My brother is in the market for a used car and is kinda leaning towards and Mk IV Jetta. How's the reliability on those? I told him the service costs on them would probably be up there being a German make.

 

The trans I rebuild are those found in the MK1/2/3 cars... by the time the MK4 models came out, the 020 trans was no longer used in N. America.

The MK4 will use the 02A or 02J trans, which are basically the same as each other.
They're OK, but the VW trans have a bad habit of tossing the diff. With the older 020, it was either the cross pin sliding out of the diff, or the rivets securing the ring gear would fail and destroy everything before being spit out of the casing. The trans were usually so damaged inside rebuilding wasn't financially feasible and you grabbed a junkyard box.

With the 02A and 02J trans, the rivets are still used, but they seem to have problems with the cross shaft more than anything else. With the 020, the shaft is secured with a snap ring on each end.... or by the large head of a rivet on each side of the shaft. With snap rings, the shaft never is a problem. With the large head rivets, the shaft beats the head off the rivet, slides out, and kills the trans.

The 02A/J cross shaft is secured with a roll pin driven through one end and into the diff carrier. They are prone to that cross shaft actually breaking where the hole is drilled through it for the roll pin. This allows the shaft, now in 2 pieces, to slide out of the diff carrier and destroy the trans that way.

There is no fix from VW for the shaft in the 02A/J trans... they offer a bolt kit to replace the rivets that hold the ring gear, but nothing for the cross shaft. With the 020, the bolt kit from VW replaces the rivets and includes 2 new snap rings for the cross shaft. For the 02A/J, you can beef up the roll pin with a smaller pin inside, or with a solid steel pin in place of the roll pin, but that doesn't help the shaft if it breaks in 2 pieces at the hole.

As far as the car reliability itself, I can't say from experience, but I'm not a fan of the Brazilian or Mexican built VWs. Even the US-built models (when they were built here) were not as well built as the German models.
Now, it is nearly impossible to find a German VW, and even then the trans will be from Japan, the engine from S. America, etc.... last I looked, I think only the R32 flagship GTI was all German built and assembled.

I can't say about the automatic VW trans... the older ones had a bad reputation, and the swap from auto to manual is a popular one for those MK1/2/3 cars, but I don't know or haven't heard about the MK4+ slush boxes.

Here is a pic of an 020 diff cross shaft that has been beating on the large head rivets that secure it. A little more time, and it would have made it out of the diff carrier, and through the casing.



And for no reason, here is a page I made showing the diff bolt kit being installed... http://www.brokevw.com/020diff.html

 

yeah i havent done any major replacements yet like ball joints or spark plugs yet

 

This thread has a had all kinds of derailments lol.

Who is happy football season is back

 

Yep - this thang stopped meeting the definition of 'Thread' a ways back.

More & more like yer typical disjointed General Dementia Tweetfest with each new post.

So - what's the best programmer, intake, exhaust & oil filter to complement me new Cooper Zeon LTZ's?


MGD

 

Whaaa?
This thread has stayed right on-topic the entire time, nearly pure like Ivory soap!

To ensure it doesn't drift form topic to topic, here is a teeny working pistol in 2mm pinfire caliber...



Now let's keep it on topic and discuss how awesome Pepsi Throwback is.

 

Definitely one of the best responses I've hear in a while.

The 4.30 gears really are what makes them so quick.

 

Here's my light bulb collection in case anyone's interested. A bulb for every occasion.

 

I was racing this guy carrying a load of light bulbs (with my CCW) when it hit me...

 

LOL...

 

MGD

 

>major replacements

>balljoints, sparkplugs

 

Face it, the Ford 4.6L 3V and 5.4L 3V suck compared to the Toyota 4.6L and 5.7L. No need to be ***** hurt about it.

However for the 2011 model it was be a different story with the 3.5L ecoboost, 5.0L, and 6.2L The 6.2L F-150 will probably be just as quick as the 5.7L Tundra

 

Hey gary, get with the program...were not talking about the f150 vs the Tundra anymore.

 

Betcha the EB will be quicker than the 6.2.........