1997 B4V TDI

FordGuy100

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Figure I will go ahead and post it up here as well, if anyone is interested.

I bought this car from the original owner, a friendly old Vietnam Vet. The car was purchased at Elvin Hayes Volkswagen in Houston, Texas on 12/11/96. While the car was taken on many trips by him and his wife, it lived its life mainly in San Antonio, Texas. The following is the maintenance record, recorded in the VW “Maintenance 1997 Models” booklet (PO maintenance, not mine). See Post Below

I also have a safelife bill for a new windshield in 2001. It appears he had some issues early on, at 3000ish miles the car was surging. The VW dealer had the car for 17 days! They replaced the intake manifold and that cured it apparently. At 1400 miles they had to repair the rear lock on the hatch.
Now, he and his wife bought the car for traveling duties mainly, as I guess their kids were spread across the country. It’s pretty amazing the amount of miles he racked up early on! As the car became older, though, he started using it to haul around motorcycle parts inside, which resulted in an extremely dirty interior.

He posted a for sale add here on tdiclub: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=4160571
I drove over to to San Antonio from Houston, and talked to him. The battery was dead and was on a charger, the interior was very dirty and the carpet was extremely stained. Seats were dirty. Bill was a great guy, but the car was almost gross to sit in. I started it up, and took it for a little spin in his cul-de-sac. Power steering leaked so bad it would drain out of the rack as fast as you poured it in, so no power steering. But it drove, shifted, etc. I went and got a uhaul trailer and hauled it home. My wife thought it was nasty, but we set to work cleaning it. Here is a link to what we did in the beginning: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=387227
So it looks like I never updated what happened. We ended up redoing the headliner with a plaid material, which turned out great except the material was thin and the glue absorbed through in small little spots all over it. And then, right after, we got two sags in the rear. They are where we went too light with the glue, but they haven’t gotten any worse in the 2 years since then. If you don’t like plaid, then you can always redo the headliner.
Being as the car spent its entire life in the Texas sun, the clear coat is peeling in fury! I call it VW’s optional auto-peel clear coat. It has some rock chips in the front from the 200k+ miles on it, and it has one dent over the right rear wheel arch. The paint there flaked off after a while, and exposed some metal. So I sanded the area down and hit it with some self-etching primer. The Texas sun also took its toll on the interior plastic, which is brittle now. So things like taking the headliner down can take a toll on the pieces. Since posting in my thread, I replaced the carpet with a black one from another Passat, power washed with lots of soap before drying and putting in. We also put down some padding material beneath it, as the stock stuff was shot. I have been battling the door vapor barriers leaking into the cab when it rains, which prompted this. The last time I messed with them I used a ton of urethane sticky stuff that comes in a roll and is about an inch wide. The vapor barriers also started to break when taking them off, so I gave up. Really, someone just needs to go to town with their own form of vapor barrier and some RTV or something. I thought the headliner was leaking at first when I found the wet carpet, so I cleaned out the roof drains. At least they are clean now! Recently, the left rear window stopped working. I eventually got it to go up using the door lock, but now none of the windows will roll up or down using the inside switches. The passenger front window will sometimes not close all the way as the glass pinches outside of the upper molding. The stock steering wheel material was falling apart, so it was replaced with a used MKIV Jetta wheel (which are better IMO). The interior creeks and moans as you drive, but that’s part of what makes it awesome, right!

The engine runs strong, but it does haze at idle. I cleaned out the intake and did a poor mans EGR delete (plates) without a tune, resulting in a CEL. I put PP764’s on the stock injectors, drove a few hundred miles, then sent them to DBWire who went through them. On the stock tune, they did give a good increase in performance and MPG’s over the worn out stock ones. It has been de-catted, with a straight tube poorly welded in by yours truly. I couldn’t get to the top of the pipe with the welder, so about a 270* weld. I put one some exhaust clamps, but it’s still not a perfect seal. Add onto that the fact that the stock flex pipe is frayed and worn, and I would say it’s time for a new downpipe and a professional to weld in a straight tube where the cat would go. The cat already had the 5th injector hole plugged, but in the engine bay you can see the hose and wiring where it would have been from the factory. Other than religious oil changes, and the above, I haven’t done much underneath. PO said the timing belt was replaced a few thousand miles previous, and although I don’t have the records I do trust him. Nonetheless, I have the kit ready to go in. The IP started leaking so the top seals were replaced, and a normal bolt was substituted for that dumb triangular head bolt. New glowplugs and glowplug harness went in, along with new return lines. It starts up good, but the first half second it seems to chug to life, hence why I replaced the above (its sounds as though it has air in the lines, but it clears so fast that it seems like that isn’t the case). It has a Silent clutch kit in it, a short throw shifter mechanism (I forget the brand, as the stock piece broke). Everything else is stock as far as I can remember right now.

The cluster went out when it had about 180K miles on it per the PO. He drove it a few more years, but the driving really started to taper as the car aged and needed more work. He estimated about 230K miles on it, but when I talked to him he started doubting he drove 50K miles between and said it could have been as low as 200K miles on it. I bought a used cluster with 258K miles on it, and it now registers 279K miles. So high end it has ~250K miles, low end around ~220K total.

New parts coming with the car
Current parts that I have to go on: Complete timing belt kit/water pump/thermostat housing. New silicon hoses from bora (from the guy that started doing those custom hoses). Vacuum lines to replace all the stock ones. New harmonic balancer and bolts. New belts and all pieces to replace that system. New front wheel bearings. New Bilstein TC shocks and struts, along with all of the bushings and bearings needed to replace them. New heavy duty rear springs from IDparts. New steering rack, with new inner and outer tie rod ends. Brembo front brake rotors/new pads, Zimmerman rear rotors/pads. A pillar gauge pod with boost and pyro (needs thermocouple), oldschool gauges. TYC foglights.

Ratings: 1/10 Horrible, 5/10 not good but not bad, 7/10 average, 8 good 9 great 10 perfect.

Exterior
The body of the car has no rust besides from rock chips (like I mentioned I took care of the rust from the dent). It has some dings about it, but nothing out of the ordinary. Body condition 7/10. Paint Condition 5/10. Rust condition 9.5/10.

Interior
Interior seats were cleaned, but they are still old. There is one tear in the rear drivers side seat, but the drivers and passenger seats looks good as far as that is concerned. The carpet is decent, although there is one spot I basically blasted the carpeting off the base because I got the pressure washer nozzle to close (about where the stock cupholder, (which BTW is gone), is). Plastic pieces are ok at best, they are old and brittle, and right now I have a box of misc pieces that I never put back in. Windows are inop like I mentioned. AC works pretty decent, not the greatest in the world but it will keep you cool in Houston heat. Recirculation has never worked, and I haven’t gotten around to looking at it. I put tape on the blend doors as the stock foam gave up the ghost. Because the doors don’t seal as good as they would with foam, if you don’t close them all the way in the correct positions, they can give off a clattery sound as they vibrate. The car was never smoked in, and doesn’t have any bad smells, but it’s not new car smelling either. Has a safelife windshield replacement, and I fixed the rust that was bubbling underneath the older windshield, but the paint I put down for some reason looks funky. Seats 7/10, carpet 8/10, headliner 7/10, plastic 5/10, windows 5/10, AC 6/10, smell 7/10.

Engine/Drivetrain
Engine runs good, gets good fuel mileage. Exhaust needs work. Haze at idle. No engine CEL’s besides the EGR, no over/underboost, no drivability issues. Transmission shifts good, clutch is quiet. New NAPA brand driveshaft’s. Engine 7/10, exhaust 5/10, transmission 7/10

Suspension/Steering
Suspension: I replaced all of the front bushings. The factory shocks and struts are shot, resulting in an old Cadillac type driving experience (hit a bump, keep bouncing for a few miles!). When replaced, it should ride perfect. Front wheel bearings need replaced again, this time by somebody other than me! Steering rack is getting replaced along with the tie rod ends, as there is play in the steering wheel which is annoying. I’m hoping all of the new parts will breathe life into it. Lifetime alignment at firestone auto which you will inherit, don’t let them sucker you into paying for any fixes they “find.” Current: Suspension 5/10, steering 5/10, bouncy ride 10/10.

Overall summary of parts I replaced:
• Complete front end bushings (minus ones for shocks)
• Rebuilt steering rack
• Tie rod ends
• Ball joints
• Front wheel bearings
• Front driveshafts, new from NAPA (stock ones kept for rebuild)
• Carpet
• Steering wheel
• Headliner material
• Shift and emergency brake boots
• Short throw shifter
• Clutch/Pressure plate, Silent clutch
• Cat with pipe
• Stock injectors with PP764’s and DBWire rebuild
• Top IP seals
• Coolant Y pipe
• Intake Manifold (for an EGR delete one)
• Battery, Autozone Gold
• Fog lights + Euro light switch
• Cluster, 258K mile when received
• And others I’m forgetting

Price as is: $3800. Price when I replace all the parts: $4500 (it would make a cross country trip much more pleasant, I assure you). The price of the parts alone is in the $1000-1500 range. Will I take a partial trade? Probably not but it won’t hurt to ask. Car is located outside of Silverton, Oregon. PM or Call/Text 503-551-8664. Justin

Pictures? Here they are.
 

FordGuy100

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Exterior
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FordGuy100

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See the discoloration from where I painted before the new windshield went in? Also note the clearcoat peeling.
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FordGuy100

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New foglights ready to go in, as well.
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FordGuy100

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FordGuy100

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Note, the under dash knee board was loose as I was access the fuses (on the top row), its in place again.
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FordGuy100

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