driver's floor carpet where 108,000 miles of a high heel had been dragged across it (but you already guessed that, I presume).
Worst of all, there was a misfire when you lifted off at 60Mph on the highway. Fuel economy was in the 54 Mpg range, usually.

Heartbroken, well, yeah. But I set to work, new turn signal switch, blower fan, thermal fuse, cut-off the sunroof drains, and began on the engine. Had Oliver switch out the EGR intake with one of his pre-cleaned spare ones, Had it filled with Mobil Delvac 5W-40 within 50 miles of getting home, and replaced the glow plugs and harness and started Power-Service every tank from then on. Kept trying to clean it up in the engine but the misfire when lifting off got worse - Within 40,000 miles, it wouldn't hold a steady idle. Diagnosis, fuel pump worn internally. After a rebuild, it ran better than ever. That was when I put the CAT filter on it. It's been changed twice in 350,000 miles.

At about 375,000 it was showing boost issue. I figured that the oil pump chain had had over 1/3 of a million miles, it needed front wheel bearings, plus shocks and injectors. At that time, the Check Engine light kept coming on with boost issues. So, with jacks and timbers, we started back down. Engine sump off, oil pump chain and slipper replaced (looked perfect -- and I'd have been glad to eat my supper out of the sump once it had been given a little rinse), bearings and struts/shocks done, and pulled the turbo. To say that the impeller was flapping around like a loose dick at a Polish wedding wouldn't be nearly enough. So, new turbo, controller, vacuum lines, etc. Back on the road again.

First brake work, new rear pads at 235,000 miles. Fronts at 290, one frozen rear caliper so that was replaced. At about 440,000 miles, the replaced caliper was leaking at the parking brake shaft, so that one was replaced again. Same time, a new air con expansion valve.

My that's over almost 18 years of happy TDI-ing. I consider it a good run. A few sets of Michelins, a couple of Bosch batteries, Mobil 5W-40 and filters regularly. (Of course, a couple of fallen windows, another MAF sensor, etc. but nothing big.)

I've recorded every drop of fuel. Overall lifetime MPG, right at 53 Mpg - the sedan would have been better. I figured it up with my total fuel purchases at 360,000 miles -- compared to fuel cost at gasser Mpg, I had bought $21,000 less fuel than I would have if I'd have bought a gasser (my mpg versus a gasser's EPA mpg, with a factor for how much I beat EPA, plus the "diesel penalty"). So at that point, I considered at VW had given me a car for free, The 150,000 miles since then have been at no capital cost. It's been 18 years in March since I've had a car payment.

Do I think it's been a great car for 510,000 miles. Oh, hell yeah, and we're going to keep running.
 

CStone

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Location
East TN
TDI
2003 Jetta ALH 5sp.
I have 586k on my '03 Jetta. I've put one clutch and one turbo on it. Everything else is original. Longevity is simple:

Maintenance. Do the maintenance.

And run the right oil. I ran Delvac 1 for the first 500k. I've since switched to Schaeffer's full synthetic.
 

CStone

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Location
East TN
TDI
2003 Jetta ALH 5sp.
At 250,000 put in a new turbo. You're risking too much if you go beyond that. Also new injectors.
At 500,000 put in a new injection pump.
Just turned 600,000 myself.
That's awesome! congrats!
 

Houpty GT

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2008
Location
South Carolina
TDI
Corrado TDI, 2000 Golf, 1996 B4 Variant
The easy way! Buy this TDI and drive 1,000 miles. Mission accomplished.


https://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/d/denver-02-jetta-tdi/7044316255.html
02 diesel power Jetta. 499k miles, auto, A/C, leather. Car runs fine. Interior and exterior in decent shape. It is not a show car. It was used as my sales car 5 days a week. Well maintained. Sold as is. $1200 obo Call Bob 704 four five eight 6881
 

Rob Mayercik

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2001
Location
NJ, U.S.A.
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS, Baltic Green/Beige
I'm thinking a supply of helicoils would be a good idea - lot of steel bolts going into threaded holes in aluminum in the engine bay.

I just had my 01M pan's bolts, at least one hole for the 01M's little steel cover plate, and the two transmission-side bolts of my dogbone mounts all helicoiled. Last year, I had that transmission mounting thing strip out (had that replaced, though).

I work in the aerospace industry, and at least with what I've seen putting helicoils (or their equivalent) into aluminum is standard practice, not just tapping threads into the aluminum and expecting it to hold. Guess they don't do this on cars because of the bean counters, eh?
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
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