400,000 miles!!

K5ING

Mega-Miler
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Krum, TX
TDI
Silver 2001 Golf GL TDI 5-speed
Today, at 5pm near Bellevue, Texas, I finally turned over the 400,000 mile mark in my 2001 Golf GL TDI!!! I always knew it would do it, it was just a matter of when. I even made a short YouTube video of the event.



Still running great. What can I say. I have no doubts the car will make half-a-million miles. I just don't know if I will. :D
 
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K5ING

Mega-Miler
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Krum, TX
TDI
Silver 2001 Golf GL TDI 5-speed
tditom said:
outstanding, jeff!! do you use any oil?
No, the engine doesn't use any, but I do have a small leak in the crank seal and have to add a quart or so between 10K oil changes. That will be taken care of at the next timing belt change coming up in about 10K miles. No smoke out the back to speak of.

ibanix said:
Freakin' awesome.

But damn, that's like 60K miles/year!
I got news for you. 200K were put on in the first two years, then I took about a 3 year "vacation" before starting back up again. I'm currently doing about 400 miles per day right now. :eek:
 
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dariod

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Location
Windy City
TDI
2000 Jetta GLS TDI
I saw couple days ago a delivery guy with 2000 5-speed Golf and it had 509K miles also he had it since new and used it for delivery only. Congrats to you and how fast did you get that 400K emblem on the back :)
 

K5ING

Mega-Miler
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Krum, TX
TDI
Silver 2001 Golf GL TDI 5-speed
dariod said:
I saw couple days ago a delivery guy with 2000 5-speed Golf and it had 509K miles also he had it since new and used it for delivery only. Congrats to you and how fast did you get that 400K emblem on the back :)
I know a guy who does the same kind of work who has a 2004 Golf TDI. He had 400K on his over 6 months ago. I tried to tell him about TDI Club.com, but he didn't seem interested. :rolleyes:

I cheated a bit on the emblem. I replaced the "3" with the "4" today when I "only" had 399,880 miles on it. :p
 
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alphaseinor

TDI Innovator, Gone but Not Forgotten
Joined
Jul 30, 2006
Location
Denton, TX
TDI
'03 Jetta TDI 780,000 miles (totaled out), 01 Audi TT 225 Quattro 230,000 Miles (runs great!), 00 Cabreetle Beetle dash, ALH & MK4 harness Swap
Absolutely awesome Jeff!

Love the upgraded rear hatch lettering.

now to get "you" past the next 100k... no doubts about the car... lol
 

Fezzak

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 21, 2007
Location
Vancouver WA
TDI
2003 Golf GLS (100k)
Congratulations!

You should send a letter to VW to see if they'll comp you a new '09 TDI or at the very least send you some mini-muffins in exchange for rights to use your story in one of their ad campaigns. Seems like that should be worth something to them. :)
 

alphaseinor

TDI Innovator, Gone but Not Forgotten
Joined
Jul 30, 2006
Location
Denton, TX
TDI
'03 Jetta TDI 780,000 miles (totaled out), 01 Audi TT 225 Quattro 230,000 Miles (runs great!), 00 Cabreetle Beetle dash, ALH & MK4 harness Swap
mmmm... mini muffins...

I know which route I would choose...
 

NB_TDi

Vendor
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Location
NB, Canada █♣█
TDI
2014 Jetta SE
Purely amazing. This is why I love VW.

Check my sig, you can see how many vehicles I went through before I came around!

Love it man! Just Love it!
 

K5ING

Mega-Miler
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Krum, TX
TDI
Silver 2001 Golf GL TDI 5-speed
alphaseinor said:
Absolutely awesome Jeff!

Love the upgraded rear hatch lettering.

now to get "you" past the next 100k... no doubts about the car... lol
Thanks Brian. You're a big part of why it's still chugging along. For those who don't know, Alphaseinor (Brian) has done lots of work on my car during the last 50K or so miles. R&R of the IP with a used one from ibanix, R&R of the large cooling fan, injectors/housings, rear brakes & rotors, accessory belt tensioner, suspension rework (using Koni Reds and Audi TT control arm bushings), Dieselgeek skid plate, and probably some other stuff I've forgotten about at the moment. If anyone in the DFW area needs a guru, he's the guy to call.

Also, shouts out to MOGolf and the gang up at Old Navy's GTGs who saved me from certain catastrophic failure a number of years ago. If they hadn't caught a bad timing belt job back then, I wouldn't be typing this now.

And of course, Fred. Thanks!
 
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highender

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2006
Location
Northern California
TDI
2012 Jetta TDI
congrats !!! that is amazing , yet comforting for all of us....

Man....what do you do for a living ....400 miles a day ?!!

I like the rear emblem...
 

K5ING

Mega-Miler
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Krum, TX
TDI
Silver 2001 Golf GL TDI 5-speed
highender said:
congrats !!! that is amazing , yet comforting for all of us....

Man....what do you do for a living ....400 miles a day ?!!

I like the rear emblem...
Thanks. I'm a bank and medical courier for rural areas of North Texas. Of course, Texas is so big that it's a 15 mile drive to the nearest 7-11 store, so the miles pile up pretty quick.

I've done nothing special except that I never "beat" the car. I don't slam the hood, I lower it and then push it closed. I don't slam the doors. I don't try for 0-60 times or see how fast I can go around a corner. I drive at the speed limit and I'm very a VERY defensive driver on the road (I'm good at reading traffic). I don't have so much as a door ding in it. Alphaseinor can verify that. My car is my tool, so I treat it as such. I'm even on the original clutch and original front brakes!
 
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K5ING

Mega-Miler
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Krum, TX
TDI
Silver 2001 Golf GL TDI 5-speed
Naimanator said:
Wow, 400k on the front brakes, that's pretty amazing.
I know, and I can't explain it either except for the fact that 90% of the miles are highway miles. That kind of driving is very, very easy on the whole car.
 

XXX_er

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Location
northern B.C.
TDI
2002 golf
AND you are in Texas ...Texas has gotta be a whole lot easier on a car than northern Canada

I went to change brake pads on mine and the calipers had wrecked the discs in only about 200,000 kms
 

K5ING

Mega-Miler
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Krum, TX
TDI
Silver 2001 Golf GL TDI 5-speed
Chubber said:
You must be the guy to talk to about tire choices. How many sets have you had on there?
I really don't remember how many sets I've had on there, but it's probably not as many as you would expect. I've been very happy with Discount Tire's Yokohama YK520 tires for most of them. I can get 60-80K miles out of a set (as long as the alignment is good), they're cheaper than most tires for our cars if you compare the specs, and I love Discount Tire's service. Before the YK520's came out, I was using the YK420's and they were equally good, but they only had an 89 load rating instead of the high pressure 91 rating that the 520's have.

Yokohama's YK520 site.
Discount Tire's YK520 page.
 

Grampa "J"

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 17, 2008
Location
Dawson Creek B.C.
TDI
2001 TDI GLS
Congratulations are defintely in order here but I do have a question... Would you like to trade jobs ??? Seriously.... getting paid to drive our VW's sounds like a "dream job" to me :D

I thought that I read somewhere that VW designed the TDI's engine to go over a million miles ... [ hmmm I wonder if they ever thought of making an automatic that would match that... what a "novel" concept that would be :eek: :eek: ]

Anyway... so is there anyone here with say 600,000 miles or more? Just curious. At 400 miles per day it won't be too long before K5ing will have an answer. Anyone have an idea how many miles these cars will go with regular maintenance in the real world ? I'm getting kinda "fond" of mine and wouldn't mind having it a while especially with the fuel prices the way they are..

And good luck with going for 500,000 !


Grampa "J"
 

scooperhsd

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2003
Location
Kansas City KS
TDI
NB, 2000, RED(5 Speed conversion) 2015 Golf SE
Simply awesome dude ! I'm "only" at 192K miles on mine - however that IS with the original slushbox....
 

Drivbiwire

Zehntes Jahr der Veteran
Joined
Oct 13, 1998
Location
Boise, Idaho
TDI
2013 Passat TDI, Newmar Ventana 8.3L ISC 3945, 2016 E250 BT, 2000 Jetta TDI
Get a compression check and send me the numbers. I have a really good spreadsheet that I use to determine the remaining life of the motor.

I need oil temp, oil type, cranking pressure read at the point that pressure stops rising (about 15 seconds of cranking typically per cylinder).

DB
 

diesel-dave

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Location
earth
TDI
2003 wagon TDI, 2003 wagon Tdi, 2013 Q7 Tdi
Drivbiwire said:
Get a compression check and send me the numbers. I have a really good spreadsheet that I use to determine the remaining life of the motor.

I need oil temp, oil type, cranking pressure read at the point that pressure stops rising (about 15 seconds of cranking typically per cylinder).

DB
thats sweet!
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
This is both amazing and encouraging. As my wagon approaches 200K I hope to keep it for at least another 100. I don't think my driving style or conditions are nearly as car-friendly as yours (you probably haven't done any track days), but with good care and rust prevention I'm hoping for another 5 years.
 

felixcasio

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 25, 2005
Location
Miami FL
TDI
golf gls tdi 1999.5 green
Congrats, thats awesome!! I'm curious as to oil and change intervals. I just hit 150k yesterday and am changing my oil tomorrow. I've been using delo 400 5w40 full syn for the past 40,000 miles changing every 10,000 miles and it's been working great with over 55mpg at 65mph. i could probably get more with less a/c and slower speed. I was not able to get the delo so i went with the shell rotella 5w40 full syn.
 

Dimitri16V

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Location
DE
TDI
01 Golf, 04 Golf
K5ING said:
Thanks. I'm a bank and medical courier for rural areas of North Texas. Of course, Texas is so big that it's a 15 mile drive to the nearest 7-11 store, so the miles pile up pretty quick.

I've done nothing special except that I never "beat" the car. I don't slam the hood, I lower it and then push it closed. I don't slam the doors. I don't try for 0-60 times or see how fast I can go around a corner. I drive at the speed limit and I'm very a VERY defensive driver on the road (I'm good at reading traffic). I don't have so much as a door ding in it. Alphaseinor can verify that. My car is my tool, so I treat it as such. I'm even on the original clutch and original front brakes!
you should definitely be calling VW. Is the original pump still on ?
 
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