Looking for a more local "Guru"

Hi All,

My Jetts has been down for a bit and been looking for a somewhat local guru (I checked out the TDI mechanic list but none really close enough).

My car now has an empty fuel line (the clear one) and a dead battery (it was down on power before the fuel line went empty but it sat for awhile before the line went empty ... I may also want some mods after getting the car back to running well)

I am hoping to get recommendations on somebody closer to the Charlottesville, VA area

FWIW - I also have a friend who is needing some TLC on his (2) TDI Jettas as well.

Any traveling gurus ? Anybody semi near by ?

Thanks in advance for any and all help

Andy

Good luck with that. Loss of our local trusted mechanic runonbeer is one of the reasons I sold my 2003 Beetle and moved up to a new 2015 stop sale Beetle. No one else I could trust here and if the dealer is going to work on it, it may as well all be under the long, long warranty. Sorry I couldn't actually help.

very few (TDI guru's) exist any more. 99% of the ones that work out of a commercial shop do not mess with TDI's anymore. Your looking for a local who knows his TDI's and who stands for quality work. I am not a guru by any means but anyone who has had me as a mechanic can say im a very methodical mechanic. I know my way around TDI's though. i got out of the game years back and dont have much knowledge to the newer 2011+ models. I do live 2 hours away though. Id be happy to help on a weekend for you though. Just a long shot.
There are a few members who live around my area and they all have the same issue, east coast is not a good area for TDI experts to be local to most.

Have you looked at the list (link in my signature)? There are quite a few in Virginia.

If you got any of the subzero weather with the dead battery you can pretty much plan on replacing it. Batteries with no charge will freeze, once they freeze they are junk. Also be very careful when you remove it, often times it will crack the case and you don't want acid on your hands or anywhere else.

^true^ So if you've been lucky enough not to have destroyed the battery, go ahead and check the electrolytes and put a trickle charger on it.

Andy,
Unless you have some physical limitations, tackling the problems you described should be a DIY kind of thing. The above 2 posts are excellent advice. As for the missing fuel in your line, I'd first approach that with a mity-vac after checking for leaks. Pull fuel directly off the filter and see if you can get any. Then pull from the fuel pump return line and see if you can get it flowing though. The lift pump in your tank is easily accessible and might just be clogged with goo (algae). Again a mity-vac comes in handy for cleaning out the goo, and you can pull your in-tank pump out and clean it. Might jump to life after a good cleaning. Then add to the tank some biocide. There are videos related to this, and of course we're here to walk you through it.

I'd make sure the battery is good, if not, replace it myself, and buy a nice big mity-vac. You'll end up saving money if you can get it going yourself.

Lightflyer1 said:

Good luck with that. Loss of our local trusted mechanic runonbeer is one of the reasons I sold my 2003 Beetle and moved up to a new 2015 stop sale Beetle.

Click to expand...

What happened to runonbeer?

tdidieselbobny said:

What happened to runonbeer?

Click to expand...

He moved from Texas to somewhere near the East coast.... can't remember exactly where...

North or South Carolina IIRC.

His video on the IP Oring replacement is a classic DIY masterpiece )