2000 Jetta with 500K+ miles with original clutch and cam

I purchased this car from a member here a few years back for $1500. It had 237k miles and he could not get it to start. I bought it with the intention of parting it out if it had something major wrong with it like a broken timing belt or some other expensive item.

I drove down with my trailer and picked it up and when I got back a threw a spare battery on it and sure enough it would not start. I noticed that the glow plug indicator did not illuminate so I popped in my spare relay 109 in and it started right up.

The guy that I bought it from said he never changed anything major, only regular maintenance.

It had a few issues like the parking brake cable was broken, the drivers mirror was ripped off, the radio was misssing, the front suspension was in bad shape, the timing belt tensioner had been turned the wrong direction and bent the tab, the timing cover was slightly broken, the glow plug harness was disintegrated, the tires were dry rotted. All easily fixable stuff, especially considering I had a car that I was parting out.

So I replaced all the parts from my junker, put on a timing belt kit, rebuilt the front end, gave it a through cleaning, and decided to use this car as a daily driver.

As time went on I came to really like the car, it was amazing me as the miles piled on that it was so reliable. I only had three things that I had to do other than regular maintenance. First the a/c compressor started to not work at idle. I pulled it apart and replaced the refrigerant control valve with one out of a junk compressor, refilled with refrigerant and motored on. Next the starter started having issues so I pulled it apart, cleaned the brushes and greased it up and it has worked fine since. Now, it was a mission to make it to 500k without changing anything major... well I didn’t quite make it and had to replace the alternator at ~475k.

Proof of mileage:


Here is the flywheel, the DMF was locked (probably for the last 100k) born on 04/29/1999:

Ignore the shiny brads, the dust just got wiped off they were not touching the pressure plate (very close!):

Throwout bearing is really worn but is smooth as butter:

Saved for cam pictures..

Nice!

Just another testimonial to the worth of acceptable maintenance practice's

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

More a testament to the Mk4 reliability. Truly one of the great chassis, engines and transmissions. Bone stock with only a few issues going 1/2 million miles on all major components except the alternator.

I honestly think it has the original struts and shocks... and they still do their job.

I am going through it and replacing a lot of things now that it made it to the arbitrary milestone. I pulled out the interior, pulled off the seat covers, and washed them. I am in the process of redoing the door cards, I have enough scrap leather that I am going to try to do it in that. I pulled the engine and transmission to replace the timing belt and clutch. I replaced all of the vacuum hoses today and have ordered $1100 of hard parts so far.

I've got a 2000 bone stock, didn't even have an armrest when I bought it for 1600 with 297k one owner car. It needed a boost boot at the intake and a 180 relay, I also did a front end refresh but only bushings, ball joints and tie rods but I'm hoping to make it to that mark.

I've got 2 mk4 Jetta TDIs without CELs and I'm happy

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

That's awesome snakesausage! Too bad in my neck of the woods, all cars slowly rust away and return to the earth.