Highest recorded milage on an ALH or similar.

Nice!!

Nothing significant but I have ALHs at 326k, 288k, 274k and 168k.

I'm at 307,000 but only put 10 K miles on the car last year. Being retired now, my mega mile driving years are dwindling. If I put 10 K miles on the Jetta this year, it will be a lot. At that rate, if I live to 100, the car will have 580,000 miles on it then.

Car may outlive you!!

jagster936 said:

Car may outlive you!!

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You are probably right!

Better make a hobby out of driving that beast aja8888!

Stock means not changing anything in a purist form. Any work could be considered maintenance if it's in a reasonable mileage range. I couldn't comprehend having a vehicle without at least a few mods.

Dieselmonkey02 said:

Stock means not changing anything in a purist form. Any work could be considered maintenance if it's in a reasonable mileage range. I couldn't comprehend having a vehicle without at least a few mods.

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So if the oil is changed it is no longer "stock"? Or tires?

Tires, especially size.

Just did fifth timing belt at 480k Now am at 494k ip was rebuilt at 300k. Cam replaced at 300k. Car still runs good and doesnt burn much oil at all. Only thing Ive noticed not sure if its the head or not, but doesnt seem to boost as high as it used to. Running a 17/49vc hybrid and 23lbs boost but for about past year can only seem to boost to 16-17lbs? Anyone else have very high miles on their head and dont boost as high as before? Im gonna take this to 580k miles.

52172 said:

Just did fifth timing belt at 480k Now am at 494k ip was rebuilt at 300k. Cam replaced at 300k. Car still runs good and doesnt burn much oil at all. Only thing Ive noticed not sure if its the head or not, but doesn't seem to boost as high as it used to. Running a 17/49vc hybrid and 23lbs boost but for about past year can only seem to boost to 16-17lbs? Anyone else have very high miles on their head and don't boost as high as before? I'm gonna take this to 580k miles.

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On my 99.5, almost 400 k miles, nothing changed except TB, water pumps, lots of alternators, vac pump and glow plugs. I changed the 5 speed oil last summer, and it "looked" good, perhaps without all the metal I expected from teaching 4 kids how to drive it. The synchros are rather shot, however.

451k on my alh. About to roll new rod and main bearings in, new oil pump and chain, and timing belt.

Im still on factory oil pump and chain at 495k. Has anyone encountered less boost because of worn valves possibly?

52172 said:

Im still on factory oil pump and chain at 495k. Has anyone encountered less boost because of worn valves possibly?

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It's possible. Guess the head has never been off? Have you gone over the c.a.c piping? Vac lines?

52172 said:

Im still on factory oil pump and chain at 495k. Has anyone encountered less boost because of worn valves possibly?

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It would seem to me if the Intake Valves are worn so bad that the boost would be negatively affected, surely simply starting the engine would also be affected. So, on that rationale, if the engine starts-up okay, I would doubt the Intake Valves are worn. Also, the same logic would apply to the Exhaust Valves. And, if any valve is not sealing properly (due to any reason), it will not take long before it becomes a "burned" valve resulting in a very noticeable misfire when the engine is at idle.

I've only experienced a single incident of a burned valve. It was an exhaust valve on a VW 2.0 Air-cooled engine in my 83 Vanagon. It first showed it's ugly face as a very slight misfire at idle, only to become a solid misfire at about any RPM.

Side note: The 2002 ALH engine in my 84 VW Vanagon has roughly 70 PSI oil pressure at start-up at 50f ambient temp (cold engine). After it is fully warmed up, the oil pressure is in the mid-20 PSI. I use Rotella T6 5W-40 and the engine has almost 210k miles on it. I think the biggest concern with the oil pump would be the plastic chain tensioner guide wearing out. I've never changed one.

ghohouston said:

It's possible. Guess the head has never been off? Have you gone over the c.a.c piping? Vac lines?

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Boost pipes? Yes we have made sure connections are tight. Havent inspected the vac lines too closely because everything seems to work fine? I mean everything seems to work fine only thing I notice is boost wont go above 16 psi whereas before it would hit 23. I do notice soot on the boost pipe where it goes into my pd150 egr valve which means it may have a leak there? I will check all my clamps on the boost pipe.

52172 said:

Boost pipes? Yes we have made sure connections are tight. Havent inspected the vac lines too closely because everything seems to work fine? I mean everything seems to work fine only thing I notice is boost wont go above 16 psi whereas before it would hit 23. I do notice soot on the boost pipe where it goes into my pd150 egr valve which means it may have a leak there? I will check all my clamps on the boost pipe.

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I'd definitely go over everything with a fine toothed comb.

52172 said:

I'm still on the factory oil pump and chain at 495k. Has anyone encountered less boost because of worn valves possibly?

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I had both replaced during the first TB change after 500k miles, and I think that was a good decision. Though it didn't need to be done at the same time as the TB.

03 Golf original clutch just replaced at 426K miles. Pump, injectors, turbo still going strong.