200tdi mileage question

Firstly sorry for starting yet another 200 question but i couldn't find a proper answer searching..

so iv been searching for a 200tdi replacement for my 2.5 petrol for a while now(no big rush just waiting for the right one) i found one in my local scrap yard a while back and only got a chance to see it this weekend

the disco is a write-off but d engine has not been compromised. was really getting my hopes up then but noticed it has 172K miles on the clock so i got worried and told d guy i didn't think it was worth more than 100 for it. he reckoned it wasn't worth his while taking it out for that kinda money and so i left it! Now i'm wondering if i was wrong? is there still some life left in the old girl at 172 or should i walk away?

obviously ill be renewing belts etc if i do buy it but would it require anything more serious as i doubt id be able for removing head etc. plus the expense and time involved.

Any advise at all would be greatly appreciated
thanks, Larry

Milage, although it gives a good idea as to what condition the engine may be in - in terms of wear and tear, is usually totally irrelevant. If you're working on milage as a general idea, then a well maintained 200TDi is usually good for well over 300,000 miles before it needs a re-bore and new rings etc. The best indicator of the engines health is to hear it running and drive it if possible. The things to check for are:

- Excessive crank case pressure
- Excessive use of engine oil
- Any use of water
- Smoke & the colour of any smoke produced

Start by allowing the engine to reach operating temperature. Once it's up to temperature, remove the oil filler cap and place your hand firmly over it. Can you feel pressure building up? Is there an oily mist blowing out of the filler hole? Also press your thumb firmly over the oil dipstick tube and then release it after 5 seconds. Does it hiss or launch oil at you? If any of the above occur, it would show that there is significant engine wear, which is more than likely to be worn rings, worn bores or worn valve seals. In the worst case scenarios it could be cracked pistons, a cracked head or a cracked bore. Some blow by is acceptable as all engines will, to some degree, have a level of blow by - it's just how they are.

If your happy with that test, SLOWLY remove the header tank / water reservoir cap and observe the coolant. Does it bubble? Does the level drop at all? If it bubbles, it could be a blown head gasket or in the worst case scenario a cracked bore allowing compression and therefore combustion gasses to escape into the water jacket.

Also observe the exhaust. It should produce a short 'slug' of black smoke on startup and the same on hard revs. It should not produce any white or blue smoke and it should not produce any smoke at tickover. You should also be able to hear the turbo whistling slightly as the engine revs up and down.

One last pointer - the engine should start on the turn of the key, without any glow plugs. If it refuses to start or it has a bit of a hard time firing up then it may point towards various other problems, most of them trivial.

If it passes all of the above tests, it's definitely worth between £250 and £300 with the radiator, intercooler and pipe work.

-Pos

thanks a mil for that!
the initial a agreement was that id call over and hear it running for about 300ish pounds, then he couldn't find the key and someone had nicked the oil filter and fuel line out of it! so couldn't hear it running, think i might go back and offer him 100 for the whole lot and remove it myself somehow and just hope its ok. he claims it was running fine up until crash so who knows?

larrynumber1 said:

thanks a mil for that!
the initial a agreement was that id call over and hear it running for about 300ish pounds, then he couldn't find the key and someone had nicked the oil filter and fuel line out of it! so couldn't hear it running, think i might go back and offer him 100 for the whole lot and remove it myself somehow and just hope its ok. he claims it was running fine up until crash so who knows?

Click to expand...

Well I think that for £100 it's going to be worth a punt. The worst case scenario is that it's a dud engine. If that does in fact turn out to be the case then you'll be able to claim that back in parts if you stripped it down. They are very good strong engines though, so the chances are it'll be a great example.

here's hoping! she's fairly rough around d edges but at least id had a disc'd rear axle and transfer box out of it

thanks for ad advice again, much appreciated. cant wait to get my hands dirty! very jealous of the likes of you at the moment!

Yeah well see what he says. If it were me I'd be prepared to go upto £175 because you're safe at that. Let us know how you get on! I'm starting my TDi conversion tomorrow. All being well, I'll have the TDi sat in my 90 by tomorrow afternoon!

i,ve not long fitted one with !60,000 on the clock.also got one to keep as a spare with 220,000 on the clock still pulling strong before it was removed

Cool i'll let you know as soon as i know! Good luck with it!

larrynumber1 said:

thanks a mil for that!
the initial a agreement was that id call over and hear it running for about 300ish pounds, then he couldn't find the key and someone had nicked the oil filter and fuel line out of it! so couldn't hear it running, think i might go back and offer him 100 for the whole lot and remove it myself somehow and just hope its ok. he claims it was running fine up until crash so who knows?

Click to expand...

If he wants to sell it for 300 quid he'll get it running. Fuel line takes seconds to lash up and an oil filter is a few quid. You wont need a key - just connect a live to the fuel solenoid and operate the starter by shorting the large terminals on the starter solenoid or running a live fly lead to the small starter solenoid operating terminal. Sounds like he may be making excuses.

thanks dripper nice to know its not uncommon i was afraid i would be laughed at for suggesting fitting one with that mileage!

Mines got 191k and is sweet as a nut,On the other hand I don't think theres much chance of coming across a low mileage tdi lump these days and if you do it won't be cheap.

Also if he takes it out he'll likely just cut through stuff that gets in the way so you'd be better off doing it yourself and saving hoses etc.

cheers shifty you have a point there, the key was never an issue we were prepared to start it as said but it was f***in freezin out and nobody was in the mood for hanging about! all will be revealed when i next talk to him anyway, (and d guy kinda knows my da through work so im hopin he wont totally screw me over)!

Mine had 188K miles on it when I dropped it into my 110. More miles than my 110 had done.

i no what you mean, my 2.5 petrol only has 90k seems mad to be stickin in a 170k instead! but the petrols just too thirsty! anyway its not like im gonna dump it i suppose!