Would you take this gamble?

[Cali_Army_Guy]

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/5701443725.html

For $1500 I'm not going to be sent to the poor house, but I also don't want to just throw money away. I know I need more info, like did it make noise when it died (lost timing chain)? Will it crank over at all? Etc. It's just so tempting. Maybe the alternator was bad and killed the battery? Crank position sensor went out? Blown fuel pump fuse? The fact that it could be something super easy makes me want to at least try. Worse case scenario I could probably part it out for over $1500.

Decisions decisions
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2015 VW Passat Wolfsburg Edition
1966 VW Beetle - Sold

[TDCTDI]

[TDCTDI]

Unless you're looking for a hatchback, try

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/5694623567.html
These were nicer cars than the golfs/jettas when sold originally, in my mind, these are som of the best highway cars.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[ps2375]

If you are going to get any VW after 1994, I would HIGHLY recommend buying a VAG-Com cable, that is >50% of the diagnostics.

If you had a cable, you could scan the GTI and see what codes there are and make an educated decision on that one, if the SALVAGED title doesn't scare the shit out of you.

And B5 Passats are a very nice cruiser, but the front suspension has many ball joints, and due to the way the front suspension works, outer CV boots are a consumable item(meaning you will be changing them or the axle more frequently than any other fwd car).

[Cali_Army_Guy]

[ps2375]

No, like this: http://store.ross-tech.com/shop.

A much better interface, as the software runs on a laptop/tablet and the codes come with an actual word description. And they have a wiki page to help with diagnostics. http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page And once you own the cable, software updates are free. It even auto-updates.

It costs more, but 100X's easier to navigate thru and you can save and print scans and read fields and know what you are actually looking at.

I use my brothers cable on my 94 Golf and it works on his 2014 CC. And I've used the generic OBD function on an 01 Subaru.

The GTI could be anything from easy (crank sensor) to ridiculous (thrown chain and bent valves), and you may or may not need to pull the head or even the motor. I've never done any major work on a VR, so I don't know what you can or can't do with the motor in car.

[21junkstreet]

That thing probably just needs a fuel pump . I've done a bunch of Mk4 pumps.