Help, looking at '84 VW diesel. Need cheap wheels.

[GOOSE]

Alright, I need an education on older VW's. I desperately need a better daily driver as I am using my Chevy C70 dump truck as of now. I ran across an '84 Rabbit, diesel, auto. The guy said he was daily driving to work about 80 miles a day, getting about 35mpg's. It has new water pump, axle shafts, exhaust, brakes, tires, maybe a couple other things I forgot to mention.

The crux of the matter is he says its gonna need a new head gasket and t-stat, could drive it and keep an eye on it for a little bit, but definitely gonna need the gasket and new head bolts. He said parts are cheap, like $75 or so and its stupid easy to work on. He is asking $800, I could probably get it for $600. I have no idea the mileage, guess I assumed really high, it is an '84 after all He also said the IP is weeping a bit of diesel, is this a big red flag for this car?

In a perfect scenario I would buy this car and use it this weekend as I have my kids and have to borrow vehicles or ask people to transport them to and from places for me right now. Maybe get the parts and do the head gasket and t-stat the following weekend. Any insight is very much appreciated, thanks guys.

 

[gonecrazyi]

There pretty easy to work on but cab get expensive fast. Reseal kits are around 50 bucks and there attention videos online that show hoe do seal it on the car. I paid 2200 for my 84crewcab and out another 1500 into anf it still had a lot of problems. I lost my ass on that car.

Also intermediate shaft bearings wear causing low oil pressure and are a ****** to change in the car.

Also check on when the timing belt was last change

For 600 it wouldn't be to bad because its cheap, but you can spend a lot of money fast. On the upside I was never left starandrd anywhere but at my house when the ip seas gave out and ut wouldn't prime.

 

[GOOSE]

There pretty easy to work on but cab get expensive fast. Reseal kits are around 50 bucks and there attention videos online that show hoe do seal it on the car. I paid 2200 for my 84crewcab and out another 1500 into anf it still had a lot of problems. I lost my ass on that car.

Also intermediate shaft bearings wear causing low oil pressure and are a ****** to change in the car.

Also check on when the timing belt was last change

For 600 it wouldn't be to bad because its cheap, but you can spend a lot of money fast. On the upside I was never left starandrd anywhere but at my house when the ip seas gave out and ut wouldn't prime.

Thanks, timing belt was one of the things I forgot to mention, it was replaced recently.

 

[The Warden]

If it needs a head gasket, I would plan on needing to replace the head...IIRC the early heads have a tendency to warp (keep in mind they're aluminum!). Not insurmountable, but I would suggest checking on the price for a replacement head and see about trying to adjust the sale price accordingly. You may get lucky and the head will be fine...or you may not, and you won't know until it's too late.

Just my $.02...the fact that it "needs a quick head gasket job" is a big red flag on these cars IMHO...

 

[GOOSE]

So if I was willing to justify a head purchase to make this reliable, what other things should I be on the look out for?

I found this head on Ebay, some gaskets and bolts to go with?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VW-1...ccessories&hash=item564657e77c#ht_1489wt_1165

 

[The Warden]

So if I was willing to justify a head purchase to make this reliable, what other things should I be on the look out for?

I found this head on Ebay, some gaskets and bolts to go with?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VW-1...ccessories&hash=item564657e77c#ht_1489wt_1165

I would defer to someone who's had more experience with these early engines, but that looks like a reasonable deal to me

The procedure to change the timing belt on the newer TDI's is a rather involved process; I don't know if it's similar on the early engines or not...but, on the TDI's, you need a number of special tools, a ***-Com reader (won't need that on an early engine since the IP isn't electronic in any way), etc. Even though the timing belt was done recently, you will almost certainly have to re-do it when you do the head gasket job, since it has to come off to get the cam off. I would just put a new timing belt on; even though it was done recently, you can't be too careful with it. I would suggest looking up the procedure...TDIClub.com's an excellent resource, and I think they cover the early engines as well.

I hope this helps some...best of luck with it