[jarog212]

Hello all! I am going to look at a 2000 Beetle TDi that I am interested in purchasing. The guy told me that it was running but after it warmed up it would loose power (suspect maybe Limp mode). He noticed that the injecter on the number three cyclinder was leaking so he replaced it. He stated that after that the car was hard to start, it sounded ("Horrible") , and when you put it in gear it would die. Sounds to me like he didnt bleed the air out of the fuel system. As far as the running poorly; Sounds like it could be a number of things. MAF senser, waste gate sticking open, fuel filter in need of replacement. The car has a little over 100K mi. on it. I guess what i want to know is does any of this sound like a serious problem? Should I be scared and run away? he is asking $1000.00 for it. I think there might not be much wrong with the car ; and since my 06 Jetta TDI has recently fried the transmission I was thinking I could buy this and get it on the road quickly so the wife would have something to drive and I can take my time replaceing the tranny in the Jetta.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

For $1000 you can't lose since that's less than the parts value. Do you have the time to play with it? If so it could be a good deal. Is it auto or manual? If auto I would avoid. 100k miles is nothing too.

The #3 injector has the needle lift sensor on it which tells the computer when fuel is injected when the injector needle moves. It doesn't sound like air in the fuel system since that would be run out relatively quick after the engine is running for a few minutes. Getting the error codes off the car will let you know what the problem is instead of guessing and throwing parts at it.

Just remember to budget for lots of maintenance to bring the car up to good reliability levels. Refresh the shocks/struts and suspension bushings and it'll be like a new car.

 

[jarog212]

It is a automatic transmission. Why avoid an automatic? Im a little concerned that he said when he got it to start it sounded "Horrible". Concerned that it has a bent valve or something like that. He told me that it was his daughters car. Shes in her late 20's so no teenage abuse, however he admits she didnt take good care of it. Its got new brakes and good tires, guess thats worth something. The battery is dead and its sitting on a trailer right now. So i cant start it.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

The early autos are known for not being very reliable. Yes they can last but they also have a lot of problems. $1000 is cheap enough so that it's worht the risk. If the timing belt was recently changed it's possible the valves are bent.

 

[jarog212]

He said that as far as he knows the timing belt has never been changed. Could have slip the belt. How would I know if that were the case? I plan on doing a compression check. Guess that would tell me???

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Did he buy it new? He's way, way over the timing belt change. It's possible it's slipped at the injection pump. That would result in hard starting/running without engine damage.

A compression check will tell you right away if there's damage. It won't tell you if there's no damage. Because the valves are straight up-down, sometimes they mushroom. This keeps compression but it still has damage. To check you have to take off the camshaft and lifters and carefully check them for any impact or cracks. However, since the guy has never touched the belt, if all the TB index tools go in at TDC, the belt has not moved.