VW TDI forum, Audi, Porsche, and Chevy Cruze Diesel forum banner

1998 TDI Advice

3K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  fstjetta 
#1 ·
SO I blindly bought this car for a motor swap, but upon picking the car up and tinkering around with some things.. its in fair shape, and I think I want to just leave the motor in it and drive it.. I still need to give it a good once over before I fully decide.. but...

I need advice to talk me in to it, and some advice to talk me out of it. Basically I need both sides of the story equally so I can full unbiasedly decide wth to do here. ???

The story
I have three VW's to my name right now, a black 1984 Jetta 1.7 4dr, a gold 1981 Jetta 1.6D 4dr, and most recently a red 1998 Jetta TDI 4dr.. I currently drive the 81, have the 84 covered up, and just got the 98 two days ago..

The problem
I will have to get rid of one and store the other somewhere else, as my mother is having a hissy about it being here (yeah I still live with mommy! ;)) I think I want to get rid of the 84.. :( It was my first car, but I think its time has come to move on from me. :thumbdown:

The solution
The 81 is definitely going to be staying with me as my mk1 project car, I have fought with it for the last year almost now.. its not going anywhere! ;D Driving the 98 as an everyday will probably be the most advantageous to me right now, as it will give me a chance to have my 81 off the road so I can get some needed body work done and other assorted anomalies/oddities. Maybe even find another TDI or AAZ engine to go in my 81.. at the same time I can fix this one up all pretty like and resell it if need be down the road for more then I bought it for eh ;)

The question
The 98 was a blind buy with absolutely no concern for anything but the engine and trans as I was going to part it out after and sell the empty shell.. I will be taking the wheels off and jacking it up on Tuesday (next day off) to get a good full view of the undersides to make sure I am not getting too crazy deep on this one. I will be checking the brakes, bearings, tie rods, ball joints, cv boots, engine mounts, blah blah blah etc etc. Also I was just messing around wit hit running, and i hit the A/C button, and it started blowing ICE COLD air, i mean real cold. so i left it on and ran inside to show my bro.. he turned it off and we shut the car down to have a chat.. started it back up and no more air.. I think its an electronic issue, as you can't here the compressor kick on, and the rad fan didn't turn on this time.. Is there a fuse and relay for the A/c compressor?

The annoyance
I got this far in to the tear down of the TDI before I realized to myself.. "Hey self why not drive the newer TDI that is already a TDI!?" I mean sure it was only like 3-4 hours worth of work, but there were definitely some things I wasn't easy on, and some things I intentionally broke to get off... SOB.

Go from this, with no thought of driving this car DD..



To this and then getting that lightbulb above my head... JC!



I mean worst case, is I spend 2.5 hours putting it all back together! right? And well I have it all apart I can get in there and clean the hell out of it! And fix up some of that rust that has made it self present on the frame horns. There is always advantageous to screw-ups in life, this is a learning experience for me, never laid hands on an mk3. I had fun :)

What do you guys think? Drive it while I build my Mk1? I can be a real vortex member now eh? Drive a mk3 and bitch and moan about it while I fix up my mk1 weekend warrior ;) hahahhaha :p

Few pics for clics ;)








 
See less See more
10
#2 ·
Not sure why you wouldn't drive the 98. Apart from a little rust and the removed panels, it actually looks pretty good. There are far worse Jetta out there and the car isn't going to go down in price by this point.

Did it blow the HG though? The coolant tank is all black.
 
#3 ·
hey there half dozen eggs :p the top of the bottle does look like kind of black.. but in my second pic if you carefully look at the bottom of the bottle you can clearly see fresh red coolant. Also this car had a major inspection in feb, checking every point of it and it passed. new oil also only 800kms ago. got the service sheet to prove it
 
#4 ·
Don't know how much you paid but it looks like it has remote keyless entry and manual windows (better than power windows because they're more reliable).

I'd keep it. The only cost to drive it is the repair cost. It's already depreciated. Stuff like the cig burn on the seat and shifter/parking brake boot are easy to replace. If the body panels are rust free and in good shape you're talking a car worth a few thousand dollars if all maintenance is done.
 
#7 ·
CCBB, your right man this a very helpful informative forum! thanks for approaching me with registration!

Also the car is in fairly good shape, I have the shifter boot, as I took it off to assess how i was going to take the shifter and cables out (car was originally planned to donate its organs LOL). I will be re doing it with a nice new leather boot for sure.

The interior will clean up real nice, and the cig burn!? who cares :panic: ( i see this is a panic emoticon.. but he looks like hes having a good time. as am I lol)

Guess what I paid for this car :laugh: $400 bwaha because the PO couldn't get it running and needed it gone. Jumped the 109 relay with a piece of wire, and VROOM VROOM.

thanks a ton guys, judging by what the under body looks like I will decide then, as a little rocker rot can be dealt with.. but the whole floor is a tad much right now.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top