[The_Mad_Warrior]

Well I bought my first car. 1996 VW Diesel Turbo Jetta. 210000km on it (original didnt turn over). Body is in pretty good shape. A few small rust spots. Engine starts great. Leather interior with 6 disc cd changer.

Needs a good cleaning. Dog hair in it. Need to vacuum it.

Anyways I paid $1800 for it. As is. I am gonna get it into the mechanic ASAP to get it checked over for a safety. But also have to put it into my name as well. So it will probably be another few bucks till I get it on the road. I know for sure it will need a horn (which Im hoping you guys could help me with?) and a new catalic converter. Breaks seam great and front ones look new. But it also pulls to the right a bit?

Anyways if any of you could help me with the horn that would help me the in long run. I was thinking on buying one from Canadian tire and starting there and plug it in. Hopefully that works but if it doesnt how could i make it work with like a button or something? Just to pass the safety. Also do diesels need a special canatlic converter? Are those hard to change? MY dad thought it came straight from the head? I am not sure will I put it up tomorrow.

Anyways I will post some pics of it tomorrow.

 

[sledcrusher]

If its pulling to the right, new tires and an alignment should fix it.

I didnt think diesel trucks used cats, so I would assume it needs a different cat than a regular gas one.

 

[tomjac]

The Jetta is a good car. My stepson bought an early 99 (same body style) last year. There are some areas of concern.

The dash can be problematic and cause either or both the speedometer and tach to quit working. Also, if it has an aftermarket radio, don't remove the battery without keeping power to the computer or let the battery go dead. The anti-theft computer code input is through the factory radio. Aftermarket radio means towing to VW ($$$) dealer to get the car started after a no power situation. He learned the hard way.

If you are going to do any work yourself, a Bentley manual is far superior to any others. You're going to want to visit jettajunkie.com quite a bit, your Jetta's body style is MKIII. Good luck.

 

[OhioPolarisKid]

^^Yep, they have em. My PSD has 1, i dont think Duramaxs did back when they didn't have the EPA BS, but i think they all do now. Actually i think right now diesels are much more cleaner and restricted than gas motors, which isn't right at all.

I'm not sure how it is in your area, but here i don't really need an exhaust for it to be legal. Luckily they dont do emission checks. You can just put a piece of pipe in place of the cat, but if they require it then check a junkyard. On my truck i don't think there is a sensor or anything, and i think your Jetta will be similar. I don't really know of any reason for a diesel to have a sensor related to the cat.

 

[The_Mad_Warrior]

Actually its my dash lights that stopped working? Bad connection becasue you hit the top of the dash lightly and they work. Also Im glad you told me about the unplugging of the battery. I forgot about that altho I did read it somewhere. And I was gonna hook up another stereo but probably wont now.

Also I dont need an emision test either where I live but, we do need a safety and I am concerned he may not pass it without a catalic converter? I am not sure. I know it has to be at least re connected to the rest of the exhaust. Its hard to work on such short cars. I guess the best thing I can do is pout it up tomorrow on some wheel stands I got and check it out.

But the horn concerns me? Do you think its just the horn itself or wiring? If its wiring how can I fix that?

Also tomjac is there a way to hook up an amp or sub to the battery and not have to worry about the computer thing? Or is it too much work?

 

[wakeboarderboy]

I would say for the horn if anything it probably is a bad connection at the horn. Check that first. I would say if you're short on $, test the wires with a meter to see if all the powers getting through and then you know if it's a cut wire or a bad horn. Or you could just buy a new horn and if it doesn't work then you know it's the wiring.

And how to fix it, you could do a voltage drop test, but since you need the right stuff for that, I don't think it would be hard to just rewire it.

 

[2L8ULuz]

Your horn can be tied in with your dash lights that stop working. Does the horn still not work, when you get the dash to work? Check the fuses. Run wires straight from the battery to the horn to test, and rule out if it's the horn. It can be anything from the fuse, horn, cut wire, or a steering column wheel clock.

I think the catalytic converter on that car comes right on the down pipe.

 

[The_Mad_Warrior]

I been looking and having a real hard time finding parts for the diesel versions? Anyone know a good Canadian site for parts. Maybe for the converter and future parts I will need.

Thanks.

Also tomorrow I will see about the horn and dash lights. I never thought of hitting the horn when my dash lights were working. But I will try it tomorrow.

 

[tomjac]

Also tomjac is there a way to hook up an amp or sub to the battery and not have to worry about the computer thing? Or is it too much work?

Sorry, I really don't know much about car audio. I think a search at jettajunkie will help you solve your horn issues.

 

[sledneck1978]

All that I know is those things have HUGE trunks. You could put a hell of a system in it. I know someone who has a diesel jetta. It's a little newer but it gets 50 some mpg. CRAZY! It's quit as hell for a diesel. Nice cars.

 

[88400]

www.vwvortex.com can solve a lot of your questions. I have had 3 VWs myself, none newer than 1991 though. That board has a lot of politics, but if you keep yourself out you'll be fine.

 

[The_Mad_Warrior]

Yes the truck is bigger then the back seat. A lot of room for what I wanna do with it. But I am unsure now with the whole battery thing.

In the future I would love to fit s 15" subs in there. Go crazy instead of just 12". But right now I just wanna get everything else fixed.

I tried the dash lights and horn and no such luck. The dash lights only work when u sit the dash. But they stop working. Im assuming me and dad could hook up a new light and hook it to either a switch of its own or to the light switch. That should be an easy job but you never know.

Also today it was raining/snowing so I didnt feel like crawling under it to look at the horn. I did however check the fuse and its good. So must be the horn.

My mechanic said if I dont care about it or use it he wont worry about it when he safeties it. Or he can hook it up to a button. I might just say forget it for now. Also he said they shouldnt have a catalic converter. But if there is one then he can just replace it with a straight pipe and it will be fine like that. So no worries there.