Newbie here

Hi all, jebbo here. I just bought a 2000 VW Beetle tdi for my Daughter, naturally I read absolutely nothing about it before buying. Now after doing some reading on this forum I've come to the conclusion that probably due to a vacuum leak the brake pedal is hard to push and the turbo is not working. It was at a shop in our rural town and the mechanic said he would check the brakes for me. He said they looked good. Anyway after reading more on this forum it sounds like the bug needs to go to a good tdi mechanic. Any suggestions for a good mechanic in the Sarasota/ Bradenton Florida area? Thanks for your help, jebbo.

Welcome! (look at the top of this forum page and you'll find a thread for new user introductions)

This could be a very simple check & fix. Look at the "hard line" that goes to your brake booster. These things crack, which causes a vacuum loss, which then affects your brakes (makes them harder) AND will affect the operation of your turbo (which is controlled by vacuum). Check that the connections are tight. If things are all good here then it's possible that there's an issue with the vacuum pump (a bit more involved, but can be rectified).

It would still be a good idea to find a local TDI guru to go through the car. I won't have anyone in my family driving anything that I'm not 100% sure (as sure as I can be) that it's operating properly/safely.

Thanks UhOh, I'll look into that. I'm no mechanic but I can tinker, and yes I want to make sure everything is working properly before she gets to drive it.

There is someone in the Tampa area on our recommended list here. It is also up in the stickies at the top of the page.

All of the tdi's I have owned (5) have gone to my local mechanic with excellent results from his shop. runonbeer in Austin. Check yours out!

Well thanks to this forum I was able to replace a few vacuum lines including the brake booster line ( idparts thank you very much) and now the brakes work Pefectly. At this point I believe the turbo is working because it doesn't seem under powered at all. I will take it to a mechanic that can read the CEL codes and see where we go from there. Thanks again and I'm sure I'll have more questions.