Project Phoenix: The Wagon Rising.

Smalls

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Location
Chambersburg, Pa
TDI
Mk4 Jetta TDI
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.
 

Smalls

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Location
Chambersburg, Pa
TDI
Mk4 Jetta TDI
Traveling the highways was a little scary to say the least. Easy on the brakes and plan for hills way, way ahead of time. During my hours in the car, I was taking inventory of what was bad, worse, and fubar'ed. Seemed to drive straight, unless I had to jump on the brakes, then all bets were off. It was all over the place. Similiar to when you get your first piece of tail. You don't really know what's going on. The passenger side mirror is broken and hanging on with electrical tape. I know the sunroof switch is bad. I'm afraid to turn on the Hvac, so I let that one go. The driver's side window goes up, and back down on it's own. Then its real slow to come back up. There's a few arachnids scurrying about. Which I'm not fazed by. Bee's and other stinging things, I would've wadded that car up along side I-95 in a heartbeat.

She drank 3/4 of a tank of fuel, but made it the 5 hours without so much as a hesitation. Not any wierd sounds or driving symptoms. She seemed to be excited to come to a new home.

Well, this week I finally got around to giving the car a good look over. I decided I'm gutting everything in the interior. Down to bare metal. I bought a mint sedan with a mint black leather interior. Going to swap everything I can over and source another wrecked wagon for my remaing bits. I'm going to re-wrap the headliner and all of the other lighter-colored fabrics.

Then my hopes are to get it in the garage and up on the lift and start taking inventory. I plan on replacing the suspension to include everything but the rear beam. Brakes seem good. Not sure about wheel bearings yet. Then, I'll probably pull the engine and trans and give the engine bay a much needed cleaning and can assess what gaskets and componets need replaced. Pulling the whole intake system and re-doing everything. All vacuum lines and anything else I come across.

I'm basically using this thread to log all of my discoveries and have others join me in the resurrection of this "unicorn" wagon. She has a lot of life left in her. Just needs some love.

Follow along.
 
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Smalls

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Location
Chambersburg, Pa
TDI
Mk4 Jetta TDI
Remember seeing the word farm bolded in the original post? Let me show you why I did that. I guess the guy never heard of a farm truck, just a jetta wagon.

Here is the rear area as I started to dismantle


DSC01315 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

DSC01316 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

DSC01317 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

Not bad, right?


DSC01327 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

Wet straw and kitty litter EVERYWHERE.


DSC01326 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

That's mold growing on the spare tire. (Does that make it a "Spore Tire?")

Now the good stuff!


DSC01310 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

DSC01311 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

DSC01312 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

DSC01313 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

DSC01314 by SmallsVw, on Flickr
 

Smalls

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Location
Chambersburg, Pa
TDI
Mk4 Jetta TDI
Engine Bay


DSC01320 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

Did a little heavy powerwashing on the jambs and engine bay.


DSC01321 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

DSC01322 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

All of the junk was under the seats and center console. I was very leary of crawling around in there.


DSC01329 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

Getting there


DSC01331 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

DSC01330 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

The dash has to come the rest of the way out yet, then the hvac, then the interior will be completely stripped and ready for cleaning. Hope to start reassembly this weekend.

The interior donor:


DSC01323 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

DSC01324 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

DSC01325 by SmallsVw, on Flickr

Going to take the rear seat pans to a local upholstery guy and get him to swap them around. Not sure what I'm going to do about the drivers seat airbag. I thought about swapping the bag from the grey leather over and getting it re-stiched. Not sure if that's possible, or I'll just need to find another heated black seat. I need to find black leather rear door cards and the rear carpet and associated panels. If anyone happens to have any leads, I'd greatly appreciate it at the moment. I know not everything will go, but the major, expensive stuff will.
 

Lou E

Active member
Joined
Sep 18, 2012
Location
NJ
TDI
2014 Sportwagen
Wow, great story and a great save, that thing needs all the love in the world. I don't think I would have been able to walk away either, I hope to find a wagon of my own one of these days.

Following your progress with interest, not only do I enjoy your style of writing but I'm hoping to follow in your footsteps someday.
 

Caddy 16v

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2011
Location
Hazelton, BC
TDI
2000 Jetta, 2000 Golf
Great resurrection so far, I tackled a similar project back in 2011, this is how my Jetta started out, busted oil pan etc. was owned by an older Gentleman as well.



 

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
Nice to see someone saving a Jetta Wagon. I think mine is my favorite car, ever. I was lucky enough to get it new in '02 and have taken pretty good care of it, even though it's had a lot of hard use. Once you get yours up and running I'm confident you'll get attached.
 

ACHTUNG TDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2001
Location
Randolph, New Jersey ,USA
TDI
2001 Jetta GLS Sedan, Silver (sold); 2016 Jetta TSI 1.8t Sport, 5 sp, LP; 2014 BMW 328d xDrive Sport Wagon (wife's)
For the interior donor car, is there any interest in selling the right front fender? My 2001 Silver Arrow Jetta Sedan is starting to show rust near the bottom of the wheel well by the passenger door. I know the first few years of the MKIV Jetta were Silver Arrow through at least 2001, then I think they went to Reflex Silver. Let me know if there is interest and its condition. I'll have to figure out what to do with the pin stripe.
 

Sbeghan

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Location
Triangle, NC
TDI
03 Jetta Wagon 5spd 390k mi
I'm a bit interested in the hood, front grill, and some misc parts off the donor car too....

I have a silver sedan that was in about the same condition as your wagon when I got it. Still working on it...
You've went further than I did though. I didn't pull the floor mat (smells like crayons in there, and replacing the floor mat is the fix).
Though, now that I think about it, floor mats between sedans and wagons are different. Interested in selling that too?
 

Smalls

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Location
Chambersburg, Pa
TDI
Mk4 Jetta TDI
Smalls, your car should be a superfund site? I sure hope you got that for next to nothing...
No, I paid too much. At face value it was a fair price. After I've done some digging on/in it, I feel I've paid to much.

As far as the people asking for parts from the sedan. Plans have actually changed and I've sold the sedan. I'm on my way this weekend to pick up a 1.8t wagon with a full black leather interior. It's silver also and I will have body parts, but it's going to be a few weeks till I'm ready to sell body parts.

I bought the wagon since it had everything I need. With the sedan, I would've still had to track down parts.
 

Wankel7

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon
How do people live like that? Geez.

Looks like a fun project! With the interior out you should do some sound deadening work!
 

Smalls

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Location
Chambersburg, Pa
TDI
Mk4 Jetta TDI
How do people live like that? Geez.

Looks like a fun project! With the interior out you should do some sound deadening work!
That's my plans.

I am looking at FatMat. But at 200 bucks for a 50sq ft roll, that's a bit hard to swallow. Since I have everything out. Was going to do floors, roof, doors and everywhere in between, but the cost is a factor as I don't know what condition the suspension and engine/trans is in yet and how much cash that will require.
 

Redneck Truck

Gone, but not forgotten
Joined
May 3, 2009
Location
Plano, TX
TDI
2008 Touareg V10, 2001 Audi TTQ Roadster TDI 6-speed, 2005 Jetta Wagon TDI 6-speed
Man, you guys are good at salting the wound!

A few things to consider: It might be quite a bit easier to swap engines and fuel systems to have a clean body and interior TDI swapped gasser wagon, though I don't know your state's regulations on engine swaps or how insurance companies will value a car with a gasoline VIN. Otherwise, this route would have my vote for sure. Engine should come out anyway, so you can do all the deferred maintenance (stupid coolant and oil seals, timing belt, injection pump reseal) on the bench.
 

tongsli

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2000
Location
Baltimore, MD
TDI
2000 Jetta TDI, 2004, Jetta Wagon TDI PD
Great project and thanks for keeping things updated. Can't wait to see more pictures.

What fun!
 

annieneff

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2011
Location
Seattle
TDI
1983.5 Westfalia tdi (afn), with flipped 5 speed V6 (dvz) transmission
This is a great project! Reminds me of so many of the losers I've brought home and rehabbed. Regardless of what you paid for it, it's yours now and you're making it new and so much better. Just a new interior will be transformative. Who cares about sound dampening stuff once the interior feels like it isn't potentially going to harm you anymore!

I might wrap that boost pipe, with the big hole in it, with something so it doesn't suck something into the intake and dork something. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to updates and progress! Keep up the good work and good writing--

Andrew
 

Sbeghan

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Location
Triangle, NC
TDI
03 Jetta Wagon 5spd 390k mi
I would recommend a full suspension rebuild. I looked at some kits a while ago and I think the parts including shocks and struts was around $600.
 

Wankel7

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon
That's my plans.
I am looking at FatMat. But at 200 bucks for a 50sq ft roll, that's a bit hard to swallow. Since I have everything out. Was going to do floors, roof, doors and everywhere in between, but the cost is a factor as I don't know what condition the suspension and engine/trans is in yet and how much cash that will require.
Yeah it isn't cheap.

Www.sounddeadenershowdown.com
 

Rembrant

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2014
Location
Canada's Ocean Playground
TDI
2013 Golf TDI DSG
No, I paid too much. At face value it was a fair price. After I've done some digging on/in it, I feel I've paid to much.
I know this story well...lol. I too just bought a 03 TDI Wagon project car, and after getting it home and spending some time with it in the garage, I think I paid too much for it as well. However, 2 months of evenings and weekends working on it, and it's starting to come around and is almost feeling like a normal car again...lol.

It had a whole list of problems, including no power and would not rev over about 3000 RPM, interior soaking wet, no interior lights, mice nest in the cowl area plus all the wires they chewed up, clunks, rattles, squeaks, and lots of chafed-broken-shorted-corroded wires...lol.

Oh, but it had been "meticulously" maintained by a "local independent VW mechanic"...lol.

Good luck with the wagon project, I will be following along with interest;).

Rem
 

Smalls

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Location
Chambersburg, Pa
TDI
Mk4 Jetta TDI
I'm a bit interested in the hood, front grill, and some misc parts off the donor car too....

I have a silver sedan that was in about the same condition as your wagon when I got it. Still working on it...
You've went further than I did though. I didn't pull the floor mat (smells like crayons in there, and replacing the floor mat is the fix).
Though, now that I think about it, floor mats between sedans and wagons are different. Interested in selling that too?
For the interior donor car, is there any interest in selling the right front fender? My 2001 Silver Arrow Jetta Sedan is starting to show rust near the bottom of the wheel well by the passenger door. I know the first few years of the MKIV Jetta were Silver Arrow through at least 2001, then I think they went to Reflex Silver. Let me know if there is interest and its condition. I'll have to figure out what to do with the pin stripe.
I'm parting that silver sedan in the pictures above. Bought a silver wagon and no longer need anything. PM me with needs.
 

Smalls

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Location
Chambersburg, Pa
TDI
Mk4 Jetta TDI
Tongsli, check your inbox.


Alright gents. I need a little motivation.

I can't believe the car is this horrible. I'm in it monitary wise, way to far and I still have a ways to go. I've sourced most of the interior though so I really just need to put to back together. Then comes the part of the suspension, then engine/trans mechanicals, then a good buff/wax.

I guess I'm just losing motivation. This is a gigantic pain in the butt without a garage and Pa's weather sucks to make any plans. Should I cut my losses and see what I can get out of the car, or solider on? I could probably rent a big ol storage unit for a month and finish the car, but there's even more money I'm shelling out.
 

Redneck Truck

Gone, but not forgotten
Joined
May 3, 2009
Location
Plano, TX
TDI
2008 Touareg V10, 2001 Audi TTQ Roadster TDI 6-speed, 2005 Jetta Wagon TDI 6-speed
Take the car completely apart, clean it, and put it back together. It's not as complicated as you think.
 

Jake_S

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2012
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2012 JSW TDI/DSG; 05 Jetta Wagon auto (retired)
Tongsli, check your inbox.


Alright gents. I need a little motivation.

I can't believe the car is this horrible. I'm in it monitary wise, way to far and I still have a ways to go. I've sourced most of the interior though so I really just need to put to back together. Then comes the part of the suspension, then engine/trans mechanicals, then a good buff/wax.

I guess I'm just losing motivation. This is a gigantic pain in the butt without a garage and Pa's weather sucks to make any plans. Should I cut my losses and see what I can get out of the car, or solider on? I could probably rent a big ol storage unit for a month and finish the car, but there's even more money I'm shelling out.
I would say soldier on. When you finish you know the car will be right, and you will know all the nuances as well. If you sell it, you'll probably go negative monetarily, and you will start from square one with another car.

Jake
 
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