Thinking of buying this TDI to replace my JSW

[emerscape]

Thinking about buying this Jetta Wagon to replace my 2011 JSW TDI. I drive about 25k miles a year and would love to stay in the diesel family. The buyback is a no-brainer and I don't want to deal with the HPFP and DPF issues (both have been replaced on my 2011 which now has 100k on it).

Thoughts?

http://hartford.craigslist.org/ctd/5843543984.html

 

[Elysian]

First thought, with that many miles you'll need to pull the valve cover and check the cam lobes. I wouldn't buy a BEW equipped car if I couldn't check that first, after doing just that with my 04...

 

[Fociracr]

I'm looking at buying the same car except mine has 230k miles (for 3 grand). People have warned me about the cam lobes wearing etc, from one of you guys that have done the actually camshaft replacing, how much did it end up costing you? I'm not afraid to work on these cars I've done the timing belt on my ALH should be no biggie, right? ECS has the camshaft kits for 449 shipped. Not sure, what do you guys think. I do think the price on the one you are looking at is quite steep. Its a 13 yr old car with close to 200k miles you should be able to get them down quite a bit.

Heres the link https://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Jetta_IV--TDI/Engine/Mechanical/Camshaft/ES2834687/

 

[Fociracr]

Also it is kind of hard to convince a person trying to sell their car to rip off the valve cover to inspect for wear, if I was selling a vehicle I would straight up tell you no.

 

[Elysian]

I got my camshaft from Frank's TDI's, he was great to deal with, I've had mine some 10k miles now, no problems. I paid $1100ish, and would do it again. I got the reprofiled camshaft, his modified bearings (which are modified to hold more oil in the bearing, which helps prevent the lobe wear of the original cam), rocker arm shaft bolts, camshaft cap bolts, new camshaft seal, new tandem pump gasket, 10 qts of Joe Gibbs break-in oil, Joe Gibbs assembly lube, an OEM oil pump, and a 3 year, unlimited mileage warranty. I already had the lifters, so I didn't need to get those. Frank was great to deal with, got me my camshaft quickly, and helped when I had issues along the way (due to my own mistakes, nothing to do with his kit). My car has 256k on it right now, and I want it to last another 250k+, so I went with Frank's cam. He also does military discount, if you happened to serve.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Not a bad looking car. Blue Graphite, which I like. I don't see any rust in the photos, but I'd look around and behind the front mudflaps, and carefully at the lower left and right corners of the window in the tailgate. You're probably past rust warranty with that car.

I like BEWs, but they do have a few issues. Cam, discussed above (we have kits too, shameless plug) and turbo actuators get tired and require replacing the turbo. VNT-17 is a nice upgrade if you have the car tuned. Clutches aren't super strong on BEWs either, and if this car's is original it may not have a lot of life left in the flywheel. Depends on how it was driven. Also see if suspension has been replaced. If not, put that on the list.

If all maintenance has been done (turbo, cam, timing belt new or current, suspension, brakes), then the price is not that high. It's probably worth $6K. If none of that work is done I'd say $4-5K.

You know I'm partial to A4 wagons. I think you'll enjoy it.

 

[emerscape]

Not a bad looking car. Blue Graphite, which I like. I don't see any rust in the photos, but I'd look around and behind the front mudflaps, and carefully at the lower left and right corners of the window in the tailgate. You're probably past rust warranty with that car.

I like BEWs, but they do have a few issues. Cam, discussed above (we have kits too, shameless plug) and turbo actuators get tired and require replacing the turbo. VNT-17 is a nice upgrade if you have the car tuned. Clutches aren't super strong on BEWs either, and if this car's is original it may not have a lot of life left in the flywheel. Depends on how it was driven. Also see if suspension has been replaced. If not, put that on the list.

If all maintenance has been done (turbo, cam, timing belt new or current, suspension, brakes), then the price is not that high. It's probably worth $6K. If none of that work is done I'd say $4-5K.

You know I'm partial to A4 wagons. I think you'll enjoy it.

Thanks much appreciated! I love your wagon - see it around town from time to time. I picked up a set of brakes from IDParts the other day, very easy to get to. Would love to check out your A4 sometime. I have some time on finding something else since I'm going to keep my JSW till 120k (or longer if I can get a 2micron kit) so maybe I should find something more local.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Hartford is pretty close. Wagons are hard to find, and one with under 200K miles is not that common these days.

Let me know next time you're coming by. I've been driving the Golf a lot these days, but am happy to bring the wagon up if I know you're shopping by.

Oh, and that thing needs headlights.

 

[brian_e]

Awesome looking wagon. I love my A5, but my A4 will forever be my 1st love. Get a good (fair) price based on mx history and needs--don't look back...buy it today!

 

[Schoust]

If it were me I would be patiant and find an 03 ALH. I frequent Craig's List and they seem to come up here and there with similar miles and at similar cost. They are getting older but the ALH is the winner as far as I'm concerned in most categories! Of course I'm a little biased.
My Sons Bud bought an ALH that had slightly over 130k and never saw bad weather for around 5K or so car is mint and will serve him well for many years to come!
.

 

[emerscape]

If it were me I would be patiant and find an 03 ALH. I frequent Craig's List and they seem to come up here and there with similar miles and at similar cost. They are getting older but the ALH is the winner as far as I'm concerned in most categories! Of course I'm a little biased.
My Sons Bud bought an ALH that had slightly over 130k and never saw bad weather for around 5K or so car is mint and will serve him well for many years to come!
.

I've heard similar recommendations. Btw I see you are in Litchfield county. I'm from Warren originally. Still go back once in a while to see my mom

 

[mjydrafter]

"Holy Grail"

"40-45 mpg"

Seems to be a showman.

Actually, it's a pretty nice looking car. (here's the but). But, the price is a little high.

The best you can really hope for looking at a car would be hooking it up VCDS for a scan. Inspecting a cam is long shot on a face to face buy. Although for his $, it could be a negotiating point for you.

A cam, if you do it yourself, and doing a timing kit at the same time, (if you don't know the cars history). Will run from $1100ish and up depending on if you need to buy the tools to do it and what quality you pay for.

At that price, it had better be all up to date, and have the documentation to back it up. I would probably expect the manuals. LOL

Hopefully the current owner isn't a member here...

 

[turbocharged798]

Someone is trying to sell it pretty hard which is usually a warning sign.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

It's a dealer. The ad is dealer BS. You just have to ignore it and see if you like the car.

A friend just found an '03 2-door Golf languishing at a dealer in Western MA. 230K miles, power windows unique to '03 2-doors, red, spent half its life in FL so no rust. Got it for short money because the dealer just wanted to move it.

They're out there. If I had a choice I'd prefer an ALH, but at this point I'd go for the car in the best cosmetic condition I could find, ALH or BEW. These cars are getting old and it's harder and harder to find unmolested ones.

 

[mrchill]

Not bad...but there are a ton of deals out there in your area right now...some need work and are 2k or ess. Others are for instance, an 05 wagon same color with less miles and manual for 5k obo(in ct) ...also a dealer. Shop around...lots of good stuff out there now.

 

[Fociracr]

"Holy Grail"

"40-45 mpg"

Seems to be a showman.

Actually, it's a pretty nice looking car. (here's the but). But, the price is a little high.

The best you can really hope for looking at a car would be hooking it up VCDS for a scan. Inspecting a cam is long shot on a face to face buy. Although for his $, it could be a negotiating point for you.

A cam, if you do it yourself, and doing a timing kit at the same time, (if you don't know the cars history). Will run from $1100ish and up depending on if you need to buy the tools to do it and what quality you pay for.

At that price, it had better be all up to date, and have the documentation to back it up. I would probably expect the manuals. LOL

Hopefully the current owner isn't a member here...

Why are you guys paying so much for a cam kit? Is the one on ecstuning not adequate enough? that one is only 450$ shipped. I figure even if it's slightly better than the stock one, if you change it at 200k miles the car will have 400k+ on the clock before it needs to be changed again. How many 400K tdi's are still out there tho that aren't completely rotten? Not sure, just my .02

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

ECS kit isn't complete. No journal cap bolts, no tandem pump seal. Product description doesn't say if the bolts included are OE VW single use bolts or aftermarket non-stretch bolts. And you don't know who made the lifters.

So, not adequate.

 

[Elysian]

Why are you guys paying so much for a cam kit? Is the one on ecstuning not adequate enough? that one is only 450$ shipped. I figure even if it's slightly better than the stock one, if you change it at 200k miles the car will have 400k+ on the clock before it needs to be changed again. How many 400K tdi's are still out there tho that aren't completely rotten? Not sure, just my .02

I paid for known quality. I don't know where the ECS cam is made, what the quality is like, or who makes the other parts. It doesn't include everything you need to do the replacement either, you're going to wind up paying around the same as I did, and not know if the camshaft is as good as the one I got. Frank, as far as I know, takes OEM camshafts that are still within spec and builds them up, then regrinds the profile to a profile that's more suitable for these engines. It's also a great cam for upping the power thanks to the reground profile, I'll be able to wring more power out of it than with the stock cam, if I decide to go that route. I'd rather do it once and do it right than worry, or have to do it again later if I decide to add more power. And I'd gladly pay $1100 again for a complete "turn-key" setup like Frank and others offer.

 

[Fociracr]

I paid for known quality. I don't know where the ECS cam is made, what the quality is like, or who makes the other parts. It doesn't include everything you need to do the replacement either, you're going to wind up paying around the same as I did, and not know if the camshaft is as good as the one I got. Frank, as far as I know, takes OEM camshafts that are still within spec and builds them up, then regrinds the profile to a profile that's more suitable for these engines. It's also a great cam for upping the power thanks to the reground profile, I'll be able to wring more power out of it than with the stock cam, if I decide to go that route. I'd rather do it once and do it right than worry, or have to do it again later if I decide to add more power. And I'd gladly pay $1100 again for a complete "turn-key" setup like Frank and others offer.

Gotcha this is the kind of answer im looking for.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Lots of the billet cams on the market today come from the same supplier. It's worth asking.

 

[gatz]

Frank, as far as I know, takes OEM camshafts that are still within spec and builds them up, then regrinds the profile to a profile that's more suitable for these engines.

If you search his posts Frank has his own camshafts made to his spec by third party company. He talks about it in quite detail, and hey do sound nice. Personally I would just use an OE one, they last 150k+ miles and cost half or a third the price. I know I sure wont be driving this rust bucket for another 150k.

 

[mjydrafter]

Why are you guys paying so much for a cam kit? Is the one on ecstuning not adequate enough? that one is only 450$ shipped. I figure even if it's slightly better than the stock one, if you change it at 200k miles the car will have 400k+ on the clock before it needs to be changed again. How many 400K tdi's are still out there tho that aren't completely rotten? Not sure, just my .02

It was a complete cam kit, a timing belt kit, and the tools for the job. I think it even included the oil & filter for 2 changes and some break-in product for the first one.

It would be cheaper for just the cam kit with all of the bolts, bearings and cam followers. To do the cam you'll at the very least have to have the cam tools (sprocket holder & puller).

I knew my belt had been replaced semi-recently, but didn't have any idea if the other stuff was replaced. My cam sprocket had paint marks on it, so I decided that it would be good to replace it when I was doing the cam, just for piece of mind.

I would assume since you have to remove the TB, that it would be a good idea to have the timing tools to reset everything correctly. It might be possible without them, but since I did it all together I never researched it.

 

[Perfectreign]

As for that car, love the ad. Except for it being a wagon, it looks decent. I see TDIs around here for half that price, though. Nice wheels and tires.

Sent from mTalk

 

[AnnaTDI]

I'm never going to buy a BEW TDI again, when a camshaft is a "wear item" I draw the line... I replaced mine at 104k miles, and the one I found in there wasn't even OEM, so it's currently on camshaft #3.

I spent about a grand in parts (at cost for the camshaft and lifters etc, got my TB kit and related from IDparts, and random other stuff you better do while you're in there).

Agreed on asking to check the lobes, but I wouldn't be surprised if that request gets turned down. With mine, you could tell it was suffering cause cold starts were TOUGH. Hope you get to try the car on a cold motor.

If you're up for it, it's otherwise a nice looking wagon!

 

[turbocharged798]

Our BEW is at almost 200K and OE cam still looks like brand new. BEW cam kits are like $400 now and can be done in an afternoon. Not a big deal really.

Running Rotella T6 at 10K intervals.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Decent price drop: http://hartford.craigslist.org/ctd/5858169289.html

 

[emerscape]

Decent price drop: http://hartford.craigslist.org/ctd/5858169289.html

I like that one other than what is going on with the bottom of the passenger side doors. Luckily I have a buddy who owns a body shop so should be able to get that taken care of. Going to get in touch with them today. Might just grab a uhaul trailer and go down there and pick it up. $4500 a good offer on this?

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I don't know if that's rust or some kind of undercoating. If it's the latter, I'd make sure this car hasn't been hit and repaired. That's not a typical location for rust on MKIV cars.

Price? If I were buying it I'd plan on replacing tires, brakes, suspension, bushings, timing belt, cam, maybe clutch. And who knows what unknown issue will pop up. So if you plan on maybe $3-4K in updates including labor, negotiate accordingly. People tell me I tend to go overboard when getting an older car, but I like to get everything I can think of done and then I can happily drive it for a while.

 

[emerscape]

Actually just found this gem...

http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/5860624414.html

 

[UhOh]

That wagon that IBW linked to, the one picture of the passenger front door area is a reflection; however, that they specifically took a picture of that area might suggest something (that it's not rust laden, of that they think there may be rust going on behind there?).

That 2006 Jetta looks good. If there's any rust issues you can still get them dealt with under VAG's extended warranty (covering these things). Look up user Rembrant, he recently picked up almost the exact same car up in Canada (and it's going into the body shop soon- nearly all covered by VAG).