Ineed some help deciding what I should do

pattyg

New member
Joined
Apr 11, 2006
Okay, here is the deal. I bought a 1999 golf TDI here about 3 months ago.
I am sure that he did not know about the problems that were to occur
shortly thereafter.
First, shortly after buying, I thought I noticed some slight shifting
problems. Nothing major. Just a little long to shift.
Aboout a month after buying I started to have big problem with the car
slowing down. Mileage did not seem too good. But, I REALLy hadn;t had it very long. So, hard to say.Looked to this forum. hmmm...could be limp mode. Don't know what that means, but okay. COmmon enough. Problem got worse. Would come and go. Ok. Broke down and went to dealer. Catalytic converter collapsed. Alright, bought new one. Cost about a thousand dollars!!! Big deal for me. I have never even taken out a loan to buy a car until now. SO, yes,
kinda a big deal. Alright, I recover. Three weeks ago. Car starts to act all slow again. Sheez...not this again. I thought that this was fixed. Okay, maybe the part was defective. Call the dealer, tell him that car is being all slow again. Hmmm...hard to say. May be a bad part. I made another appointment for the following week. I asked if I can still drive the car.
He said yes, just don''t use it for the route. I deliver mail. That is why I bought this car.
So, I go to Baltimore. Car was fine. Once in B'more. Car slows down. I drive for a while, and I stop. Engine is reving, car is not going. I am stuck on the main highway.
Okay, I will speed up a bit here. Car died. I had to spend the night in B'more.
Had car towed the next day. Gues what? The shop call to tell me that my NEW catalytic comverter was STOLEN!!!! Cut right off the car!!! Groan...okay. I must pay deductable, but another problem. Tranmission is too complicated for this shop. Must go to other shop. TWO shops later...the mechanic tell me that my transmission is SHOT!!! How can this be? No warning light? Just...car slows down and you owe 3 thousand dollars. I need a little help here, if you can. Are there any recalls, or anything like that for this? I do not have the money to get this fixed.

Also, I am asking if I should just sell this car right now. Bad tranny and all.
How much could I get for it this way? It does have that great BRAND NEW
CC.

Sorry for the long post. It just seems that everything has gone wrong since I bought this thing. :eek:Any help here would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
Patty
 

G60ING

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 5, 2001
Location
MD
TDI
No TDIs Currently, I have an R36 Corrado. I've had an ALH Corrado swap, AHU Corrado swap and 2003 TDI Jetta
I'm sorry to hear about your trouble but the TDI cars are too complicated for most shops to trouble shoot and this may a time to either look at going to the dealer to get a proper estimate.
 

Heinz57

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2000
Location
Seattle, WA US
Please provide more information on how many miles, 5 speed or automatic, maintenance history etc to give us a better idea in what condition the rest of the vehicle is. One thing I have noted over the years is not to buy a used vehicle that has been pampered and then use it for hard driving conditions - it will blow up. One more question I like to pose is - where was this vehicle a year ago - lets say the Gulf region ? These salvaged vehicle have been cleaned up extremely well and passed on to unsuspecting consumers.
 

pattyg

New member
Joined
Apr 11, 2006
more info about car

I just posted a reply, and I believe it got erased.
I'll try again. Okay car is a 99 AT Diesel with about 140,000 miles.
I bought it from one of the TDI guys on here. I believe his name is Alan.
ALl the service info is with the car right now. But maybe ALan will remember
most of the records. It looked to be well takend care of, so I am sure that
it was not one of those salvaged car. I live in York, Pa. ALan lives in New York. He bought it in Harrisburg. I belive that his wife delived papers with the
car, I felt confident using it to do mail. Actually I only deliverd mail with it 12 times. I was trying to keep it nice, since this is the first car I have owed that
wasn't a junker.
ANy ideas what I could get for it as is. Is is in good shape, well, as far as
I know. I owe about 4000 on it yet.
 

Shastapk

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Location
Portland & Ashland, Oregon
TDI
1998 Jetta TDI
Very sorry to hear about your trouble Patty. First question- if you were to sell it for near or above payoff, would you be able to finance another car?- or then would you be looking to purchase an even cheaper car- which may even be more unreliable?

Although a big downer, 140,000 on an auto transmission is not totally unreasonable- especially if previous owner(s) used for a lot of start and stop driving (I would think- I'm no expert though). I'll bet some trusted mechanic in your area could track down a used low-mile transmission and be able to put it in much cheaper than a dealer. It would be a little more of a risk than a new warranteed tranny, but I would be probably go that route if you could afford it. I would at least get a second opinion as to the tranny problem.

Also think about money you may have to put into in the future. How well has the car been maintained so far? When was the last timing belt change?- When it needs it, it will cost roughly $600-$800 at a shop. maybe more at the dealer. If you are confident otherwise with the car, I would vote for you to keep it- especially the kind of miles you are probably going to put on it. But if you have to sell, chime in here and we can try to help you get a good price for it- certainly don't give it away. Some older cars with a bad tranny are worth nearly nothing- not yours!!!

Also- if you do sell, you'll will get a lot more for it fixed even adding the tranny fix price to it. For example and again I am not an expert-but it is probably worth $4-$5k like it is, but fixed probably closer to $10k- so even borrowing the money and fixing it before you sell makes sense.

Anyway- I'll be you'll get a lot of advice coming up on it. Good luck and keep us posted.
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 26, 2006
TDI problems

First never go to the Dealer to get the car fixed. Over priced and going to the dealer doesn't mean you are going to get a good mechanic. The times I have had estimates at a dealer the car hascome back in worse shape.

Shop around for a quality mechanic that has the knowledge and proper tools for the TDI. A used car is like a used Microsoft computer, its going to have bug issues,etc.

I have 117,000 miles and never had engine trouble. While its warm out side put Bio Diesel and after 2 or 3 tanks change the Fuel filter, esspecially change the fuel filter right away if you put 100% bio. The Bio is like a Enema for the engine. Full synthetic oil.

Esspecially because the car has a Turbo it shortens the life of the turbo if the engine is shut off right away after a long drive.
With a fast drive on the highway with clean Bio the engine and good speeds are always good for the catalytic converter.

Over all, a Diesel is not more maintance then a gas car. All the filters are up top so there is no crawling or bending over. Give it a good over hawl because it sounds like the previous owner did not treat the car well.:)
 

LurkerMike

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2006
Location
Atlanta Jawja
TDI
-Whitey: 2000 Jetta GLS, Red: 2000 Jetta GLS 5-speed
You should have paid whatever it would have cost to tow it to Metal Man. He is somewhere in PA and has been an EXPERT private TDI repair guru mechanic for years. The biggest complaint on him is that he does not charge enough money for some repairs and it makes the other TDI guru's look greedy.

He might even be able to find a good used tranny out of a wrecked car to get you by for lots less $$$.

I'm hoping that the Kerma line pressure mod and Amsoil ATF transmission fluid change every 20k miles will get me more than 140k miles before my automatic fails me.

Good luck!
 

pattyg

New member
Joined
Apr 11, 2006
wOW!

Thanks for all the help you guys have giving me. THAT, alone is making
me feel loads better. I do NOW have AAA and I think that I will tow the car to Metalman, as soon as find him. I have posted some stuff on ebay to sell.
I hope to get together enough money to keep this stupid car. I really do love
it! I have also been educating myself a bit on car repair. Not, so much for the
TDI but for my other VW(also not broke down this week). I feel a little better
about the process for knowing more.
Ok, metalman here I come! And you better not be in Jamaica.
Thank you again to all that responded.:)
 

G60ING

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 5, 2001
Location
MD
TDI
No TDIs Currently, I have an R36 Corrado. I've had an ALH Corrado swap, AHU Corrado swap and 2003 TDI Jetta
as back pocket info. I'm confident that you could sell the car as a whole for $4,000-$4,500 to somebody that would part the car out and build a swap.
 

pghPAtdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2003
Location
Nova Scotia to Pittsburgh and back
TDI
Jetta GLS, 2001, White, Leather
Sorry to hear of your new purchase creating all those troubles. It's great that all the posts thus far are so helpful to you and if anything consider yourself lucky that you are close to Metalman.
I do have to ask.....your new exhaust was stolen while at the dealer? I've heard of drive shafts being stolen from 4WD vehicles but that is insane...

good luck
Dave
 

Evolution

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Location
Raleigh, N.C.
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SEL, Platinum Gray
You know, when things happen when in the dealers or shops care, their insurance should pay. Not yours.
 

LurkerMike

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2006
Location
Atlanta Jawja
TDI
-Whitey: 2000 Jetta GLS, Red: 2000 Jetta GLS 5-speed
Sold for:US $4,500.00
Auction ended early with Buy It Now.

========================================================
Check out the Nimrod Bidder's List:

User IDBid Amount Date of bid
lowrango US $4,500.00 Jun-27-06 18:14:19 PDT
rutabagel US $1,609.00 Jun-27-06 08:18:15 PDT
garyc1377 US $1,200.00 Jun-26-06 20:52:22 PDT
itsavwtdi US $1,100.00 Jun-27-06 07:38:29 PDT
itsavwtdi US $1,000.00 Jun-27-06 07:38:05 PDT
funon1ski US $899.00 Jun-27-06 07:03:47 PDT
funon1ski US $860.00 Jun-27-06 06:25:54 PDT
honkyztonk US $817.69 Jun-26-06 23:37:50 PDT
honkyztonk US $797.69 Jun-26-06 23:37:25 PDT
honkyztonk US $775.00 Jun-26-06 23:36:58 PDT
pintorod US $100.00 Jun-26-06 16:18:07 PDT
 

LurkerMike

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2006
Location
Atlanta Jawja
TDI
-Whitey: 2000 Jetta GLS, Red: 2000 Jetta GLS 5-speed
oh yea... I didn't mean to lump you with the $100 Nimrod Bidders... hopefully this is a win-win for you and the seller...
 

No Exit

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2006
Location
Herndon, VA
Wow, $7250 to 4500 in a couple of months. The issues with the car would have come up in time anyways. Looks like Lowrango got a good deal and well... patty got pretty unlucky.

Stick around and let us know how the car comes along Lowrango... I for one would like to know how its going and what you put into repairs if you dont mind sharing. I know its not representative of what the average person would pay but it would still be nice to know
 

Shastapk

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Location
Portland & Ashland, Oregon
TDI
1998 Jetta TDI
Don't leave us in suspense. What did it take to fix it you lucky B-stard? It might help others in the future to fix a similar problem. Good to see that it went to a member- enjoy!!!
 

LOWRANGO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Location
Port Reading NJ
TDI
1999.5 Golf GLS TDI Auto
it needed a trans, but one of my techs had one and it was swapped out yesterday... 1 of the good things about working at a dealer with a tech that is a tdi nut and has everything you could want but a shortblock...

i can run the vin and see trans letters before i buy a car so i lucked out and got a car with a ecn trans, exactly what he had...and it was a fresh reman ;)
 
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