Grim1 1 Posted June 23, 2011 Hi, I'm after a little advice if anyone can help. Me and the missus are tradingin her astra and getting her a 3 door Golf GT TDi 130 mk4. Neither of us have ever owned or bought diesels/turno diesels before. We've steered clear of the 150bhp model as we heard they have problems with the clutch and flywheel, so have decided the 130 is the way forward. The question is, what do we need to be looking out for on these cars to stop us buying a lemon? Obviously, we'd love to have two Rado's in the household, but we need at least one car that will remain economical and reliable all year round!! lol We're looking at one this evening, so keeping fingers crossed as we really want rid of the boring astra!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coullstar 0 Posted June 23, 2011 Good cars these. 150 issues are not that common and its more to do with the cam followers wearing. For the PD Tdi's the flywheel and clutch is an expensive item to replace so try to get one thats been done. Other things are the usual timing belt and water pump. Try and get one thats been serviced on the correct grade VW oil through out its life. Appart from that any of the usual Mk4 things to look for i.e. corroding wings, window regulators, rear handle corrosion, rear washer pipe splitting. Theres all small things and generally they take high miles well. Expect to get about 50mpg from it as well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grim1 1 Posted June 24, 2011 Cheers bud. the one we looked at last night was mint.....well, all bar one small point. The turbo was making quite a high pitched whistling, which to me says two things, 1. the turbo is on it's way out, 2. it's been thrashed!! We were also told a mechanic that in his opinion, it sounded like the turbo was on it's way. The other Golf GT TDi we have seen, the turbo was very quiet, but still packed a hell of a boost. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted June 24, 2011 How many miles on it? Turbos generally become more audible when airboxes and filters have been played with. The usual thing, air box swiss cheesing or fitting a cheap cone of some description. Any evidence of such Chavery? Even a K&N panel in the airbox can increase noise a little, as can exhaust mods. I doubt it's knackered tbh. You'll know for sure if the turbo's f'cked as it'll be totally gutless to drive! There would also be turbo pressure warnings in the ECU, so probably a spanner light appearing on the dashboard. If when you drove it there was a slight pause when putting your foot down, followed by a good slug of acceleration, it sounds pefectly normally to me. 50mpg. Hmmmm. If driven like Miss Daisy, sure. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim 1 Posted June 24, 2011 Agreed with Kev. My old MK4 PD TDI (115BHP) sounded fine and normal and then I had to have a replacement exhaust downpipe. The VW one was EXTORTIONATE so got a Milltek one fitted. Worked fine but the side effect was that the turbo was louder.. especially at idle, you'd hear it whilstling quite noticably! Car seemed fine.. drove fine for months after so... dont necessarily assume the turbo is toast :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted June 24, 2011 OEMs are funny creatures. They go to the trouble of fitting a turbo for it's performance and then go to equal measures to shut the thing up again with intake and exhaust restrictions! :lol: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VAG-hag 0 Posted June 24, 2011 Ive just sold a Bora PD 150 & was sad to see it go. The main thing that kills the PD engine is people using the wrong oil so as said above VW history is nice if you can find it or buying off somebody who apreciates the importance of using decent oil is good enough. Mine made lots of whistle noises yet to my knowledge was 100% stock, this I was told by a few was due to the fact that 150s make more noise due to extra air flow & the journey it took through larger intercooler etc. Clutch & F wheel - as mentioned V pricey! I also took the EGR to bits to give it a good clean.... most will be full of cack by now. Kev: I must drive like Miss Daisy gran because I saw 50s regularly :-) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted June 24, 2011 All the diesels I've tested I've just driven like I would a petrol car, which is probably why I don't see the quoted mpgs :D Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim 1 Posted June 24, 2011 My old MK4 made the "advertised" 53MPG driving to Wales once with two friends in it, and a bootful of camping gear. I was most impressed! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pumbaa 0 Posted June 24, 2011 All the diesels I've tested I've just driven like I would a petrol car, which is probably why I don't see the quoted mpgs :D Is there a 'way' to drive a diesels? It would make sense, and i clearly don't it! I recently hired a nasty french diesel van to move the mrs's belongings down from norwich and it cost as much as, if not more than the petrol C, which gives me 36mpg at around 80mph. What did i do wrong? The damn thing barely made it to 80 so its not as if i was ragging it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
