Bad news - timing belt broke on my 2004 Jetta GL (2.0L, 5-speed). Bent valves, mechanic quoted 2300 to repair it. Now for the tough calculus of whether or not it is worth it to repair the thing, or get rid of it. KBB says its worth 3200 (private party). 117,000 miles. Would it be worth anything to sell as-is? Do these things run well much past 120k or will the next big repair be right around the corner?
Thanks,
Broken Jetta
VWs are not known for going much beyond 120k miles. Just my opinion, but I owned 3 Jetta’s and a Passat.
As is, all you can do is get scrap price.
b
Ouch. Sorry, I wouldn’t sink any more money into it. Consider it a blessing in disguise and get a more reliable car. Which means not a VW…
+1 to the preceding comments from Bill Russell and jesmed!.
And, although I don’t want to “pile on” to the OP’s current situation…
Can we assume that the OP has learned (the hard way) that timely maintenance is invariably cheaper than the repairs that are the result of failing to maintain one’s vehicle?
My suggestion is to put an ad in your venue of choice to sell it “as-is, valves bent due to busted TB $1,000 or B.R.O.”. Somebody capable of fixing it themselves will probably bite.
10 years old, 115K … VW … hmmm… well, my first inclination is to sell it for whatever amount you can get, and be done with this vehicle.
But if KBB is correct, you could (in theory at least) repair it for $2300 then sell the car for $3200, returning a handy $1000 profit. So compare that $1000 to what you would get to sell it as-is, which I expect will be the scrap price.
Me, I wouldn’t bother with all that, time is valuable, so I’d just sell it for whatever I could get.
A lot of Jettas go well past 120k miles with no problems. My vote would be to fix it with some caveats. Those would include the engine not being an oil burner, the transmission/clutch in good shape, body/interior clean, etc.
If there are some big issues in any or all of those area then it may be time to say adios.
Allowing a belt to get to the point where it fails and causes engine damage points to poor maintenance and that brings up the point as to whether poor maintenance is spread across the board.
Value as it will vary so there’s no way to put a finger on a number. If the car is clean it should bring more than scrap value to a VW afficionado. Maybe the mechanic would be interested in it?
Kind of tragic actually; I’ve always loved the Jettas and hate to see them meet a premature end.