Going to look at a TDI 150 today- What to look for?

[recci]

Hi

there is a TDI 150 up forsale in a local second hand car dealer near me so Im gonna pop in a take a look at it. The owner claims the car is Mint but his garage aint to classy looking so Ill take that with a pinch of salt. The car has done 90k and he is asking around £3500 for it.

So what should I look out for? Im a layman and dont no that much about cars so looking at the engine ect is probably gonna be a waste of time for me unless i KNEW EXACLTY what I was supposed to be looking for.

Is there a list of general things I can look for on the forum? 

Also what should I be checking the service history for?

Thing is I need to buy a decent model with most of the long term servicing things like timeing belts done as I probably wont have 1k to 2k money to fix it should anything go wrong in the next 6 months...

[Gareth F]

Check if its had new cams, 150 seems to suffer alot more with cams failing causing a big problem and very expensive to fix. The reason why i went for a 130 model instead. Just do a search for " Chocolate Cams "

[Gareth F]

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=140425.0

[Dubbz]

Good luck on your search.
Have a read here. http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=38557.0

[recci]

cheers guys, I herd the cam shaft problem was only on a certain reg? Incidently this is an 03 plate

[pulsar]

Hi

there is a TDI 150 up forsale in a local second hand car dealer near me so Im gonna pop in a take a look at it. The owner claims the car is Mint but his garage aint to classy looking so Ill take that with a pinch of salt. The car has done 90k and he is asking around £3500 for it.

So what should I look out for? Im a layman and dont no that much about cars so looking at the engine ect is probably gonna be a waste of time for me unless i KNEW EXACLTY what I was supposed to be looking for.

Is there a list of general things I can look for on the forum? 

Also what should I be checking the service history for?

Thing is I need to buy a decent model with most of the long term servicing things like timeing belts done as I probably wont have 1k to 2k money to fix it should anything go wrong in the next 6 months...

service history is king timing belt every 60k get it off that 2 year long service and have it serviced every year with regular oil changes with proper pd oil cams are no issure i change my tdi 150 every 6 months regardless of miles done and use Forté Advanced Formula Diesel Treatment

[recci]

Well I went and seen the car, In side is mint and outside of the car looks good also but the dealer claimed there was no service history with it but it had a years MOT. I said Id have to get a mechanice to check it out and took it for a test drive. One the test drive I found the car registration document and note from an audio/vw specialist saying new engine and clocks supplied and fitted 1 months warrenty on 10/12/10!!! £650

So no wander there is no service history its had a new engine 1 month ago! Im not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing?

Do you think I should just forget it or phone up the garage that fitted the engine and try and find out more info. I also have the last owners name and address I could phone her also and ask what happended to the car.

On the test drive it seemed fine to me but im no expert. 

[Kerrse]

£3500 seems cheap how depressing if thats all they are going for now   planning on getting rid of mine at the end of year & buying a scirroco  

You always hear the cam story all be it 130 & 150 have the same cams, i have done 117k in mine and have no cam issues.

[Kerrse]

Well I went and seen the car, In side is mint and outside of the car looks good also but the dealer claimed there was no service history with it but it had a years MOT. I said Id have to get a mechanice to check it out and took it for a test drive. One the test drive I found the car registration document and note from an audio/vw specialist saying new engine and clocks supplied and fitted 1 months warrenty on 10/12/10!!! £650

So no wander there is no service history its had a new engine 1 month ago! Im not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing?

Do you think I should just forget it or phone up the garage that fitted the engine and try and find out more info. I also have the last owners name and address I could her also and ask what happended to the car.

On the test drive it seemed fine to me but im no expert. 

I would seriously worry about a car that has had a new engine when it's only 8 years old. I would also question if the new engine was a recon or just out of another golf as I would want to know if that engine had been serviced on a regular basis.

Plus if they fitted new clocks how many miles has the car done ?

[recci]

Im assuming for £650 it was a second hand engine and the clocks are the ones that came with that engine. The clocks says 83k Im also worried that they could have put a 130bhp engine in and the average punter would never know. What it looks like has happend is the female owner has kept the car nice and clean but fooked the engine somehow then got it fixed and then traded it in right away.  I have the registration of the car is there anyway i can find out its info free?