This is my sister's beloved 01 Jetta TDI which took a dump on her last year. It has a bit over 200k miles, and I'm finally getting around to fixing it.
I think the timing belt or tensioner went on it. However, I'm not 100% sure on it yet. All I really know at this point is my brother in law was driving it and it lost power. He restarted the engine and it was good for a bit. He did this a few times, then it died and wouldn't restart. It was later towed to my house. From the little bit I've inspected it, the engine doesn't fully turn over. I pulled back the top of the timing belt cover and the cam timing pulley moves forward, then kicks back when you try to start it. However, the belt that turns the injector pump continues to rotate. So, it seems the crankshaft is moving, but the valves are hitting the pistons or something to that effect.
I'll be tearing into it hopefully this week and I'll post updates here. I'd really appreciate any help and/or insight from the TDI guys.