n2nsanity

Bought this car in June 2010 for $2k. Seemed like a pretty good deal. It's an 01 1.8t auto with tiptronic, was quicker than I expected and get's insane gas mileage. 90k miles on the body and the engine was just rebuilt. The original owner never changed the timing belt or something. I don't think it had ever seen a garage and it needed some TLC all around. The seats were pretty rough, it had a small oil leak and ac wasn't working. KBB trade-in value for fair condition was $3k, so I went for it. The guy I bought it from got it as a project and never ended up finishing it. He had like $3k in receipts, so he definitely took a loss on the deal. It drove pretty smooth and handled the 2 hour trip home with no problems. Got it home, did an oil change, fixed the leak (new oil pressure sensor).

Later on had some issues with pipes popping off. Half the clamps were loose or missing, lol. Tightened them all up and replaced the missing ones. No issues after that. I really want to attempt an FMIC install, but I think I need to get everything working properly in stock form first.

Since then I've also had some issues with the TCU. All gear indicator lights lit up and not shifting properly if at all. I'm pretty sure this was due to water damage. From what I've read these cars are notorious for problems with poor drainage. I'm hoping I can just pull it out and clean it, but if not I can get a used one for $100. I haven't messed with this too much because everything on this car has been a PITA. I'm having a hard time trying to take the interior apart to even get to the TCM, lol.

A little later I found oil in the intake piping. Checked the turbo and it was definitely leaking from there. Also checked the shaft and I'm no expert, but it felt pretty loose to me. I was going to try to rebuild it, but I found a new k04-15 on ebay for like $200 I bought that instead. The k03's were about the same price, so this was the obvious choice. It's supposed to be good for an extra 30hp. Can't wait to find out

I quit driving it after these issues. It's been sitting untouched for over a year now. I've had a few other projects since then and along with everything else, I've just been too busy to mess with it. But now, I think I'm ready to dig back into it. Next week I'm done with school until August, and I'm ready to get my hands dirty