So what would you do

psaboic

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2002
Location
SW WA
TDI
02 Jetta GLS Black
Details:

I have a black 2002 Jetta TDI 5 Speed manual with 202K on it that I have owned since new (so I know all the maintenance is up to date on it). Car runs fine, no CEL, and only starts a little rough in cold weather after sitting overnight. Here are the issues the car has, Faded paint on hood, roof, and mirrors, needs a new windshield (lots of pits and a few stone dings) the OEM radio stopped receiving AM /FM but everything else works fine (assuming a new antenna is needed) and the headliner is starting to get a little loose in spots. I would also like to upgrade to projector HID lights as the stock lights simply suck by today's standards.

So, my question is would you sink the money into the car? I'm estimating $350 for a windshield, close to the same for the headliner, $50 for the antenna unless it is the radio itself, and $350 for the HID headlight upgrade. That comes to about $1100 before paint repair.

I love the car, it runs fine, and it surely has a lot of miles left in it. But I would like opinions on doing the repairs/upgrade, as the total is pretty close to what it would Blue book out at.

Thanks for any help/advice.
 

WildChild80

Veteran Member
Joined
May 30, 2016
Location
Nashville, AR
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI 2000 Jetta TDI 2000 New Beetle TDI ALL 5 speeds
I just finished up some HIDs for my car...might have 200 in them. Cheap Chinese projectors, they work great.

Pin the headliner up, forget about the paint and motor on. What it's worth and what you could sell it for are 2 different arguments in my book. Paid for, fairly cheap to maintain and great fuel mileage, small enough to turn around almost anywhere yet big enough for me at 6'2" and such a big trunk for such a small car.

If you didn't catch on, I'm in the keep it crowd.

I've been looking at some rattle can options as I have the same paint issues.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
People get new cars because they just want a new car, regardless of what their current car needs. If you like your car, I'd fix it. Cheaper than a car payment.
 

Tdijarhead

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
People get new cars because they just want a new car, regardless of what their current car needs. If you like your car, I'd fix it. Cheaper than a car payment.

Absolutely. “Look at me, I have a new car!”

These cars are a fading breed there will never be more of them made. Great mileage, easy to work on, what more can you ask?

If my 05 gets wrecked, I’ll just look for another 00-06 Golf with less miles and keep going.
 

eddieleephd

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2012
Location
Battle Ground, Wa
TDI
2002 jetta Wagon
I would definitely keep and upgrade. The windshield should only be $250, not that that's much less.
I recovered my own headliner this year, and cleared the down tubes for the sunroof while I was at it.
I got a new antenna base for $30 and put it in while it was open. Oem is the only way to go with those.
Paint would definitely make you feel better, I'd like to do mine. If you sand it yourself it'll be cheaper, just pick a good shop and they'll do good work.
The added cost of payments and insurance for half a year would be about what it would run you to fix it, right?

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
If you still enjoy it absolutely keep it. Replace the windshield and headliner (easy to do with the windshield out, btw), and get the faded parts painted. Run a can of diesel purge through it or replace the injector nozzles. Make sure the intake is clean and, if you want more power and smoother running, get a mild tune. Replace the head unit with an aftermarket one that has bluetooth or a USB port on it.

You'll spend less than the down payment on a new car, or far less than the first year's lease payments. Insurance and property taxes (if you have those) will remain low. Trust me, this car will make you happier than anything you can go buy right now.

I'm the original owner of an '02 Wagon, it just passed 400K miles. I've replaced or upgraded everything the car has needed as parts have worn out. I still look forward to driving it daily, and plan to drive it at least another 100K miles. MKIV ALH cars are, in my opinion, the best of TDIs, perhaps the best of VW.
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
Call around' talk to people's you can get the windshield done for about 200' you can diy your headliner easily with new fabric and some spray adhisive, hid are 20 bucks for the pair and projectors are about 80 on ebay for the pos ones' but they work fine. Just be careful with the adjustments on them. Been there done that.
Get a radio that uses bluetooth and do all your music and channels from your phone.
Keep it's fix it for the lowest price. I've done all those things and more
 

MattRabbit

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 12, 1999
Location
Orlando, FL, USA
TDI
2015 Golf SE TDI, 2014 Beetle TDI, 1981 Rabbit Diesel
I had a 2001 Golf TDI for 18 years that I sold in February after getting one of the mk7's. The only reason I upgraded was because the mk7 went for so low of a price. I would have kept the mk4 forever had it not been for that. My mk4 had 393K miles on it when I sold it.

I did have it repainted once which really breathed new life into it. Totally worth it in my opinion. If you can find a bodyshop that'll do it less expensively on the side, try to go that route.

I replaced my own headliner right before I got the mk7. It cost me $30 in material and glue. It took about 6 hours from pulling it out to being done. It had a couple of mild wrinkles in it, but it looked a helluva lot better than the old one.

4 months before I sold the car, I got a Pioneer double din radio with carplay. It was the single best upgrade I ever made to the car. It totally brought it into modern times, with bluetooth, apple phone integration, etc etc. Cost on that was around $280 + the install stuff.

All of the stuff you've listed is repairable, and if it'll refresh your car, it's totally worth it. Unless you really want a new car, I'd just put a little bit of money into this one every month until it's where you want it.
 

psaboic

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2002
Location
SW WA
TDI
02 Jetta GLS Black
Ok, based on all the replies here, and my personal preference I'm gonna show the car some love, fix it , and drive it till the wheels fall off (them put them back on and drive it some more.......)

Ok, I guess the best approach is to pull the headliner out for repair first, and while it is out, tackle the antenna base/radio issue. Now my questions.....

First, for those of you who have pulled out the headliner and recovered it, can you point me to a good how to? I've seen several online about how to pull it, but all have photos that are blocked by Photobucket, etc..... and I have seen nothing on how to recover it once it is out.

Second, the car has a sunroof, and the cover for that and the covers on the A, B, etc pillars looks fine so the new headliner cover would need to match. Where is a good place to buy headliner fabric (and will it have foam attached or would I have to add that separately)?

Third, the radio......The stock one lost AM a few years ago, and FM totally went out about a year ago. It won't even pick up very near stations. I'm assuming it is the antenna base and will replace that while the headliner is out. But, if the new antenna base does NOT fix the issue, is there a way to meter out and test the antenna cable itself and see if it is bad? I would rather test the cable and base and know they are ok before putting a new radio in right away.

Thanks for any help!
 

OlyTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Location
Olympia, WA
TDI
'04 Golf
With regard to the radio, if it's indeed kaput, just put another original in it (they can be found for a song) and then use a cassette tape input adapter to stream from your phone or input from other devices. Keeps it cheap and somewhat "upgraded."
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
You can buy a JVC or similar head unit with bluetooth and a USB port (but no CD player) for about $30. Worth it.
 

MattRabbit

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 12, 1999
Location
Orlando, FL, USA
TDI
2015 Golf SE TDI, 2014 Beetle TDI, 1981 Rabbit Diesel
Pulling the headliner wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Just go slowly and take your time. I watched a few videos on youtube to get my bearings, then just went for it. You basically just have to remove any of the accessories on the roof, as they hold it up, then it just drops right down.

I purchased the material at JoAnn's fabrics for around $25. It was on sale at the time, so it was really inexpensive. They have a gray color that was close to the original platinum gray, but not quite. It was slightly darker, but it looked ok. For the cost, it was close enough. As for the adhesive, I just went to my local Advance Auto Parts and bought the 3M headliner stuff.

Once you get it out of the car (you have a Jetta, so you have to finagle it out the back door), the old cloth comes off easily. I used a wire brush to remove the foam on the headliner. The foam is the failure point. It gets old and brittle, and then just lets go allowing the cloth to sag. Once I got all of the foam off, I laid out the new material carefully, and then used the spray glue on half, attached it, then the other half. In hindsight I would have gone thirds, as once it's on, you can't pull it to reattach. It makes correcting mistakes sorta impossible.

The new headliner looked pretty darned good! Not perfect, but since it's above your head, you aren't staring at it all the time.
 

csstevej

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
TDI
2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
Mine is a 2001 golf that I bought used with 32,xxx miles on it, was an automatic.
I now have 427,xxx miles on it. Top of roof is faded, headliner is starting to sag in some areas ( daughter stapled her headliner back up in her car, she prefers it that way ) and am finally blowing foam through vents.
I just dropped about $1200.00 bucks on a used head, ARP bolts, timing bet kit, hard coolant pipe and other miscellaneous items, I’ve done all my work myself.
It’s maybe 3-4 car payments, I do 110 miles a day.........they are gonna have to pry my dead hands off the car or bury me in it before I give it up.......just my .02.

My opinion, keep the car if only for work ......

I’ve also installed a Malone stage 3 with sprint 520’s and a 2” in lift kit no to mention it’s been a 5 speed for the last 300,xxx miles with a G60 / VR6 clutch set up.......
 

WildChild80

Veteran Member
Joined
May 30, 2016
Location
Nashville, AR
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI 2000 Jetta TDI 2000 New Beetle TDI ALL 5 speeds
Ok, based on all the replies here, and my personal preference I'm gonna show the car some love, fix it , and drive it till the wheels fall off (them put them back on and drive it some more.......)



Ok, I guess the best approach is to pull the headliner out for repair first, and while it is out, tackle the antenna base/radio issue. Now my questions.....



First, for those of you who have pulled out the headliner and recovered it, can you point me to a good how to? I've seen several online about how to pull it, but all have photos that are blocked by Photobucket, etc..... and I have seen nothing on how to recover it once it is out.



Second, the car has a sunroof, and the cover for that and the covers on the A, B, etc pillars looks fine so the new headliner cover would need to match. Where is a good place to buy headliner fabric (and will it have foam attached or would I have to add that separately)?



Third, the radio......The stock one lost AM a few years ago, and FM totally went out about a year ago. It won't even pick up very near stations. I'm assuming it is the antenna base and will replace that while the headliner is out. But, if the new antenna base does NOT fix the issue, is there a way to meter out and test the antenna cable itself and see if it is bad? I would rather test the cable and base and know they are ok before putting a new radio in right away.



Thanks for any help!
That's good to hear, one day I want to take a straight body and turn the clock back to zero, add some stuff like GLI seats or Passat seats and of course it's gonna be blue lagoon, R32 wheels and 17Z calipers. No soft touch crap though.

What if VW did something like the mustang and made a modern looking but mk4 inspired car.



Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
What if VW did something like the mustang and made a modern looking but mk4 inspired car.

A waste of time, you'd be getting all that "new & improved" technology
that has a myriad of sensors and the problematical electrics that go with it.

Sure, the CR engine is a great piece of engineering, but when things go wrong, which they do, it's difficult, and expensive, to fix.

The VE engine may not be the height of engineering, but it sure does run
a looooong time with some basic input. Cosmetics can be dealt with, or not;
beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I care more about how my vehicle runs
than how it looks to someone else. Don't buy into the marketing and planned obselescence that pervades today's society.
 

WildChild80

Veteran Member
Joined
May 30, 2016
Location
Nashville, AR
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI 2000 Jetta TDI 2000 New Beetle TDI ALL 5 speeds
You right...a million sensors and it would get no more than 38mpg.

And i also totally agree, mechanical condition is far more important that visual any day

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

Powder Hound

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 25, 1999
Location
Under a Bridge, Crestview, FL, USA
TDI
'00 Golf 4dr White 5sp, '02 Jettachero 5sp, Wife's '03 NB Platinum Gray auto(!)
...What if VW did something like the mustang and made a modern looking but mk4 inspired car...
They did. They called it the New Beetle.

Shortly after it was introduced, a VW executive remarked that they'd be able to sell every single one they could make for 5 years. That guy hit it right on the head.

Cheers,

PH
 

wonneber

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Location
Monroe, NY, USA
TDI
2014 Jetta Sportwagon,2003 Jetta 261K Sold but not forgotten
Third, the radio......The stock one lost AM a few years ago, and FM totally went out about a year ago. It won't even pick up very near stations. I'm assuming it is the antenna base and will replace that while the headliner is out. But, if the new antenna base does NOT fix the issue, is there a way to meter out and test the antenna cable itself and see if it is bad? I would rather test the cable and base and know they are ok before putting a new radio in right away.
Thanks for any help!
I had the same problem.

I pulled the head liner down enough to get to the bottom of the antenna.
I unplugged the antenna lead.
I stripped about 6 feet of computer network cable and used one wire for a antenna.

Attached it to the center of the antenna cable, ran it out the back top of the rear hatch, and a few pieces of duck tape to run it down the center of the hood. Worked fairly well.

Finally did get an almost new antenna from a VW going to the scrap yard.
 

WildChild80

Veteran Member
Joined
May 30, 2016
Location
Nashville, AR
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI 2000 Jetta TDI 2000 New Beetle TDI ALL 5 speeds
They did. They called it the New Beetle.



Shortly after it was introduced, a VW executive remarked that they'd be able to sell every single one they could make for 5 years. That guy hit it right on the head.



Cheers,



PH
Touche

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
What if VW did something like the mustang and made a modern looking but mk4 inspired car.
Sadly, too few of us care. And the MKVII is probably as close as VW could get and still meet current emissions and safety regulations.

I had the headliner recovered professionally on my Wagon this fall. Cost about $350, but it looks perfect, color matches, and I figure it's ready for another 17 years. Money well spent, in my opinion. You don't notice a good headlner, but a bad one is hard not to see.
 

sriracha

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Location
805
TDI
2005 Jetta Wagon 5mt, 1982 Rabbit truck (gas)
The headliner in my wagon is completely sagging. I will definitely remove and have it professionally reupholstered. The professional has access to industrial strength glue, not available to the public. I was also quoted $350, out the door. I can not wait to get it done... but first, a suspension refresh will be done. After all that my wagon should be good to go for a while. So yes, I personally think it’s worth it.
 
Top