My 500 dollar jetta

[tonysilva530]

Actually bought it for my daughter......

It has the vr6......got it so cheap because the previous owner couldn't afford to have it repaired. It had a rattling timing chain and a leaky coolant pipe:


Got it home and took it apart:


Found the leaky coolant pipe (black) and replaced it with a better one (grey):


Found the broken timing chain guide and replaced it with a new one:


Removed the oil pan to check for smaller broken pieces (yes I found some):


Cleaned up the oil pan:


Cleaned the inside of the oil pan as well:


Got the engine reassembled:


Put the rest of the car together. Paid $500 for the car when it was broken.....it has 105k miles. kbb.com says it's estimated value in excellent condition is $4,500


Here's some pics of the interior (both seats are power, car has a sun roof, the rear window has a curtain, the a/c is the automatic climate control version, door panels have leather on them like the seats, the interior color is a light color.......not common options on most Jettas.....infact, I've never even seen another Jetta with the rear window curtain).

[MikeCStig]

Now that's a hell of a score. I've always wanted a jetta vr6 but I was never able to find one in my price range... now I'm jealous, I would have been perfectly fine with doing the work you did. Hell, I bought a '91 Honda Prelude Si (almost 10 years ago) it needed a full engine rebuild which I did with performance parts, and in the end I was $2200 into a car worth about $5000 at the time. I thought I got a steal!