considering buying MkV Jetta with electrical problems

[jiggseob]

I've had three ALH MkIV's, and many MkI and MkII Rabbits Jettas and Golfs.

Now, a 2006 MkV Jetta with 240,000kms is falling out of favour with my neighbour. It needs a rear wheel bearing and brakes, which do not scare me at all. But further to that ...

Theres some electrical weirdness. A quick look is that most of the dash warning lights are on; air bag, abs, light warning, glow plugs, and others. Power windows do not operate at all. All these warning lights stay on when the key is removed, and thus the battery goes dead. Owner has haywired a switch to the accessory feed to run the car, and turns switch off and on with key to preserve battery.

Owner claims it is a module in the door that is messed-up and needs replacing. Is there a module in the door, and would its failure cause all this? And is it wildly expensive? Or is this owner mis-informed?

On the MkIV Jettas and NewBeetles, weirdness like this was not uncommon, almost always a problem with the ignition switch. When it wasn't the ignition switch, it was the ground spider under the battery all messed with blue corrosion.

Anyways, the 2006 Jetta seems to run and drive OK, (albeith that wacky switch thing) and is being offered to me for $500. I'm not fussy about going forward with that electrical bypass switch and all those warning lights on. No opportunity to hook up my vag-com, at this point its my quick observations, and take it or leave it.

My question to the MkV veterans out there, is this thing a pig in a poke; should I run away, or is it possibly a module replacement to straighten all this electrical weirdness out.

Thanks, Jiggs.

 

[Rembrant]

Now, a 2006 MkV Jetta with 240,000kms is falling out of favour with my neighbour. It needs a rear wheel bearing and brakes, which do not scare me at all. But further to that ...

Theres some electrical weirdness...

I don't know about Alberta, but these '06 TDI jettas have been piling up around here for sale "with issues" for the several years now...lol. 240k isn't bad at all...that's low-ish for TDI's as you know.

I just bought one of these machines myself, and it too came with electrical issues. If you do some reading on here, you'll see that there are two common harnesses that fail and cause all kinds of electrical weirdness. The driver's door harness is one, and the main engine harness is the other.

There is a door lock/latch module inside the door, but I think if you study the topic a bit, you'll likely find that the majority of the "weirdness" will be caused by broken wires in the driver's door harness or the engine harness.

I seem to recall reading on here that the new upgraded* door harness was around $140 USD, and the main engine harness is something like $350 USD. Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, and you'll have to check and see what these two are worth in CDN dollars.

The issue with my 06 was that it supposedly had a static battery drain that was killing the battery when the car sat, and was making it hard to start. In my case it turned out to be a bad ground on the engine (where the main ground line attaches to a bolt going through the bell housing right behind the starter.) It wasn't that there was a static battery drain, it was that the thing wasn't charging fully and was poorly grounded.

Hope that helps.

 

[narongc73]

You can patch the wire in 10 minutes without taking the door apart. Mine did not have a bunch of dash lights come on or anything weird. The window/lock, etc simply didn't work. No need for a wiring harness.

 

[Henrick]

How is the body of the car? Interior? Overall condition?

What about camshaft, DMF, EGR cooler?

Try to negotiate the price down to $400....

Overall, this is quite a good car. Repairs also are easy if you know what're doing.

 

[sptsailing]

Oilhammer has posts in which he cites replacing the main engine wiring harness as solving numerous cases of electrical weirdness.

Also, there is a great explanation of the electrical system available from VW here:

http://www.vaglinks.com/docs/vw/misc/vwusa.com_vw_mk5_jetta_electricalsystem_ssp_873403.pdf

The car should be considered to be a few computer networks having an engine, wheels, etc around it.

 

[bubbagumpshrimp]

For $500...if you're good at troubleshooting and have access to cheap parts...go for it, if you don't mind a project. However, make sure that you set a limit that you'll spend on parts to repair that car. Once you hit that amount...cut your losses and sell it or gut it and sell the parts (you'll do better than $500 going that route).

I had a electrical gremlin VW years ago (a MKIV). Under warranty, the dealer threw thousands of dollars at that car. Having experienced that (15 trips to the dealership under warranty)...I would never consider an electrical gremlin car.

 

[mack42b]

If the car is in good shape, I think that is a good deal. Is it a DSG or 5 speed.

 

[jiggseob]

he's raised his price to $800 now.

I'm going to wait and see if someone buys it for $800, I'm not going up on my price. Winters coming and he's unemployed....