Smalls
Veteran Member
Follow along, as I do my best to save this very neglected Tdi Wagon.
I've been searching for a Mk4 tdi wagon for awhile now. After missing out on a few, some by mere minutes, I stumbled across an ad on AutoTrader for a 2003 Mk4 Jetta Tdi Wagon. Manual and black in color. One measly picture adorned the ad, as well as a description of simply "247K Miles. Leather. Made in Germany"
I immediately fired off an email an awaited a response. Two days went by and I didn't receive a response so I gave them a ring. Straight to voicemail it went, and I started to feel that I either missed a sale again, or it was a fake ad. After an hour or so, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize and it was the seller!
We chatted a bit, the first sentence he gave me was "I'm not a car guy and I don't know anything about them." Oh how naive I was about that statement. You will soon see.
I tracked down a buddy and made a 5 hour journey down to Virgina Beach to buy the car. I had pretty much made up my mind, that if it ran and drove, I was taking it home. I was fine with paying what he was asking, given that the car had maintenance records, was a one owner and showed no rust.
We arrived to see a wagon that showed well from the outside. I was estatic. Met the older couple who owned the car and they were a bit different. Eccentric you might say. An automotive enthusiast is not the word that fit them best.
DSC01309 by SmallsVw, on Flickr
DSC01308 by SmallsVw, on Flickr
I opened the car door and was immediately hit with the stench of a wet interior. I knew that he had told me the sunroof would not close from the tilt position, he covered the top of the car with plastic sheeting and left it sit on his farm. He wasn't aware of the crank hidden by the sunroof switch, to close it in such instances. No big deal, I've been a car detailer for years, I can handle a dirty interior. I fired the car up and it sounded a bit louder than your typical alh. I popped the hood and was welcomed to the site of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It was everywhere on the left hand side of the engine. It didn't appear wet, but build up over eons, that had never been cleaned. I pulled the dipstick and was greeted to nothing on it. He then informed me he's driven it an hour to our meeting location and it "ran fine." I threw on vcds and pulled the engine code. He told me it would "blow heavy black smoke." Once again, no big deal I thought, as I ran all causes in my head and fixes for them. The code showed an incorrect pressure reading, or something like that and I went on the look.
DSC01319 by SmallsVw, on Flickr
That would be the cause of the boost leak. See the saturation around it? Now just imagine 1/2 of the engine bay covered in that stuff. I glanced at the fuel filter and it looked like it had spent it's days bobbing around the ocean with Wilson, the volleyball from Cast Away.
He offered me a test drive and I politely declined. I knew full well I wasn't driving 5 hours and not coming home empty handed. I should've walked away at this point, but I let my emotions get the best of me. We talked a little more about the car. I checked the typical areas for rust and problems. No rust to be found and only 3-4 small dents on the entire car. I gave him a handful of cash and he and his wife, briskly walked away and said "have a safe drive!"
I tracked down the nearest napa and sourced some liqui moly, a fresh fuel filter and some diesel purge, to hopefully make the 5 hour trip back home to Pa. Changed the fuel filter on the spot, filled it with diesel purge, put some oil in her and she roared to life. Much quieter and happier than before. Jumped into the drivers seat and that's when the severity of the deplorable conditions of the interior hit me. He had used this car as a farm truck since it was new. There was hay/straw, dirt, kitty litter, cobwebs, spiders and MOLD. Black mold on the bottoms of the grey plastics on the interior, on the rear seats and a few spots on the carpet. Great, I now need a tyvek suit to drive this thing home. Well, when I was a kid, I'm pretty sure I ate dirt and did other things that weren't great to prolonging my health. I put down the windows and pulled away, with my chase vehicle behind me. I hit the brakes at a stopsign 50 yards down the road and heard the most horrible clunk. I had my buddy get out of the chase vehicle and watch the front end as I did it again. He said "hey man, your passenger side wheel is moving back about forth, like 2-3 inches." Great, the control arms are shot. As well as every other suspension bit I imagine.
I said each mile I make it back closer to Pa, is one less I have to tow it. I knew I should've brought my truck and trailer. It had absolutely no power, 75mph was about it. Due to the extensive boost leaks and who only knows what else.
I've been searching for a Mk4 tdi wagon for awhile now. After missing out on a few, some by mere minutes, I stumbled across an ad on AutoTrader for a 2003 Mk4 Jetta Tdi Wagon. Manual and black in color. One measly picture adorned the ad, as well as a description of simply "247K Miles. Leather. Made in Germany"
I immediately fired off an email an awaited a response. Two days went by and I didn't receive a response so I gave them a ring. Straight to voicemail it went, and I started to feel that I either missed a sale again, or it was a fake ad. After an hour or so, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize and it was the seller!
We chatted a bit, the first sentence he gave me was "I'm not a car guy and I don't know anything about them." Oh how naive I was about that statement. You will soon see.
I tracked down a buddy and made a 5 hour journey down to Virgina Beach to buy the car. I had pretty much made up my mind, that if it ran and drove, I was taking it home. I was fine with paying what he was asking, given that the car had maintenance records, was a one owner and showed no rust.
We arrived to see a wagon that showed well from the outside. I was estatic. Met the older couple who owned the car and they were a bit different. Eccentric you might say. An automotive enthusiast is not the word that fit them best.
DSC01309 by SmallsVw, on Flickr
DSC01308 by SmallsVw, on Flickr
I opened the car door and was immediately hit with the stench of a wet interior. I knew that he had told me the sunroof would not close from the tilt position, he covered the top of the car with plastic sheeting and left it sit on his farm. He wasn't aware of the crank hidden by the sunroof switch, to close it in such instances. No big deal, I've been a car detailer for years, I can handle a dirty interior. I fired the car up and it sounded a bit louder than your typical alh. I popped the hood and was welcomed to the site of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It was everywhere on the left hand side of the engine. It didn't appear wet, but build up over eons, that had never been cleaned. I pulled the dipstick and was greeted to nothing on it. He then informed me he's driven it an hour to our meeting location and it "ran fine." I threw on vcds and pulled the engine code. He told me it would "blow heavy black smoke." Once again, no big deal I thought, as I ran all causes in my head and fixes for them. The code showed an incorrect pressure reading, or something like that and I went on the look.
DSC01319 by SmallsVw, on Flickr
That would be the cause of the boost leak. See the saturation around it? Now just imagine 1/2 of the engine bay covered in that stuff. I glanced at the fuel filter and it looked like it had spent it's days bobbing around the ocean with Wilson, the volleyball from Cast Away.
He offered me a test drive and I politely declined. I knew full well I wasn't driving 5 hours and not coming home empty handed. I should've walked away at this point, but I let my emotions get the best of me. We talked a little more about the car. I checked the typical areas for rust and problems. No rust to be found and only 3-4 small dents on the entire car. I gave him a handful of cash and he and his wife, briskly walked away and said "have a safe drive!"
I tracked down the nearest napa and sourced some liqui moly, a fresh fuel filter and some diesel purge, to hopefully make the 5 hour trip back home to Pa. Changed the fuel filter on the spot, filled it with diesel purge, put some oil in her and she roared to life. Much quieter and happier than before. Jumped into the drivers seat and that's when the severity of the deplorable conditions of the interior hit me. He had used this car as a farm truck since it was new. There was hay/straw, dirt, kitty litter, cobwebs, spiders and MOLD. Black mold on the bottoms of the grey plastics on the interior, on the rear seats and a few spots on the carpet. Great, I now need a tyvek suit to drive this thing home. Well, when I was a kid, I'm pretty sure I ate dirt and did other things that weren't great to prolonging my health. I put down the windows and pulled away, with my chase vehicle behind me. I hit the brakes at a stopsign 50 yards down the road and heard the most horrible clunk. I had my buddy get out of the chase vehicle and watch the front end as I did it again. He said "hey man, your passenger side wheel is moving back about forth, like 2-3 inches." Great, the control arms are shot. As well as every other suspension bit I imagine.
I said each mile I make it back closer to Pa, is one less I have to tow it. I knew I should've brought my truck and trailer. It had absolutely no power, 75mph was about it. Due to the extensive boost leaks and who only knows what else.