looking to buy with 70K miles & 5sp. what should i watch for?

thanks,

bill

External head gasket leaks, drivers side at the rear.

 

Brakes were a bit undersized on this year. They upped the size in 2001 apparently. Be prepared for more brake work than usual.

 

I can't really think of anything else.

 

Commuter

looking to buy with 70K miles & 5sp. what should i watch for?

thanks,

bill

Hello to one and all, long-time lurker/first time poster. There are some right smart folks on here.

I, too, have a Y2KOBW, Blue-baru. I keep hearing of impending doom regarding the headgaskets and poor brakes. After 77,000 miles, I can honestly say this has been the best vehicle I have ever owned. I've driven VWs for decades, but have had a variety of cars, Amur-can and fer-un.

I had a injector go bad at 28K, but 2 hours at the dealer fixed that. I haven't seen any leaks- oil, or coolant, yet. And the brakes are the best I've ever used, saved my behind a few times (we do a LOT of freeway stop-n-go driving in Houston!)

Last week I had a very smelly smoke come up and I thought my wife, driving the car at the time, had smoked the clutch, but after getting it up on the ramps, I see the right inside CV boot had split, and thrown grease on the exhaust, which couldn't be 3" away. All that heat must really dry out the rubber. I noticed the steering boot on that side was roasted and recently split, too. As soon as I can get the parts and the time to fix these things I will.

The clutch, she's a-slippin' and I'm trying to figure if there is some sort of adjustment or if it's time to replace the clutch. I do ocassionally have the dreaded clutch judder, which usually only happens in cooler weather after start-up in the morning. Less than no big deal. I replaced the battery at 50K.

I'll be changing the Timing belt, hoses, other belts, cam/ crank shaft seals, checking/replacing the water pump and belt tensioner and adding the cooling system additive as others have recommended. Oh, and running a can of Seafoam into the engine to burn out accumulated carbon (if there is any). All this with the next 10,000 miles. Times have changed, and new cars require a lot of expensive maintanence that you better not blow off. But, that's what it will take to run 200,000 or more miles.

All in all, a great car.

Bradford