Bought my first car and it’s a TDI, unfortunately it’s a bit of a lemon, what now?

Basically I just bought my first car and I got bamboozled. It’s a salvage title with a “R” on the title but I didn’t know to look for this on the title and the seller didn’t tell me. Its a 2012 VW Jetta TDI, 93k miles. I even took it to my local VW dealership for a pre check and they greenlighted it, so I bought it.

I got to drive the car for ONE day before it broke down on me...lol. Basically what happened was, I put too much oil in (please don’t flame me, I learned my lesson) and the car backfired and wouldn’t turn on. I took it to a mechanic and he said my High pressure fuel pump was bad and needs to be changed, but he couldn’t guarantee that would be the only fix needed, wanted $1350 for the fuel pump change.

Found out the 2012 VW TDI has a HPFP warranty and I took it to the dealer but it looks like they won’t honor it because it’s a rebuilt title, still waiting back to hear about what the verdict is, but it doesn’t look likely.

Now I’m stuck, I’ve sunk almost 5k into this car already and I loved it for the one day I had it. Where do I go from here? If I bought an entirely new engine would that be a viable option? Since the HPFP on diesels is in the engine block, would replacing it fix these issues?

If VW won’t honor the warranty, I’ll of course first try simple things like cleaning anything that may be clogged with oil before buying an engine, but I do have 2 mechanically inclined friends that said they will take a weekend off and help me put the engine in should I go that route.

Sorry for the wall of text but this is my first car and I’m just stuck on what to do next.

I am in SE PA near philly if there’s anyone local that can help in any capacity.

How much more oil have you put in it? Also, I think replacing pump might be cheaper than replacing entire engine, as long of course as it's the pump only.
You might want to look into what the law states about dealer not honoring warranty on rebuild vehicles, that doesn't sound right but I'm no expert. Remember, dealer will do anything to refuse warranty work so that they can charge you full freight for whatever they need to do, it's more money for them.

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mjez said:

How much more oil have you put in it? Also, I think replacing pump might be cheaper than replacing entire engine, as long of course as it's the pump only.
You might want to look into what the law states about dealer not honoring warranty on rebuild vehicles, that doesn't sound right but I'm no expert. Remember, dealer will do anything to refuse warranty work so that they can charge you full freight for whatever they need to do, it's more money for them.

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A lot more. It was probably 3/4 full and I put another gallon. I actually thought you just filled it until the reservoir you dump it into began to fill. Of course now I know how stupid that was after my step dad taught me what to do and how to read a dipstick but what’s done is done.

As far as the warranty, a VW care rep told me it would be void but a friend of mine that works for VW Canada told me to give it a shot anyways because apparently the dealer won’t know this unless they call VW first to get a confirmation to go ahead with the repair.

Right now I’m finding engines for my make and model for the $900-1100 range, my thinking behind this is, if the fuel pump replacement will cost me about that much, why not switch the whole thing as the mechanic said I also will need a new timing belt soon.

There’s no signs of a blown or leaking gasket which is good, all the OBD codes given were fuel pump related and I was advised that cleaning up the components of the engine MIGHT fix the issue as things could be clogged with too much oil.

The excess oil has since been drained and corrected to the right amount.

Your going to need a timing belt anyhow.
You have a lot to learn. A HPFP shouldn't be that much. Stop what you're doing and read a lot right now. There's a list of trusted mechanics and trusted parts vendors
Here's your best friend the TDI search engine
https://cse.google.com/cse?q=+&cx=018097697432185261444:_idbzjdyxdm

You'll find it in tdi101 get to know it very well. Quickly topping trusted mechanics you'll get the following thread
https://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=130044

And trusted vendors in the third pay is a list
https://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=299708

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The fuel pump new is around $800
https://www.cascadegerman.com/product/high-pressure-fuel-pump-cbea-cjaa-new/

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Newtdi1 said:

A lot more. It was probably 3/4 full and I put another gallon. I actually thought you just filled it until the reservoir you dump it into began to fill. Of course now I know how stupid that was after my step dad taught me what to do and how to read a dipstick but what’s done is done.

The excess oil has since been drained and corrected to the right amount.

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so why were you adding oil if you didnt know about the dipstick?

Put your VIN here: https://www.vwdieselinfo.com/ (it is a legit VW site)

It will tell you, regardless of rebuilt title status, if your car is covered by the extended dieselgate warranty.

Newtdi1 said:

A lot more. It was probably 3/4 full and I put another gallon...

...my thinking behind this is, if the fuel pump replacement will cost me about that much, why not switch the whole thing as the mechanic said...

... fuel pump related and I was advised that cleaning up the components of the engine MIGHT fix the issue as things could be clogged with too much oil.

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A new engine will need a new HPFP too. The only solution for good would be a CP3 retrofit (see Darkside Developments for that, others too I suppose).

I can't see how too much oil can affect the HPFP, but I'm still learning these newer models.

Check here: https://www.vwdieselinfo.com/ for dieselgate warranty info.

pedroYUL said:

A new engine will need a new HPFP too.

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Why do you say that? Do you think they're all broken? There's a lot of contradictory data out there, but most I've seen indicate fewer than 3% of HPFPs have failed.

The more I read about the design of the CP4, the less I like it. You guys indeed see the demand for them, but I speculate some have been handled by dealerships.

I don't know if they are all broken, but I wouldn't trust them in a high mileage car. My plan is to get a CP3 when my dieselgate warranty is close to run out.

Actually we see zero demand. I would venture that almost all that have been replaced have been done under warranty. I think we have maybe sold 2 or 3 HPFPs in total.

A little off topic, but OP is not the only one to make this mistake.

My mother overfilled her engine with oil a couple years ago. It died on her and she towed it home. I came over and drained it to the correct level and started it up. It was making a loud knocking noise and before I could shut it down punched a hole in the block.

We all learned the importance of correct oil level that day lol.

Shortly after that little hoodlum next door broke all the windows out with a bat. So we sold it for scrap.

OP, I'm not going to flame you for being a rookie and pulling a rookie move.
I will say that this is likely your fault and the HPFP could, or could not be caused by over filling the oil.
Either way, you can't say you bought a lemon, but rather, doh face slap. I F'ed up!

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That car was no "lemon" (a term I do not believe exists in the car world).

It sounds more like it was a tooefing. But those can be fixed. In any case, I am not seeing the connection of too much oil in the crankcase leading to a failed HPFP. Something is not adding up here.

oilhammer said:

That car was no "lemon" (a term I do not believe exists in the car world).

It sounds more like it was a tooefing. But those can be fixed. In any case, I am not seeing the connection of too much oil in the crankcase leading to a failed HPFP. Something is not adding up here.

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Yeah, probably the wrong mechanic.
Engine was probably just locked.
As far as oil messing up the HPFP, sounds like he filled it into the valve cover, who knows what can happen sometimes.
Doubt there's anything wrong with the HPFP though, he needs a trusted mechanic to look it over.

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oilhammer said:

It sounds more like it was a tooefing

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It's been a long time since I've read a reference to tooefing!! The OP might need some background on that one

I hope they get their car fixed up right - hard to find good shops these days.