It's alive $200 doller a2 diesel jetta.

[ConnClark]

Rig up a good cold air intake. Diesels love cold air. It keeps the heat generated by the fuel in the combustion gases and out of the cooling system.

If its a turbo check and see if there is an Air Recirc Valve on the compressor housing. If so disabling it will add power and economy.

[bestclimb]

Took the jetta around for a good warm up (gotta get a new battery for it as the one I put in is junk) Heater puts out really good heat quickly but temp does not rise over 3/4 even when flogging it. The car likes 45-60 mph. Trying to go much faster just makes things louder without much difference in speed.

[robchalmers]

I found mine accelerates quicker between 1/4 - 1/3 throttle than it does a full throttle, also you'll soon find even when pushing on there is no point to revving it!

[bestclimb]

Got a preliminary MPG, 43ish. no EOC, lots of idle, some full power acceleraions and high speed 65mph cruising. I am not overly impressed with it but it may be a good winter rig as the heater really works well, and it gets decent mileage without using EOC.

[SoobieOut]

I drove a Mercedes 300D for many years. When the injectors clogged FE dropped. A can of "Chevron Techron" Fuel Additive seemed to do wonders. From what I remember they recommended how many cans between oil changes, must be strong stuff. Alot cheaper than replacing the fuel injectors!

[robchalmers]

that and an oil service+air filter does wonders too!

[ConnClark]

Originally Posted by MorphDaCivic

I drove a Mercedes 300D for many years. When the injectors clogged FE dropped. A can of "Chevron Techron" Fuel Additive seemed to do wonders. From what I remember they recommended how many cans between oil changes, must be strong stuff. Alot cheaper than replacing the fuel injectors!

Who needs additives? The OM617 engine just needs an Italian tune up (drive it like you stole it) once a month. If that doesn't work change the fuel filter and when you do fill it with transmission fluid.

[fidalgoman]

Originally Posted by bestclimb

Got a preliminary MPG, 43ish. no EOC, lots of idle, some full power acceleraions and high speed 65mph cruising. I am not overly impressed with it but it may be a good winter rig as the heater really works well, and it gets decent mileage without using EOC.

We retired our 85 Jetta Diesel at 249K with a worn out fuel injector. Lessons learned. Use good quality Bosche glow plugs as they last nearly twice as long. When the weather is cold always put additive in your fuel (we used about 2X the recommended amount) even if the station says it's been done or someday you'll walk home. As for the heater. In Spokane where 10 F in the winter is common. I totally blocked off the radiator with cardboard. Even then when it got around 0 F there was not much heat coming out. Just the cold air going under the bumper and hitting the engine cooled it off so much the gage barely came off the peg. That said our Jetta D was probably the best car we ever owned.

[roflwaffle]

Make sure to adjust pump timing for the new ULSD. The stock settings will retard too much w/ thinner fuel and hurt mileage. You should also rebuild the injectors, there are how-to's on the vwdiesel.net or vwdieselparts.com forums including one on making your own injector pop tester. Just poke around those forums, they have just about any technical question you could ask covered.

[ShadeTreeMech]

I'm severely trumped on how knowledgeable these folks are concerning the v-dub diesel.

But one important question that remains unanswered is does this have a turbo? If not, I would add one ASAP. More power, larger power band, etc.

BTW I'm extremely jealous. I'd love to find a $200 banger diesel in these parts.