For a while I thought BMW the company was going down like GM and Chrysler.

295K miles is a lot but you can keep just about any car going forever if you throw enough parts at it. It could be time to do some sort of a "shake down" test and see what all is loose down there.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL