What do I need to know? I picked up this Jetta 2.0 for 500 bucks. 5spd, 2.0. Anything of note on this car? I wish it had cruise control, but it drives great. The accessory belt needs done for sure, check engine light is on, airbag light is on, and washer fluid light is on. I think it needs a clock spring for the airbag (ordered). I tried to connect it to VAG-COM (lol) or whatever it's called, but the cable that came with the car wasn't going to play. It was 3 quarts low on oil when I got it and the tires had 16psi in them - it'd been sitting and only occasionally driven for a while now.
I changed the oil and drug it up to autoX on Saturday (unlimited run fun-day) and had a blast and beat a bunch of fast cars on no-name, no-age all-seasons. The dipstick disintegrated when I tried to check the oil at lunch, but O'Reilly's had one on hand and 10 minutes to replace and we were ready to go.
As for the engine, some years took oil. If you keep oil in it they will run a long long time. Transmission are good, dual mass flywheels are a little iffy but with the low power 2.0 it should be fine.
Suspension could be improved with gti or gli stuff but is pretty good stock.
They make a good beater and as long as you don't want extra power and don't mind the high highway rpms than you could do a lot worse for 500$.
I had one of those, a 2002 GLS with the 2.0. By far the absolute worst car I ever owned. The 2.0 made 115hp and was completely gutless, and mine would drink all of its oil between oil changes from new. The rest of the car was somehow worse. By 30k, the car was beyond ready for the crusher. But for $500, if it runs and drives and you don't mind chasing down all the small issues, go for it!
I'm commenting in this thread mainly because I'm keeping an eye on all the cheap 2000-2010 VW's on the board for when I'm ready to start making a challenge car.
I had a 2004 2.0 Jetta - 5 speed. It was great for me. I put 200K+ miles on it. Original clutch and the engine was never apart. Timing belt was changed twice. Yeah the dip stick broke and the oil pan drain plug leaked due to a ham fisted oil change place. I replaced the oil pan. Was able to hit an indicated 100 mph often. Minor nuisance problem was the glove box door lock broke and to replace it the console etc had to come out. I screwed it shut.
I bent a steering rod and decided it was time for it to go. Should have fixed it.
Ah, so the oil usage is a feature. I was wondering - it only has 45k on it and 3 quarts low seemed odd to me. Cable clutch has no feel, but the steering is great and it has massive lift off oversteer that's a ton of fun.
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
Lol, already had offers on it for 3k - 45k miles, a/c works fine. Just needs a bunch of little things to be perfect.
In reply to 68TR250 :
The glove box on this fell out the first time I opened it. I was like, "so this is how it's going to be?"
accordionfolder said:
Ah, so the oil usage is a feature. I was wondering - it only has 45k on it and 3 quarts low seemed odd to me. Cable clutch has no feel, but the steering is great and it has massive lift off oversteer that's a ton of fun.
It's hydraulic clutch...but they don't feel that great ever, better once you switch to a single mass flywheel...probably not worth it on a 2.0.
Electrical gremlins and sometimes the diff blows up. The oil thing, yea live with it. Sometimes the PCV but most likely an old ring issue went undiagnosed. Hard to kill it dead.
accordionfolder said:
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
Lol, already had offers on it for 3k - 45k miles, a/c works fine. Just needs a bunch of little things to be perfect.
One part, 'in case you sell it'; One part, 'learn what things there is to learn on these cars'.
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
I think what we've learned is they're fantastic, horrible cars? Lack of cruise control is really annoying - I wonder if that's something I can stuff into it.
Generally VAG stuff is easy to retrofit but not sure if any of the 2.0 cars came with it or only higher models. These were the last of the cable throttle cars so used a different pedal assembly from the VR6 and later 1.8t cars.
Sure it's a cable clutch? My 2003 TDI clutch is hydraulic. Regardless, it is very light and takes some getting used to. However, being light makes it comfortable to use in traffic.
Mk 4's from this era seem to be hit or miss. I've heard many horror stories about owning one, but mine was good for over 300K miles.
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
No, it sounds like I was wrong, I think I saw the shift linkage cable and thought it was the cable for the clutch. I'm not sure where they hide the clutch master hydraulics, but I didn't see them either.
In reply to accordionfolder :
The clutch hydraulics are pretty simple, although fairly buried in the engine bay/under the dash. It uses the brake M/C reservoir for fluid.
Definitely hydro clutch on these.
In reply to Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) :
accordionfolder said:
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
No, it sounds like I was wrong, I think I saw the shift linkage cable and thought it was the cable for the clutch. I'm not sure where they hide the clutch master hydraulics, but I didn't see them either.
I believe you! Unbelievable how vague it is for a hydro setup
accordionfolder said:
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
I think what we've learned is they're fantastic, horrible cars? Lack of cruise control is really annoying - I wonder if that's something I can stuff into it.
Cruise doesn't work well on a manual anyway that doesn't have enough torque to maintain the setpoint on a hill in top gear. Set the CC in 5th and next thing you're being passed by overloaded dump trucks. If it were TDI the cruise would make sense.
In reply to A 401 CJ :
Mmmm, I'd have to disagree with that assesment, that's never been a problem on any of my manual cars with less power than this (1.6 miata? civic 1.5? etc). Tennessee has rolling hills, but very few inclines - I just switch it off when that happens. Well, that and the RPM this thing sits at interstate speed it'd be a serious incline to lose enough forward momentum to need a downshift.
Wow, 45,000 miles is crazy low.
VAG-COM is pretty useful for diagnostics, but if the cable you have is a knockoff it won't work with the full VCDS software as the cable actually contains a dongle license.
My Mk4 Golf TDI is still running great with minimal maintenance at 345,000 (I bought it with 270,000)
Without the diesel, there's no way I would want to own a MK4. It's kind of an unremarkable car besides the fact that it gets 45 MPG.
In reply to 2002maniac :
Yeah, I couldn't even get any of my cables to communicate with the free version, but I did finally get my Bluetooth dongle+app to tell me it's the MAF throwing the code. So that's good - I've read that's a common issue.
As a beater that I can autoX this is great. I was ahead of a gt500, some Lexus, and bunch of other cars on the all seasons. With actual tires and shocks that worked I could give a lot of cars some heartburn with it.
accordionfolder said:
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
Lol, already had offers on it for 3k - 45k miles, a/c works fine. Just needs a bunch of little things to be perfect.
If somebody offers me 3k on a $500 car, I'd cash out before they had time to change their mind, no matter how much I love it.
In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :
I wouldn't say I love it, it's better than expected for sure. I need to teach a bunch of people stick shift and I'm going to liquidate my MS3 sometime soon. No way I can find a better beater that will last for as long as I care to take care of it. My last Ford ranger I bought for 300, and it had a 167k on it - sold to the first buyer who looked at it for 3500. I'm not too worried about selling this one for that much or more when I decide to move it.
Unless a lot has changed in 10 years (which is possible), VW liked to hold onto patents for their parts, and they did a masterful job of making the parts so proprietary that there was no way you were going to make something yourself.
The oil vent tube is made of hideously cheap material. It's like split loom wire jacket without the split. After 50k of hydrocarbons, it turns to dust and sets a CEL. So you figure you can replace it with some rubber hose, until you realize that one end has an oblong rectangular snap-on fitting with an o-ring. The shape of it is kind of like the shape of a TV screen from the 70s. The other end uses an elliptical fitting of the same flavor and a completely different size. You are basically forced to buy the oil vent hose from VW only, and it costs (wait for it) $181 wholesale, $212 retail. For a hose.
A.
Hose.
If it has an aftermarket stereo, chances are there is a CEL for it. Before plugging in a scanner, check the pins for voltage. VAG COM monitors the radio, and many aftermarket radios ended up giving one pin in the ALDL 12v when it should have zero or 3, and a less-sturdy scanner can be turned to junk, or just simply not be able to read the ECM.
It's good that there is no sunroof. The drains liked to clog which let water soak the carpet. The BCM is mounted to the floor under the seat (and under the carpet) so it goes belly up frequently.
Back when I ran repair shops I would look at reports from our software. I could sort by anything, and if I sorted by brand with the most money we had made, if it weren't for Dodge truck transmissions and VW timing belts and electrical issues, we would have been out of business. Those two were over 40% of our money.
Listen, they don't suck, and you got yours cheap. Fun cars. Enjoy it and fix the stuff. I'm also a jaded bastard, so maybe don't listen to me.
