Re: TDI Engine - Safe Choice?

The good news is that

is absolutely free and you will probably be more educated than most service writers after reading the forums. My only complaint is that there can be waaaay too much info to easily digest.

Glow plugs are $20 per plug. they are only critical in really cold (say below 40F) weather. You can replace them with a 10mm wrench, no different than swapping a spk plug. I suspect many dealers replace the ignitiion wires, as well as the plugs, rather than do a proper diagnosis which may be wrong, and risk customer wrath if the light comes on again in 3 weeks.

The entire TDI engine is currently on sale at Impex for ~$3500. BTW thats where the glow plug price came from.

You can change the fuel filter in about 15 minutes without special tools. Ditto air filter, oil filter. There really arent any other jobs that a dealer is required for other than a $400 timing belt. But that's not materially different from other cars I've owned.

I tried it for the mileage but I actually prefer to drive diesel now mostly for the low end torque. A very different feeling I have come to enjoy, particulary at hwy speeds where I do the majority of driving (40 mile commute ea way).

Drive what you like, you can justify either choice easily. Personally I'm excited about the Passat TDI in 2004.

1- Yes 2- Yes but only on the ones the owners don't replace the timing belts when required. 2- chains will fail too but it takes longer(mileage)

reliability.

Chains can and do wear out/fail, and not necessarily at extreme mileages either. Saab 9000 2.3T motors are notorious for this - they can wear out a set of chains in as little as 65K if the oil changes are neglected. And >$1000 to fix.

Kevin rhodes Westbrook, Maine

02 Golf GLS TDI - and I absolutely recommend them!

I have a 2001 Golf TDI and love it very much. The engine has never been any trouble. Keeping strictly to scheduled maintenance is crucial with these engines. I have been helped many times by some mighty fine mechanically inclined members of tdiclub.com. The mechanics there are very often much, much superior to VW dealer mechanics, which I do not trust my car to at all.

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Quote: "The mechanics there are very often much, much superior to VW dealer mechanics". The dealers get the information long before the public does via VWoA schooling! Just wonder how many of them are really good VW dealer techs? The process of learning a product, like VW's, TDI's, etc is education, practice what was learned, logical analyst, and some luck. Also might want to through in we learn by making mistakes... in life and doing our job no matter what it is and who we are.

I've got a 2000 Golf with the 1.9l TDI. It's been really reliable so far with just a hair over 150 000 Km on the clock and 4 Canadian winters on her now (bought fall 99). The injection units seem very reliable given that you do the required fuel filter changes when necessary. Fuel quality is of a big concern here make sure you buy fuel from a good source with a good turn over so the fuel is fresh. There have been reports of broken timing belts however they are usually with in the first few thousand miles on new cars (most likely material defect) or with cars that have not had the belts changed when they are supposed to. There is no plan for VW to change to a chain in the immediate future.