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Jumping the beetle wagon... TS style

1288 Views 11 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  2004NBTURBOS, 
Raul_MX
Good day to everyone.

After months and months of searching, Last Jan 23rd, I purchased my 2003 TS beetle in Mexico City. It has only 31K original miles. Low mileage cars, well taken care of... are out there!

These TS cars are fun t0 drive and hard to keep on a leash.. they are very very keen to accelerate and be fun! Drove it all the 800 miles back home without a hiccup.

VAG-COM passes with Flying colors!

Thanks to this forum, I've been able to:
  • change oil
  • Change all filters (including Passat's oil large filter)
  • change coilpacks
  • Arrange switches on lower console panel (these were mixed)
  • Lubricate window channels
  • Clean the moonroof drains
  • Adjust the rear latch opening
  • get the correct fuse card
.. And many many things i've done less than a month's period time.

Things left to do...
  • Chase engine water leak! (odd, no dripping!, no sight of the green stuff the PO used as coolant!)
  • Aim headlights
  • Replace windshield wiper wash bottle (leaking all!)
  • Check heated seats
  • Replace rear hub bearing

Thanks everyone for all the valuable information its on this site... its amazing what you can find using the "search" button!

Attached are pictures of the car in question...

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billymade
Beautiful car; nice job! :) Ever see any RSi's running around? I hear they sold them in Mexico! How does your timing belt look? :confused: I like that rear wing; is that aftermarket or something they sold in the Mexican market? Are New Beetle parts cheap; in Mexico? I always wondered that; since many of the parts, seem to be made there! ;)
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Raul_MX
Hello.. and thanks. I was looking for a platinum gray for the longest time, and here it is.. appears with the low mileage and good care by the PO I've been wanting!
They had a RSi back in the day in my town's dealership. When I gathered a good camera for pics, I went to the dealership and the car was gone.. sold.. this was back in the day when the RSi came into the market.

The rear wing is a full carbon fibre one. Made specially for the TurboS by AirDesign.. again, this was back in the day these TurboS came out. Apparently, dont quote me on this, now its rare to find one.

As for cheap parts, well.. it depends. They may be cheap but sometimes the're generic ones. There are specialized markets (Like in Mexico City, Monterrey, big cities) where they would sell all VW parts rather cheap (for example, turboS lower valance grills, for about 8 USD) but these are kinda far from this forgotten corner of Mexico where I live... but hey.. they are out there!
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M
Last time I had a mysterious water leak like that it was the shaft seals on the water pump. Would only leak while running and could never find evidence of a leak on the ground...drove me nuts. Ended up replacing the water pump and it took care of the problem. Not sure if that is what you have going on or not, just saying.
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02SilverSport
Welcome to the great and wonderful ORG! Many fantastic cars, people and answers lurk in this great land. If you haven't done so already, take time to fill in your profile and post a few more photos so we can ORGle them!!
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P
Nice Beetle! Platinum Gray has always been one of my favorite colors.:)
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Raul_MX
Thanks everyone on their wishes and yes... I was amazed on the wealth of information on users in the KNOW of owning a beetle.

This is not my 1st VW, i have one classic bug.. it is however my 1st turbo'd car.

One thing i did notice is that these cars like to "bond" with their owners... like to be touched and taken apart and put back together.. (much like their aircooled vintage brothers)... they just need a little respect when replacing parts, and put back together with respect and we will have a pleasant relationship :)

Thanks on the tips for the misterios water leak Mindbinge.. will take a look!

The PO showed me an invoice on the waterpump/water sensor repair done @ the dealership about 6K miles ago... i wonder if the delarship mechanics did it wrong? or since the car was not moving much this caused to some seals become brittle?
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Tai Velez
Welcome to you and your TS :wave3: Glad your here, and yes TS are AAWWEEESOME :D
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05yellowbeetle
Welcome, beautiful car!

Check the flange on the drivers side of the motor, it is very common for it to eventually develope a leak. My '05 beetle is leaking beside one of the bolts for the flange.
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Raul_MX
Little bit of trivia. Did you knew that in Mexico we had TurboS models up to 2005? But these came out with another engine code AUQ, which i think was used on SKODAS and related... getting aftermarket parts for these 2005 engines is not cheap or easy (compared to AWP's)

so this made my quest for a TurboS easier, 2002, 2003, 2004!

Now, another question.. how do I know if mine is a 2003.5? or early 2003? how can I tell the difference?

Greetings from Mexico!
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P
I would love to go to a VW show in Mexico sometime and see the different cars that you guys get that we in the States don't.

There was one a couple of years back I saw advertised on the Samba in Baja California, but I haven't seen it since. I think the city was Hermasillo.
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2004NBTURBOS
Raul_MX said:
Now, another question.. how do I know if mine is a 2003.5? or early 2003? how can I tell the difference?
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As far a I know, the biggest change was the side marker on the fender was moved to the mirror on the 3.5 some of the early models also had the donut headrest. In the 3.5 model year change, is also when they ungraded the quality of the plastic on the interior.

A
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