Picked up another one.....

Hi, my name is _________, and I'm addicted to craigslist.
So the other day I was cruising through c-list and I came upon a listing for a white '97 B4 sedan with 160k on the clock. Since I missed driving a B3/B4 after moving to Hawaii I thought I'd go look at it, more for old times sake. Once I saw it I knew I was already in trouble. It started right up and idled decently. Everything was bone stock except the wheels.
I knew it needed a timing belt but the pump was replaced 65k miles ago with a brand new unit. The PVC system was leaking but everything else was clean. I took it for a drive and it had decent, smooth power for a stock chip and no CEL's. The engine had all its upper and lower covers/pan which I hadn't seen before. The shocks are blown so it rode like an old Buick. The rotors and pads are almost new but braking power was horrible, so I'm wondering if the master or brake booster is leaking. The clutch pedal creaked when pressed and occasionally first was difficult to get into but it seemed to almost be an shifter alignment issue. Interior was clean, and it had a new headliner. The AC isn't working due to a shop-damaged evaporator but it came with a new one (I've ripped these dashes apart 10times and I still dread doing this one). The exterior door handles worked but were being their usual difficult selves. The exterior is largely straight with one small rust spot on a wheel well and a dent in the trunk lid, but it came with a new color matched trunk. It has aftermarket rims but came with the stock wheels (without tires) and hubcaps.
I offered $2k and settled on $2,200. I totally didn't need this car but for some reason I can't say no to them. Chastise me if you wish, but I'm looking forward to getting my hands a little dirty on a TDI again. It'll have to hold me over until I get my B3 TDI Syncro project finished. And I've always wanted a white TDI, just wish it was a wagon!
Here she is:

Sweet

I got it home and started rooting around, things looked good until I had a relative step on the clutch while my head was under the hood. There was a creaking sound from the clutch pedal itself but the loudest creak was coming from the clutch itself. I also then started realizing how stiff the pedal was (It's funny how the excitement of driving a new-to-you car can sometimes make you forget old lessons). I then added the fact that 1st was occasionally difficult to shift into......so does this sound like its in need of a new clutch?

AKAvant said:

I got it home and started rooting around, things looked good until I had a relative step on the clutch while my head was under the hood. There was a creaking sound from the clutch pedal itself but the loudest creak was coming from the clutch itself. I also then started realizing how stiff the pedal was (It's funny how the excitement of driving a new-to-you car can sometimes make you forget old lessons). I then added the fact that 1st was occasionally difficult to shift into......so does this sound like its in need of a new clutch?

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probably, you could prolly get away with an adjustment so it pulls the pressure plate away a little further, at least in my samurai, it was extremely hard to get in gear, so i adjusted it and made the fork pull a little further and works great!

This thing is creaking like an old barn door and almost harder to move. The plug on the top of the transmission was filled with clutch dust too (but dry) so I'm thinking the pressure plate is on its last leg, the clutch disk is worn and the fork might be bent. I'm beginning to build up to just dropping the whole engine with sub-frame and doing a quick partial rebuild of necessary items. I'm going to check the intake manifold tonight to see how plugged it is and then make the call on pulling the motor.

With only 160,000 that clutch must have had a hard life.

So the intake has a fair amount of buildup in it. I'm going to plan on just dropping the engine with the subframe. Would be nice to be able to work on everything with easy access. Dropping just the tranny sounds to be about the same amount of work. Whats the consensus?

Pull all of it if you want to do a lot of work to things and clean it up.

Check the gear oil in the transmission to make sure you have it is ok, since the drive shaft to gearbox seals tend to leak the fluid out over time.....and if low will help your shifting!

I sadly don't think this is a low-gear fluid situation. The stiff clutch pedal, creaking clutch/pressure plate make me think its the clutch itself. I was thinking about bleeding the system but I don't think that will resolve anything.

Oh and the best way to deal with the good deal addition is to stay out of the classifieds and CL.