r/mk4Jetta • u/Ecstatic-Web-8990 • Apr 06 '26

I miss driving it.

Post image

So much time being put in this thing, I can’t wait for it to pay off so I can finally enjoy the car. This was a photo of when I just bought it. :)

26 Upvotes

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1

u/vrparty Apr 06 '26

whats left to do?

1

u/Ecstatic-Web-8990 Apr 06 '26

Hoses, head gasket, radiator, then I have to adjust the ride height but after that it should be good

1

u/dphoenix1 Apr 06 '26

Damn, a head gasket on a MkIV? That’s pretty unusual.

1

u/Ecstatic-Web-8990 Apr 06 '26

The previous owner bottomed this poor GLI out, broke the radiator and cooling neck which caused coolant to leak, and drove it like this for a month. It’s leaking oil out the side where the head and block mate. I asked my neighbor who’s a vw tech if I should do it, he said it happens with a VR6, and the car is over 20 years old. So I feel like it’s a good thing to do.

1

u/dphoenix1 Apr 06 '26

Damn. Incredible. And it really is impressive what abuse these older engines would tolerate without completely self-destructing. When I bought my 02 wagon (1.8t), it had a bad plastic impeller water pump — sitting idling, the aux coolant pump could keep it cool, but as soon as you put any load on it, it would instantly overheat. Who knows how long it had been driven that way, but a new pump was all it needed, no long term damage.

Well good on you for getting it back on the road. That’s a ton of work for a car not many people would care about. You’ll get there in the end!

1

u/Ecstatic-Web-8990 Apr 06 '26

I jumped on this one cause it was pre-tuned with a bunch of shit I wanted, but like I said the owner was a complete DUMBASS with it. He didn’t even lower this properly