Hello all, I know absolutely nothing about the little vw diesels, but I have a chance to buy a 1985 VW Golf with a diesel in it. 186,000 miles. The owner has no idea if it runs, bought it and never started it. Asking 500. Is this a deal worth pursuing? If has little to no rust, decent interior. Any thoughts? I know they get great mileage, and with the price of fuel, this thing could save me a ton of money. Thanks!

 

Yes, pick it up after talking them down some! Make sure the Timing belt isn't broken as they are a very close interference engine, Lots to learn on them and they are great fun with 55MPG. Here is a video of mine:

The first thing you will want to do is head on over to http://www.vwdieselparts.com/forum/ and say hello, search that site and you will find every quirk and quick fix on those engines.
I loved the golf so much I just bought the wife a $30,000 2013 Passat TDI

 

did you end up picking it up?

 

No, not yet. I'm trying to see if the owner will get it running before I make an offer

 

Those are super simple engines to work on and the rest of the car is just as simple. I had a rabbit pick-up for a little while as a project and sold it for 3x what I paid. Wish I hadn't, I miss it. For $500 its worth the gamble imo.

 

Wish it were out my way, I'd jump all over it-- as long as the engine isn't toast that is.

 

my blue one was run into the ground, bought it for $42.00 with zero compression and once I pull started it, smoked so much it tried to run away a few times. I threw new rings in it and left the large ridge on the block, used the old pistons and honed it really well. It ran like new, used zero oil up until I sold it. Video was taken after 50,000 miles into my redneck rebuild and still zero smoke!

 

That's awesome joem! I remember my dad doing those kind of rebuilds to a couple of his clunkers when I was a kid. They held up well considering all the steps that were skipped.