Hello fellow Omaha TDI owners! I am so glad I found this site. I feel like I am at home! LOL I have never owned a car that I love so much, but no one else "get's" it. What I mean is I love it, but no one understands why. I have also never owned a car that I could take it to a shop and they would turn my business away because it was a diesel. Being on this page is awesome!
Anyway, let me introduce myself. My name is Brian. I live in Bellevue. I bought my 02 Jetta new in April of 2002. I had to go to Fort Collins CO to get it because Stan Olsen didn't have this exact one. I drove the car for my courier route and took very good care of it. No matter what it needed, it got. Timing belts every 60K (Every 6 months), tires (every six months), Amsoil oil change and fuel filter replacement every 10K (once a month) and every other thing that came up. There would be days that I would start it up at 5AM, drive to Lincoln and let it idle when I was at the stop, drive to Sioux City and let it idle at the stop, drive back to Omaha and let it idle at the stop, drive to Des Moines and let it idle, drive back to Omaha, let it idle outside while I ate dinner (dead of winter), drive a in town Omaha route and let it idle at all the stops and back home before I shut it off at midnight. There were hundreds of days she did this. There would be days I would get snowed in, I would let it idle while I slept in the car to let the blizzard pass. So she would run for a couple days before getting shut down! I LOVE diesel!
Well, after 7 years of marriage, mine came to an end. December 05, in court, my ex asked the judge for the Jetta because she needed a more reliable car than the Sunfire she was driving. The judge agreeed since she was getting the kids more than me. I had to hand it over to her. She didn't want the car. She just wanted to see my reaction when she turned it into the bank as a voulinatry repossesion. I begged the bank to work something out with me. They refused. Either pay the 13K to get the title or they would send me the bill after they auctioned it. I didn't have the money. They ended up selling it to a bank customer that asked about it sitting in the parking lot. He offered them $1,000 and they took it!! Because it had over 400K on it. I said I drove a lot right??
This is what it looked like the last day that I had possession of it:
Still looked pretty good for 414K huh?
I took very good care of it! Waxed monthly too! Anyway, the guy that bought it from the bank called me because he found a repair order in the glove box with my name and cell. He wanted to know all about the car. I asked if I could meet with him. Turned out he worked a few blocks away from where I lived. Once he found out how much I loved the car and how I lost it, he offered to sell it to me for $2500. I only had $800. Three months later I came back and had the $2500 but he had paid Performance to remove my lightweight flywheel and turn the clutch and flywheel back to stock. So now he wanted $3,500. Again, I went on my way busting my ass to get the money. Couple months later I come back with the $3,500 and he won't sell it. He says that he likes the car and doesn't want to part with it after all.
Oh, I was so angry. But life went on and I got over it. I never saw the car again.
Until now....I got remarried years later and my wife and I are in the market for a used car. I tell her we need to get a TDI since I still do the courier thing on Saturdays only going to North Platte. Too bad that even with 200K-300K they still bring $4K-$5K WITH that mileage! More than I had to spend. Then I thought, "Where is my old car? Maybe I can buy it back if is still on the road." So I went to work searching for it. I went back to his work, he was gone but someone told me where he went. I played this game for a month. I tracked him down to his last four employers. Finally I get a lady that knows his number. She calls him and he agrees to talk to me. He tells me that he just sold the car as part of payment for a house. Told me he had no idea where to find it. Told me he had taken care of it and it should still be a good car. I have a friend who has a friend that was able to run the VIN and confirm that he had turned in his plates, but the car had not been registered yet. Then I get a brake a month later. The guy calls me back and tells me that his daughter just moved into an apartment complex on the north side of town. She told him that she had seen some lady pull up, park and get out of his old Jetta. He told me that it was a long shot, but it could be it. I got the address of the complex and went on a search. Guess what? I found it!!! Sitting in a parking lot off of Blondo. She wasn't in the same condition I left it in, but I had finally found it! This is what it looked like that day I discovered it in the very spot:
So after all this time (6yrs) I had finally found it. Now I had to figure out where the owner was. I figured someone would know so I decided to just start going door to door. There was no way that I was going to just let it go after all of this searching. The first door I knocked on some lady answers and peers out the door as far as the chain would allow it to. She asked what I wanted, I asked if she knew who owned the silver Jetta outside. She said, "It's my car, why is there a problem?" What are the chances of that? The first door I knocked on was the winner! I explained myself to her her. She thought I was a whack job. She asked me to tell her something only I would know about the car. I remembered I had put stickers under the hood. I told her about the Amsoil sticker. Once I said that she smiled and opened the door. She knew I was for real. She told me my timing was on the money. She was about to sell it. She didn't like how messy the diesel pump was and how bad the car stunk when it ran. She said it ran "perfect" and would sell it to me. She told me to make her an offer. I said $1,000 and she laughed at me. She said she had looked on Ebay and seen them sell for $3000. I told her I would meet her half way at $2000. She says, "You got cash?" I whipped out the hundreds. She said, "Let me go get the title, it's yours." Thank god she took the $2000 cause that was all I had! lol
I didn't even drive it. I bought it taking a chance. It still drives pretty good now. Here is the mileage now:
Only 33K in the last 6 years. Not bad considering I drove it for 120K a year! lol
I took it to work and detailed it up:
The front end lost the bottom portion of the bra, my Bora fog lights are either missing or broken, there are three door dings and another crack in the windshield, the tint on the back window is bubbling, the rear paint has a rough feel to it from all of the soot that sat on it. The inside was TRASHED. I wish I had a photo of it before I cleaned it. Pop spilled all over, cigarette ashes and butts all over the place, white dog hair EVERYWHERE, broken center console, broken passenger side vent, cracked screen on radio face, passenger front window wants to come off track when it goes down and up, driver's seat won't move front or back, my high dollar "Jetta" monster mats I special ordered were thrown out and some jank ones were laying there and the hazard light button is clicking all the time driving down the road. I'll get it all back together! One pay check at a time.
Here is where I need your help Omaha TDI owners. I need to find another mechanic. Someone that KNOWS their diesel engines. I need a timing belt ASAP. I need the intake cleaned ASAP. It is so caked I don't know how it runs at all. I don't think that is why it idles so bad because I cleaned out what I could at the butterfly and I can't tell a difference. If you turn the AC on it will smooth out the idle. Shut the air off and it sounds like it is running on 3 cylinders. I also need to find someone that chopped off their converter so I can buy it from them. I want mine to quiet down. This car is SO loud now. The previous owner through away all the plastics around the engine. Top cover, side covers, belly pan and even the battery cover area all gone now. This car is so loud from the diesel clatter and exhaust that I have to shut it off at a drive through!! Not cool! I love the sound of a diesel, but I don't want it that loud. I can't help but wonder if I did the "hammer tap" that it would solve my issues. I don't have that fancy scan tool to do what this site tells you to do:
http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/multi/IQ-adjust-hammer-mod-TDI.htm Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks for listening to my story everyone! It is so nice to be back in a VW!!
Brian
