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I'm off to look at a 2000 Beetle TDI 5 speed tomorrow. I have a 1998 Jetta TDI but I'm pretty clueless on the MKIV platform, the Beetle body or the engine (which one should it have?) I'm buying it from a small dealer/private party (he's a "specialty" dealer for offroad trucks and the like but...

I was testing my lights recently and noticed that both passenger side blinkers do not operate when the emergency flasher button is pressed. The driver's side ones work fine. "So it's bulbs", I thought. Then I tested the turn signals and they work fine on both sides. Brake lights and parking...

This past weekend I changed the clutch and main "rear" seal in my 1998 AHU Jetta. It had about 287k miles and was bucking a bit when pulling away and kind of grabbed up fast when upshifting. I bought a new Sachs VR6 clutch kit, a spline alignment tool and all three new motor mounts. I got the...

My 98 Jetta AHU has started to act strange. If the car is cold (I live in Florida, "cold" means 75 degrees) it starts instantly, like less than one second. But, if I have been driving, and stop for anything between 1 minute and 2 hours, it takes a good bit more cranking to fire, about 3-5...

1998 TDI AHU Jumped in the car to take my daughter a new pair of pants, having busted the ass out of her pair (They grow up so fast...), turned the key, all was normal. As soon as it hit the start position there was a bit of a "pop" sound and all the power went out. No dash lights, no odometer...

I went to start my Jetta this morning after having not moved it for about 2 weeks (I work at home) and it would start for about 1 second then die. I popped the hood, and what did I see? Just a little mess here: But I smelled pee. So I pulled the engine cover off and found this...

I have never had anything approximating "warm" air come from my vents. When the car is fully warmed up I am lucky if the air is 5 degrees over ambient when the blower is on low. I recently had to replace my water pump so I did it and the thermostat at the same time. Put in a new 195 degree...

AHU engine. Put in a new thermostat while I was doing the water pump. The first time I put the thermostat in place (hard to do upside down with the o-ring and thermostat trying to jockey around and not go where they are supposed to) I didn't get it lined up and it was dripping pretty badly...

My water pump appears to be leaking. The problem is that I can't check on it until Saturday morning. I checked with my local FLAPS (Advance Auto) and they have a "GMB" water pump in stock and ready to go out the door. How bad are these generic pumps? Are we talking the difference between 5k...

I'm getting ready to repaint my 98 Jetta and have a couple of questions: 1) How do the little rubber trim strips on the lower doors come off? Are they just glued on? Clips or screws? I can't tell. 2) Same question about the front grill. It looks easier to remove for painting, but I can't see...

It's kind of strange for me to be posting a trip report where nothing untoward happens, no breakdowns need to be repaired and nothing exciting happens. I just left my house at 8:00pm, drove 650 miles non-stop (except for taking on board diesel and unloading processed coffee) and pulled into my...

OK, I have had a number of problems with my 1998 Jetta Mk3 TDI. I have the white alarm system and power windows. Here are the symptoms: 1) Sometimes the windows will just decide to roll themselves down. All 4 windows will try, but I have the motors disconnected on the rears (due to breaking a...

In my 98 Jetta, when I hit a pothole or road bump at 50 or 55 mph, it often causes the car to try to fishtail a little, wiggling the steering a little and a little side to sway. It goes away in one or two oscillations, usually about 1/2 to 1 second, but it's annoying. I have recently replaced...

I figured I would document how I strip the valves from a cylinder head using a standard "C" type valve spring compressor. The secret: a 3/4 inch PVC coupler: See it on the upper right? This is how it works: I hear you asking: But once you have compressed the spring, how do you get at the...

I just did a cylinder head R&R and rebuild, replacing the valves and lifters. Now that I have the motor back together I am getting ready to set the timing so I started it up. It ran fine for about 5 minutes, then quit with a "clank"ing noise, two or three loud taps. So, I shut off the fuel...

This is part of my thread about removing the cylinder head but I wanted to keep it separate because it's really it's own topic. When I pulled off the plastic intake pipe to the turbo, I found that the end of it was badly cracked. I guess the turbo gets pretty hot, but the intake air should...

Just wanted to start a thread covering my cylinder head R&R due to a bad timing belt tensioner letting the timing belt skip a tooth (or two) and messing up some valves and lifters. I took about a zillion pictures, some of which I will be sharing with you. This is a 1998 Jetta AHU with about...

On the drivers side of the block, on the coolant pipe flange going into the head there are three temperature sensors, with three wires on them. Is there any difference between the temp sensors? i.e.: Is it important which wire goes on which sensor? I am pulling the head and don't want to end...

Color me surprised on my 1998 Jetta A3 AHU, but I just pulled the drive sprocket off of the cam shaft and was amazed that there was no key between the gear and the camshaft. Why not? The camshaft has a key slot in it, and everything about this motor requires exact alignment between the cam and...

1998 Jetta Manual with 275k miles. I recently had an issue where the starter failed to turn the engine. It would try to turn the engine, but nothing would turn. Holding the key down for 2 seconds would cause an electrical burning smell and small smoke from the starter. I only tried that once...