Lum

I'm going to look at an 800 quid '94 Passat CL 1.9 TDI in a few hours, was just wondering if anyone here knows if this is a good idea or not. I'm looking for a cheap runaround for when the Scooby is off the road.

Anyone got any idea of what faults I should be looking for on this vintage of car? Also is it pretty much the same 1.9 TDi as VW are putting into their Golfs and their vans these days?

rr_ww

No. Its a much older design engine. It'll only be an 8v for start.

Only thing (apart from standard old car things*) is the glow plugs not working. Thats normally the huge 50A fuse on the bulkhead going. But it can be the plugs themselves and they arent the easiest thing to get to.

See if the cam belt's been done recently as well.

* Suspension bushes, Rear calipers can start to seize, top mounts, oil leaks wear and tear things. Trims damaged, CL can play up as its an air pump system. They can suffer a bit from rust.

Pretty good generally.

logiclee

Vag still fit the 1.9 8V throughout it's small and mid size ranges. The current engines have the PD injection system, the older TDi's have an electronic diesel pump.

On the plus side the 90/110bhp units are very reliable and were still used in the Leon and Octavia up until the new models came out this year.
They still hold the record as the most thermally efficient engine fitted to a road production car.

Look at all the Octavia taxis about and it's not hard to tell that the engines are very economical and very reliable. An ex-airport Octavia has just sold on ebay with 295000 miles on the original engine.

If it's a 90bhp version just don't expect good performance in a big Passat Estate.

They also work very well with tuning boxes, around 30% increase is possible

Cheers
Lee

Lum

Well, had a look at it and left a deposit with a view to collecting tomorrow.
Engine seemed a bit grumbly at low revs (that's the best way I can describe it) but I kinda expected that from an old diesel, and it's got 220,000 miles on the clock.
Bodywork was fairly good, apart from a little bit of rust on the rear arches, and evidence of having been reversed into a pole. Only thing I'm actually bothered about is the headlamp has clearly seen a large stone that's put a tiny hole in it, so a trip to the scrapyard is needed. Typical London car really I guess.

Couldn't check the cambelt as it was covered but the alternator belt looked brand new. MOT till July, HPI clear.

Only other thing that's bothering me is the brakes seemed a little soft compared to my works 02 plate VW caddy van, probably needs new brake fluid at some point, or do those things have softer brakes anyway?

Reckon it's worth £800 then, I hopefully only need it for a year or two.

Are you saying it's basically the same block as on my 02 caddy SDI van?

What do you mean by "tuning boxes" can't these things just be chipped since they use the same engine for anything from 90 - 140 bhp?

Edit: Also is it suitable for towing a Scooby (Legacy) or a 200SX on a trailer?

Dieseldog

Got the same engine (I think) in an old '94 Golf - 90 bhp tdi. Engine's noisy but over 10 years and 120,000 miles (it's now showing 180,000) it's been very reliable - only an alternator, alternator belt, battery and new discs / couple of sets of pads over that time. I've just started working out the fuel consumption and it genuinely gives 60 mpg (driven gently), though you may be looking at 45-ish in a Passat, especially if you push it more than me.

Lum

Well, I got it with a few known problems.
The important bits seem fine, it drives ok, and stops ok, found a few niggly problems, such as the front passenger's electric window doesn't work, which upon further investigation revealed that it had been removed and replaced with a broken table leg, and the drivers side one has a bit of play in it, so that'll be a trip to the scrap yard for some new window mechanisms.

The horn also doesn't work, which I forgot to test, investigation reveals that the wiring is fine but the horn itself is a round blob of corroded metal, so that'll be another scrap yard trip.

Only one fog light worked on the back, which was odd because it had viring and fitting for two fog lights, and the correct clusters for two foglights, but a plastic blanking plate over the bulb hole. Stuck a bulb in and cut the plate off and now I have two fog lights on the back.

There's front foglight units in the bumper, they look OEM, but there's no switch for them inside, so dunno what's going on there.

All in all, about what you expect for 800 quid I guess.

Oh and I found a can of oil hidden behind one of the rear light clusters, and some random oily rags stuffed in the engine bay, which is a good sign, I guess