Jetta diesel pretty loaded up model delivered new in Jan 2007. Built date was last month of 2005 so it is a 2006. No new 2007s tdi where sold in Canada. So dealers perhaps overstocked with 2006s.

I suspect something bad may have occurred with the original owner in late 2012 or early 2013. As the car did not accumulate many more miles after that. This extrapolated basically from the service invoices. He had died apparently and the used car dealer picked it up at an auction or somewhere. I tried calling his home telephone number but it was disconnected. I hoped if his wife survived him she might have told me where he had the car serviced.

It was a basic impulse purchase. I drive by that dealer every day. So I turned around this time as the car was so sparkling ..Looked new. Abnormal as I knew it was older. Mid life crisis maroon type red I like but that was too late for me. I got through that period with my pants on . Maybe my wallet intact as well as a result.

After really having a good look at it. I thought this dealer might want too much of a premium. When I approached him he said 4k. That's about 2.8K American. I told him I wanted the car for two days to really check it out. He said he had heard of me when I gave him my licence to Photostat. Yet we had never met. Still he agreed to my request.

I would not have purchased the car otherwise. This year can have some real problems. Cam goes out and injector bore problems. Think new head then. No service records at the time.

I found them much later well after the purchase. Hidden in the upper manual compartment of the glove box. Four rv towing points on the front but not too obvious.

This diesel engine has no high pressure fuel pump or injection pump. The injectors are driven by the cam but fuel from them is managed electronically. Twenty seven thousand pound injection pressure.

Anyways the car at this point did not have any of the potential problems established by some interesting tests. So back to the dealer to complete the sale. Told him honestly at the time that I found no evidence of the timing belt being changed. The selling volkswagon dealer also had no record of it when contacted. So since volkswagon charges about nine hundred labor and parts. Can we do something on the parts? I suggested two fifty and we settled at two hundred. So 3.8K Canadian or about 2.6K American and sales tax we amicably parted company.

Less than the sales tax on it when new. And except for one superficial scratch on a rear passenger door. Not through the body primer. The body and interior are pretty much pristine. I have no ideal and would not ask why he priced it this low.

I suspected when he initially quoted the price there was something seriously wrong that he knew. So I felt it might take a couple of days to find it if there. There are a series of non destructive tests to apply.

When I eventually found the service history the car was well maintained in general. The original owner had tried to keep up well with everything.

Getting the right engine oil locally is a real pain. There is a very specific oil
For these pump diesel engines. They were only used the one year as far as I can tell in the Jettas. Only way to make the cam last. BRM engine code designation. Used in other models longer.

I purchased some Castrol 5-40 edge synthetic but even though it meets some of the newer specifications for their even newer diesel engines. It does not meet this ones needs. Talk about oil threads. Using the wrong one is proven to flatten the cam. I now know why he paid 100.00 plus for oil changes.

An older car in really good condition overall for this type of money. That seems to do about 52.8 miles per imperial gallon in mixed usage is not all that bad. Since diesel is also 95 cents a gallon cheaper currently here also adds to the milage for the dollar. Since it is also totally rust free I will keep the Honda beater on the road this winter instead of selling it and using this car.

It also has the manual transmission so no worry about their questionable automatic transmissions. It still has the problematic dual mass flywheel that was not changed out. Or no record of it. Since I will not push the car really hard it may go some distance yet. There are no indications of a problem there now.

The wife has not driven a standard transmission since the new Jetta we purchased in 2000. This engine does not have the heavy sustained torque at idle the 2000 had. Yet even after all the years since the last Jetta the wife did well with the clutch. I have not stalled it out in first gear the last week or so myself. I did several times earlier. The 2000 was not as fast as this car but you never could stall it in first gear. Instead it pulled like a horse. they really moved the torque curve since 2000.

You buy this model and Year. Volkswagon dealers will skin you alive when dealing with the known problems. Goodwill policies where an abstract policy until volkswagon were nailed to the wall. Doing them yourself is not all that bad other than if the injector bores distort or wear. Then it is new head time. You pull the fuel filter and look for how black it is. Used heads are too risky unless changed reciently.

I could not totally estimate the condition by the filter at the time as I had no ideal of when he last had it changed. Until I eventually found the service invoices. Some of the byproducts of combustion land up in the fuel filter turning it jet black. The second test for this is to really come on to the car when accelerating . You do not want to see a cloud of black smoke. Or the slightest hesitation when accelerating hard.

Bad cam or one on the way you get a lot of strange codes stored. Eventually getting bad enough to impact running. No codes stored on this one currently. One service back in 2011 indicates they did clear a lot of codes then. I think some service invoices are missing. There are some indications of this. No mention of a cam change then on the same invoice.

Basically keeping the exact right oils in this engine seems to keep some of these problems at bay for a long time. I also have no ideal of the driven miles as when towed by the rv. It seems from my first test it records the milage. Not an absolute conclusive test as the hill was not really long enough to satisfy me totally. With the key to the first on position. The steering is free and the dash is dead. At the bottom of the hill I coasted down. Turned the key on to the next position and the milage was a kilometer higher. One of the very few faults was the trip odometer cancels every time you shut the engine down unfortunately . I seriously dislike tests that are or feel less than positive.

The turbo is designed to leak some oil into the exhaust. So you really do need a low ash oil. Oil must meet 501.1 rating. Or is it the 505.1 rating? The common 501.0 rating is not good enough apparently.. Availability of 507 is good as used currently but suspect for this engine.

This car is making me into an oil junky. Volkswagon dealers damaged a lot of these engines by putting the wrong oil in. The manufacturer added too much confusion on what to use back then. Being Volkswagon of course they accepted no liability. Usually it is a scam if you put the wrong oil in and the company denies warranty if the engine is damaged. For this engine there may be more than a grain of truth. I suspect the proper oil may have a very high rate of friction or pressure modifiers or holds its viscosity better. It is in reality a European synthetic. Volkswagon pulled sales of the 2007 tdi in Canada at least. I have to wonder if it was engine issue related. Or just earlier polution issues.

For 2008 onward they had direct fuel common rail high pressure injection. With a 40k high pressure pump. This pump does not fail in Europe but does in north America.

Some people use a fuel additive to hopefully stop it. As it is caused by our poorer diesel fuel I understand. Also the egr circuit can really load up the intake system on these models. You can illegally disable the egr system but must turn the function off in the computer or the engine light will persist. Gets bad enough and engine will go into limp mode. I suspect on the models under question now. The egr circuit may have been disabled electronically when the newer versions where on the road. Yet on during testing to pass. If so part of the approved fix will probably involve a lot more accumulation in the intake system. Kind of a periodic maintenance item on my model.

Engine power and milage might just increase with it not functioning as well. It appear to be designed to flow a lot of exhaust in the recirculation mode. The size of the water cooled heat exchanger In the egr system indicates this. Diesel unlike gas engines do not burn all the oxygen in the cylinders. So I will have to think this over.

This may be why the system is larger than you would see on a gas engine. This car could have had many of the usual problems and been a real money pit. Chances are high I will see at least some of them if I drive it enough. A clutch job will almost or always require a new probably expensive double mass flywheel . The clutch plate has no dampening springs in it. The clutch can be converted to a single mass flywheel and normal clutch plate but there will probably be a change in things. They do sell a conversion kit.

I think a clutch job is about 17-1900 dollars at a dealership on average. Does the cars handling fuel milage and ride justify the complexity? If you do the work as needed yourself in my opinion yes. Otherwise drive a Toyota. Original parts manufactures open market sell the original parts. Through vendors at far more reasonable cost.

I was never convinced that Volkswagon cheated on the emission deal only for customer benefits. I suspect instead the warranty costs where too high for the carbon build up problems. Volkswagon states they will again sell new diesel cars in Canada at some point. I am not sure just how they will make them compliant. More turbos on a much smaller block comes to mind. Mixed fuel is another possibility. Cars get more and more complex then.

You asked what it was and diesels are the reason for this site. Not all are Mercedes cars but we forget. Usually Mercedes diesels or domestic diesel light trucks get our primary focus. I have pretty well given up any hope of Japanese diesel cars ever appearing here. Most of us never really understood why they were kept out. It could have been as simple as less road tax revenue on fuel usage. They might have gained a large percentage of the market here like elsewhere in the world. It would not have surprised me if they were ultra reliable.