Should I buy a 2002 Jetta Wagon TDI AUTOMATIC?

[jyhuh28]

I have a question for seasoned TDI guys.
I have been looking for a 99.5-2003 gen TDI MANUAL for 3 months now. I have an opportunity to buy a 2002 Jetta Wagon TDI Automatic with 211k miles for $1600.
There are no maintenance records so I will be doing the timing belt, water pump kit. Assuming that the body and engine are in good standing, would it be a good buy?
If a manual comes along, i would prefer that so I might flip this car. Are the Automatic trans TDI's of this gen in demand as much as the manuals trans? And any problem with the auto tranny's of this gen? Thanks

 

[Bert0925]

If the body is in good shape, I'd drive it until the tranny goes then swap it to manual..1600 $ is a steal. The autos are in less demand since they have a bad rep, but doing a trans maintenance will certainly help.

 

[jyhuh28]

If the body is in good shape, I'd drive it until the tranny goes then swap it to manual..1600 $ is a steal. The autos are in less demand since they have a bad rep, but doing a trans maintenance will certainly help.

cool thanks. yea I got lucky enough to work where we buy a lot of wholesale cars. we probably buy 100's a month. Before this one, I saw a 09 Jetta TDI auto for $8000 with 130k miles on it. Beautiful condition too, I let that one go but I will def buy this one

 

[Jesse_Boyer]

I have an opportunity to buy a 2002 Jetta Wagon TDI Automatic with 211k miles for $1600.

If you don't, I would

 

[d2305]

Just be ready to replace the transmission as they are a fail item.

 

[bbob203]

If you get it do a tbelt job, cheack the intake for sludge, and service the transmission. Some people have 300k on the oe transmissions and some are junk at >100k.

 

[jyhuh28]

Thanks guys. So this TDI has a emblem that says BIODEISEL on the back and also bumper stickers that says it is running biodeisel. Also, absolutely no maintenance records with the car but the car itself is pretty clean. How do I know if it had a biodeisel conversion and can i still put regular deisel if it has? Also the car has absolutely no coolant in resovoir so there could be a coolant leak somewhere?

 

[bbob203]

A car doesn't need a conversion to run bio. If it is running waste vegetable oil it will have a seperate tank and fuel filter and some solenoids under the hood and a series of extra switches and gauges up front in the cockpit. Sounds like a good deal for 1600 just expect to spend another $600-$1000 (depending on your ability to wrench) to get it turned into a fearless road warrior. It should have a timing belt done ASAP if there are no signs of it being replaced. At 200k it should be on its 3rd timing belt.

 

[jyhuh28]

i am so new to this, just the thought of running veggie oil in a car is befuddling to me

 

[jyhuh28]

i didnt see any seperate tank or gauges of any kind. still weird that if it wasnt modded for veggie oil, they would have emblems for that

 

[joshattack]

Biodiesel and Waste Vegetable Oil, sometimes just called veggie oil are two similar but different things. They can both be sourced from fryer oil, either used or unused, but how you use them as fuel differs. Basically you have to modify something to deal with the viscosity of vegetable oil... think salad dressing in the fridge, it needs to be thin to run through fuel lines and be injected.
Biodiesel chemically modifies the oil to be less viscous and is often blended down with diesel to make it thinner- B99 in summer, 99% bio and 1% diesel for the hot months. B5 in winter, 5% bio and 95% diesel for the cold and freezing weather most of us have.

WVO requires a kit to modify the car to suit the thicker fuel then warms it up to make it as thin as diesel. There is an extra tank, lines, heater, filter, valves to switch between diesel (or Bio) and WVO. Start up on diesel (or bio) then when the engine is fully warm switch to WVO.

If it said BIODIESEL on the back they probably just ran biodiesel from a local producer and didn't modify anything on the vehicle. Lots of people on this forum run some blend of Bio. Some here have run WVO and talk about it here, but overall people on this site don't like WVO. I'm sure someone will even pick apart my simplified description of WVO saying It will ruin something.

 

[bbob203]

Waste oil and bio aren't the same. They could be running running bio which can be made from waste oil and run in a car w/o modifications. A waste oil systems works by filtering waste oil and then installing a separate fuel system that is heated by the coolant and when up to temp it switched to run on the heated oil as the heating thins the oil closer to viscosity of diesel.

 

[jyhuh28]

I see, thanks for the explanation. I am very confident that this car is not modified and that they were just running biodeisel. Also, I am now officially a proud owner of a TDI! my very first one

 

[ELM]

I see, thanks for the explanation. I am very confident that this car is not modified and that they were just running biodeisel. Also, I am now officially a proud owner of a TDI! my very first one

Congratulations on the purchase. Sounds like a good deal. If you wrench on your own cars check out the 5 speed swap that can be done on these cars. It's not a hard job to do. The 01M automatic will die some day sometimes they give you some warning but mine just died one day I just started collecting parts here and there and it cost me $1200 in parts. Good luck with your new to you TDI.

 

[jyhuh28]

Congratulations on the purchase. Sounds like a good deal. If you wrench on your own cars check out the 5 speed swap that can be done on these cars. It's not a hard job to do. The 01M automatic will die some day sometimes they give you some warning but mine just died one day I just started collecting parts here and there and it cost me $1200 in parts. Good luck with your new to you TDI.

Thanks and thanks for the heads up on the tranny. that was actually on my mind and just started another topic before I read your post. I want to be prepared for the worst

 

[Jesse_Boyer]

Thanks and thanks for the heads up on the tranny. that was actually on my mind and just started another topic before I read your post. I want to be prepared for the worst

Regarding the auto, VW ambitiously called this 'lifetime fluid' and the engines are regularly outliving the transmissions. It's a fluid, it slowly degrades and even evaporates over time.

Research how to check, change, and refill the trans fluid. Your automatic transmission will thank you.