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MJamson has the same fears I do... People selling used cars lie. The timing belt, rollers and tensioner are impossible to age accuratly. When they fail... Well, you don't want that.
Quick fun is to check your coolant color. If it is not fancy and correct, I would suspect that nothing had been done correctly. Cheap coolant, incorrect oil, mark and pray timing belt swaps...
As for the codes, TDIclub is the place for that knowledge.
So... even though wrecking yards have gotten expensive, you can still find good ones and some have alh tdis or vws of the correct years. Find some you like and start with small stuff. I would get some door lock modules. I would pay $20 to 40 for one I pulled that looked great. Less if they don't know. If they have 10 or more of the cars up on rim stacks parting out, odds are they are cheap. High volume big yards don't have time to price small assemblies. Get a price before you pull.
These little parts let you see if the yard is reasonable and if they deal. If not, find another.
Most wrecking yards don't know how expensive vw/porsche/audi relays are. Get some sets of them while you are hunting.
You can do it and do it reasonably, you just can't if you are waiting for things to break and paying a mechanic.
idparts, dieselgeek and boraparts all get my gold star award. Every few months autozone will put rotella t6 on sale by the gallon. LRR and battery from costco.
Get ahead of the maintenence and get it on a schedule.
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