Expendable Golf 4 TDI... Should I run the wheels off it?

[gearheadgrrrl]

So I've got a 2003 Golf TDI 5 speed, rusting away but 2 sets of good tires and wheels, 155k miles so the timing belt has 45k left on it, new springs, struts, calipers, etc. and finally got the brakes bled well enough that it'll at least trigger the ABS on the rear wheels. I don't need it, specially last year with COVID I haven't driven it more than 20 miles from home. Keep it as a spare as I've got a 2015 Golf TDI with 48K miles.

So having gotten vaxxed for COVID I'm tempted to drive a bit more, though I worry about it breaking down and any major failure is going to total it. But what the hell... It's sittin' here rusting out anyways, maybe I should throw my folding bike and tools in the back 'case it breaks down and run the wheels off it... Whatcha think?

 

[Lightflyer1]

I like to keep some kind of old vehicle around for emergencies, towing, hauling and lending out. Insurance and tags are cheap if your cars out number your licensed drivers. But down here in Texas cars aren't as rusted out as up North. Of course I buy and sell them at a whim when I tire of it and get another. Just bought and sold a 1994 Ford F150 5 speed manual 6 cylinder. Bought for $1200 and with a little work sold for $5k a year later. Got some good use out of it during that time as well. If my 2015 Beetle would take a hitch (def tank in the way) I would just rent a trailer.

 

[kcunniff]

At only 155,000 miles, I suspect there would be a lot of interest in the powertrain to swap into a good body. Perhaps you have a readily sellable asset there?

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

Not worth the work- A4s go for $1000-$2000 in the rust belt.

 

[STDOUBT]

Expendable Golf 4 TDI... (no such thing)
Should I run the wheels off it? (No.)

This gal is going to neglect and kill an 155k mile ALH motor.
Not cool.

 

[GlowBugTDI]

I say you sell it to me, and I'll get er back on the road for good. Like the red beetle thread you followed.

 

[oilhammer]

If you have a 2015, you'll need something as backup anyway. May as well be an ALH... at least you know you'll be able to get wherever you need to go, even if it is unsightly and rusty.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

My son has an '02 Golf that's rusting a little, most of the drivetrain is original and it's approaching 410K miles. He's had it for over 5 years and it's never left him stranded. My '02 has had to be towed twice in 19 years and 427K miles: once for a lift pump failure, the other for a broken axle. I think the odds are good that you'll be fine.

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

Expendable Golf 4 TDI... (no such thing)
Should I run the wheels off it? (No.)

This gal is going to neglect and kill an 155k mile ALH motor.
Not cool.

No, I'll keep up the maintenance per usual. But the timing belt was done at 100k in 2011, so it's due at 200k and that cost will probably end of life the car.

 

[oilhammer]

Give it to me then, I'll come pick it up.

 

[Lightflyer1]

No, I'll keep up the maintenance per usual. But the timing belt was done at 100k in 2011, so it's due at 200k and that cost will probably end of life the car.

At ten years old it should be replaced now just due to age. Or take your chances.

 

[GlowBugTDI]

At ten years old it should be replaced now just due to age. Or take your chances.

Agreed. Otherwise it could leave you stranded, and trash your head

Give it to me then, I'll come pick it up.

Me too! Im closer haha.

GearHeadgrrrl. Your about 4ish hours from me, but if your interested in selling let me know...

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

At ten years old it should be replaced now just due to age. Or take your chances.

You're correct, though my goal is to do all maintenance within 10% of the manufacturers recommended mileage/time recommendations so the belt is probably good for another year or two. The belt is $300 and several days work if I do it myself or over $1000 if I pay a qualified shop to do it, on a car that's worth maybe $1000 it's not worth it and belt replacement will end of life the car. More pressing need is an oil change, at well under $100 and an hour's work that's a good investment.

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

oilhammer and GlowBug TDI, I admire your "vulture" ethic- I turned some of my family and friends abandoned clunkers into daily drivers when I was younger. But a vulture's gotta be careful- If the roadkill is too far gone it gets poisonous and no point in becoming roadkill yourself while feasting. The car runs and drives, but it's 200 miles from Glowbug TDI and 600 miles from oil hammer and you can probably find a better deal on an old TDI closer to home.

 

[oilhammer]

I drove to Baltimore to tow one home. Drove to Norfolk to tow one home. Been countless trips all over Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana to tow them home too.

 

[csstevej]

The belt is $300 and several days work if I do it myself or over $1000 if I pay a qualified shop to do it, on a car that's worth maybe $1000 it's not worth it and belt replacement will end of life the car.

It doesn’t take several days to do a TB, maybe 6-8 hrs even if you go slow.

And to say $1000.00 will kill the car is crazy......you pay the amount and basically your done other than normal maintenance, especially on such a low mileage car , just my .02.

If you finance a car your costs will be significantly higher and you still have to do basic maintenance/ service.

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

I drove to Baltimore to tow one home. Drove to Norfolk to tow one home. Been countless trips all over Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana to tow them home too.

If you like road trips, that makes sense. But if you have to take days off work the costs quickly eat up any savings...

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

It doesn’t take several days to do a TB, maybe 6-8 hrs even if you go slow.

And to say $1000.00 will kill the car is crazy......you pay the amount and basically your done other than normal maintenance, especially on such a low mileage car , just my .02.

If you finance a car your costs will be significantly higher and you still have to do basic maintenance/ service.

I work to "retiree time standards"- That means that before starting work I need several cups of coffee and some computer time to check the stock market, read the Times, etc.. Then I pull the car into the shop and maybe lay out the tools and parts, then switch to Dew and check the markets and maybe Facebook and TDI Club. Unless the markets are hot I'll get in maybe an hour's work by lunch hour. If I'm feeling really good I'll get in a whole two hours work before I check the markets again before closing, take afternoon break, etc.. But if I get stumped, the markets and gossip are hot, or my back or something else gets sore I knock off for the day. Using these time standards I managed to milk an annual oil and filter change of my diesel tractor for most of yesterday and an oil change and checks on one fo the motorcycles killed off the day before. And if the weather's nice I may just go out and ride or drive all day and nothing gets done...

 

[GlowBugTDI]

oilhammer and GlowBug TDI, I admire your "vulture" ethic- I turned some of my family and friends abandoned clunkers into daily drivers when I was younger. But a vulture's gotta be careful- If the roadkill is too far gone it gets poisonous and no point in becoming roadkill yourself while feasting. The car runs and drives, but it's 200 miles from Glowbug TDI and 600 miles from oil hammer and you can probably find a better deal on an old TDI closer to home.

Hey mine was sitting for 5yrs when i got it and the guy said the body was shot....turns out it was in better shape then the one i owned so i switched. Even so, I've seen pics of yours before and to my memory im still interested!

I'm not trying to vulture, but if your thinking about maybe sending down the road, I'll get it to top notch again, and get er going for another 200k to come

 

[GlowBugTDI]

If you like road trips, that makes sense. But if you have to take days off work the costs quickly eat up any savings...

I could do it on a weekend, then im not wasting money off work lol

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

Pardon my slow reply, finally got started about eleven-ish on swapping winter for all season tires on the Golf 7 and got delayed by having to move a couple motorcycles to dig out the Quickjack and the half inch drive for my impact broke off on me, so after taking the winter tires off I knocked off at quarter to 12 to get a head start on lunch hour(s)...

Are A4 ALHs becoming cult cars or something? I've noted that 12 valve Cummins B series and big block Cat truck engines have gained cult followings that defy logic. Granted, I know of a B series that had 15k hours in a yard tractor that weighted 15k pounds empty and had never had the head off, but I've driven a "four and a quarter" Cat that wouldn't do anything a 350 HP 12 liter Mack could do except travel one less mile per gallon of diesel. But just about any Dodge that left the factory with a 12 valve Cummins is a rust bucket around here, frame included. As for the Cats, the later electronic ones are over a decade old and lemons that got Cat sued, and they ain't put a mechanical diesel in a truck since the last millenium, so even if the cab is aluminum and ain't tweaked the frame is probably scrap, especially if it's double framed.

Given that VW has been dumping a couple hundred thousand 2009 and later TDIs on the market and besides relative youth they have a bunch of other improvements that balance out their more complicated emissions systems and VW covered them with a very extended warranty, it's hard to make an argument for buying an ALH unless it's like new, and most ain't. So if you want another TDI, I'd suggest a later model- No point in putting good money into a two decade old ALH that already has a couple wheels in the scrapyard.

'Spose I should get back to work- I should at least lift it up a bit higher with the Quickjack and meditate over the condition of it's underside bits before taking another break...

 

[oilhammer]

Nah, I'll keep my ALHs, thanks. Oh, and the IH DT466 (ours was a '92 model, with a proper 7sp manual) will outlast any of the DT466E+automatic trucks that MODOT has replaced them with. I mean, it already has outlasted them, but will continue to. Rust doesn't ruin everything for everyone. Believe or not, life (and car/truck sales) do exist outside the rustbelt.

Sometimes old and simple gets the job done perfectly fine.

7.3L Fords and really any pre-DPF/SCR Rams but especially the old 12v trucks are quite sought after for good reason.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I've written it here many times, but I'll keep my ALHs too. If someone put a gun to my head and said I could keep one car, it would be the one with the most miles on it, my Wagon. As far as I can tell there's no reason it can't run indefinitely. And I have a '15 GSW sitting in the garage.

 

[csstevej]

I have 5 alh tdi’s I maintain for myself and my kids.
I just did a timing belt job, engine mount repair, and rewelded my sons exhaust pipe back onto his cat, transmission oil change, engine oil and filter change and Along with some other maintenance.
Out the door cost to him was about $850.00.
His car has over 300,xxx miles on it, and purrs like a kitten, mine is at 447,xxx miles.

Its not pretty to look at, has some rust in the front rockers and def needs a paint job, but I would not hesitate for one second to get in his car and drive across county and back.
What else can you find in a car ,used as a daily driver cost so little to maintain and is 21 years old?
Hell I have a Chevy Silverado crew cab with 140,xxx miles on it that is so rusted I may have to junk it......and it’s not driven in the winter on the highway , upper aft control arm attachment point is rusted away.

Alls I’m saying is new doesn’t mean better, new means more expensive to repair and there’s no longevity to it, people will scrap a good car due to one price being too expensive to repair.

People have forgotten the KISS rule......Keep It Simple Stupid.just my .02.

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

Had a good day on the stock market and feeling a bit flush, in fact had a lot of good days and can buy any car in a VW showroom, cash... Problem is, most of the cars in a VW showroom these days makes me wanna hurl! The C8 'Vette and Porsche Cayman are more tempting, but not enough trunk space to haul home a Costco cart sized haul. So I tried to buy an Audi A4 Allroad when they had a 10% off deal with Costco last year but the nearest dealer couldn't find the ones they claimed to have in stock or more likely they got repo'd, and the next nearest dealer thought the Costco discount meant he could take away their dealer's discount. It gets worse- BMW salesman wouldn't even talk to me and at the Mercedes dealer they gave me dirty looks when I wandered in to look at a Sprinter. So when I buy a new car looks like Kia will be as upmarket as I can go, which means my Golf TDIs will probably be around for a long while.

Still got those stock market $$$ burning a whole in my pocket... Just noticed a speck of rust in my 15 year old Craftsman stack, and didn't Costco just send me a discount code I could use on that stainless box they got on sale...

 

[GlowBugTDI]

They could be cult cars....idk for sure. I just really like them, and have never haf a golf. so i just figured if you might sell i might be interested....

I'll be here if you decide to let it go.

 

[Poor King]

Hi,

The members on here all have one or more variations of an alh equipped Mk4 and they are now being greedy. I have non; yet. I will leave you an address in Edina to park the car and PayPal you the funds.

 

[Nevada_TDI]

I don't know what it is about driving a TDI that is such a thing..,. I get 38 plus MPG and every once in a while I can whip a Power Joke's a$$ until we run out of speed limit. They effing hate getting their arse kicked by a 21 year old 1.9 liter diesel car. She is still fun to drive at 300k plus miles, I have another 70-80k miles before the next timing belt is due. The front seats are getting a bit ratty, so I have a set of Recaro GTI seats waiting for me in Sacremento.
Salt was outlawed here years ago so as to not possibly pollute Lake Tahoe, and there is no visible rust to be found. I found a great deal on a 2003 Jeep, and I would like to sit a bit higher, just like in my Wife's Jeep. I thought if I bought it the Wife would make me sell my Jetta, so I let it go. What really sucked was when I told the Wife about her wanting to sell my Jetta, if I bought the Jeep, and she said," No I wouldn't." Dammit, bad call on my part, but I did say, "Thirty eight miles to the gallon is hard to walk away from." My Wife has a Hemi powered Grand Cherokee with the factory tow package with adjustable electric brake control and a few other high tech goodies, and can pass everything except a gas station. I guess I can lookout for another Jeep or the equivalent with a bit more follow up.
I am sorry about this novella I just wrote but my ADHD meds are wearing off and my writing will go on and on.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I could go on and on as well, but I won't. Well maybe just a little. I took my Wagon to have its new tires Hunter Road Force balanced yesterday and the shop manager (who was no kid) said he'd never seen a private car with so many miles on it (428K). And after 19 years and all those miles I still enjoy driving it. It surprises me how often I need a Wagon, and I love the 700+ miles between fills, tank after tank. And the torque delivery...now I'm starting to go on. You get the idea.

 

[oilhammer]

Drove one of my customers' cars in this morning (he lives by me, so it is easier for him to just drop his cars off at my house). The one I drove in today is his 2011 JSW. TDI, DSG, deleted w/ a mild tune. It runs great. Sounds mean (straight pipe, no mufflers at all). His wife drives a 2014 Jetta sedan. Also deleted w/ mild tune (hers has mufflers ), and he also has a CHERRY 2001 TT that is a rare FWD manual... but the car he owned that he had when he found me, was a 2001 Jetta sedan. ALH, automatic (on its 2nd transmission already), and him and his wife loved that car. In fact, she prefered to drive it even after they bought the JSW. And it was completely stock. She was driving it right up until the transmission died again at over 300k miles, and they decided to let it go (it is still on the road somewhere I am told!). They STILL talk about how great that car was... and this is with two much newer CR cars in their stable (faster-than-stock ones, at that!).

I actually hear lots of stories like these. But I also continue to service lots of A4 cars the owners refuse to part ways with... many with 300k+. It seems an ALH with LESS than 1/4 million miles on it now is just an oddity. And to be fair, the newer cars, if people take care of them, hold up OK too, but they seem to take a little more TLC as time goes on. Just yesterday I did a 280k service on a 2010 sedan. Just finished an M-unit and engine harness on a 2006 sedan with 350k miles. I have a 388k mile 2000 Jetta here that just got some work done to it. I have a 1/4 million mile B5 Passat here that needs a few things. Take care of them, they'll last indefinitely. Especially any with belt driven OHC engines.