Buying a 1.9TDI - help tips

[horacek]

Hello, I'm handing over the balance for a 1.9TDI Altea tomorrow in a private sale.

Now I know how to check for clutch slip, brake pedal and general etc. However on the TDI, are there any easy checks that I can run to spot any potential problems?

I do posess common sense but I'm not a mechanic. Car all checks out, genuine mileage/1 owner etc.

How do I check say the turbo and flywheel? If possible?

[JohnyIre]

No way to check the fly wheel with out taking the gearbox out! so this ain't going to happen. You could check the smoke coming out the back when you rev it. Try starting it when the car has been cold for about 2 hours, check the block, and bad smoking, too black, mioght be an indication of trouble. If the car has been well serviced the turbo's rarely give trouble, just the odd sensor coming off the turbo. Best of luck!

[kimandsally]

The only things you can do simply are to dip the oil to see where it is ask if it uses oil if it does ask to see the top up bottle to check the quality and spec.
make sure the water is up to the max and looks clean, lift the airbox cover to see if the filter is clean, and visually check to see if the fuel filter looks newish, check which engine code is and find out if the timing belt is due or has been changed, there are many different change times as per the engine code, ring him or her up before and do your checks before you go.
If the belt is due negotiate some cash off.

[solorider]

for turbo issues listen for a whistling turbo,a good turbo should be a quite whistle when reved not very noisey as most faliures are due to owners not giving the turbo time to slow down after a drive(1 min ticking over before switching off),smoke out of the back could be either cause by a knackered engine,fuel pump/injectors or a knackered turbo,if the car does not smoke at tickover give the car a journey without givng some welly for a few miles then give it a boot to see if any excessive smoke comes out,you may get a small amount but not loads which would point to a knackered turbo.the oil will look black on a diesel when you check the oil level that is normal ,make sure the oil is not thick or sludgy

[kimandsally]

for turbo issues listen for a whistling turbo,a good turbo should be a quite whistle when reved not very noisey as most faliures are due to owners not giving the turbo time to slow down after a drive(1 min ticking over before switching off),smoke out of the back could be either cause by a knackered engine,fuel pump/injectors or a knackered turbo,if the car does not smoke at tickover give the car a journey without givng some welly for a few miles then give it a boot to see if any excessive smoke comes out,you may get a small amount but not loads which would point to a knackered turbo.the oil will look black on a diesel when you check the oil level that is normal ,make sure the oil is not thick or sludgy

Agreed good advice.

[Pauloz]

No way to check the fly wheel with out taking the gearbox out!

You can listen to it though.... a DMF tends to knock on tickover and on turning the engine off, it its on the way out. Listen here http://www.pauloz.co.uk/dmf.htm

[snipez]

Hello, basically i am a university student who will be commuting in September. Ive set my eye on a mark 4 golf GT TDI 130/150. I drove a 150 Gt TDI the other week and i found that the tourqe on the car was brilliant. However im stuck on choosing what model to get. Obviously the 150 Gt TDI's are more money, and more tourqy.. but if im going to buy one of the two, i want to make sure its the right choice as i will be keeping it for sometime. Is there a major difference with the 130 and 150 tdis? I will be spending arround 4,5K / 5K on it, and wondering what would be the best choice?

Does anyone with these vehicles have any advice on what i should get, and if i was to buy one with over 100k Miles with full service history is that a major problem?
Thanks
Snipez

[horacek]

I'd say you'd have to be really **** to tell the difference for it to make a difference to which of two cars you'd chose? I'd focus more on service history (any gaps) etc, all tyres same brand (an indicator of how frugal the owner is?) etc - so would look at buying a more expensive 130 over a cheaper 150 if the 130 had a better history?

Cheers for the advice guys

[kimandsally]

Buy the 130 and if your not happy get it remapped, remapping is a great way to have a car do what you want it to perform like, I have a 130 Sharan which I had RS Tuning remap for me for towing, it has 315lbft torque and 179hp and that was after we detuned it to make it more kind to the clutch and stop a little top end smoking.

You can make the car much smoother than standard that way and have the added bonus of even better MPG, mines roughly 10-15% better depending on whether I'm towing or not.