“BAD” Volkwagen Jetta 1.9L ALH/AHU TDI Diesel Engine

You know what that engine needs? Head repaired, put a belt, oil retainers, water pump repaired (new bearings) and send it to the road again. I'm in europe, those engines are a dime a dozen for us (a lot more diesel models), I've repaired them in worse conditions, even after being hydrolocked. that engine doesn't care for that crankshaft damage, believe me, it's fine. I've seen those reach a million miles with regular maintenance and care. Two of my 30kwh gens are powered by mk3 1.9 TD, the other 2 are merc 2.5td (om602, which are also a dime a dozen). that engine in europe, it's running value is around 1k or more (Fully rebuilt to over spec), I've sent them out for 3k, mostly for generators.

Totally would love to see a 90s 2.3l ford ranger!

1,9TDI are probably one of the best engines from volkswagen/audi, however those engines do have few faults, most notably low sitting oil sump, that gets punctured easily, especially in older škoda octavia before 2000, where the sump is sitting really low. After all, those are people´s cars, and they get driven offroad sometimes. Also, the camshaft/lifter seizing problem, simillar to the mercedes m156, though it usually happens in the region of 200-300+ tkm rather than the m156 not making it past 100 tkm lol. results were simillar though, dropped valve into the cylinder is a thing that can be seen.
Sometimes, especially with the raw engines, they could drink quite a lot of oil, especially in summer, that was even worsening the camshaft problem.
The later PD engines, especially the 96kw versions, tended to suffer from injector clogging, and generally were said to be less reliable. the 66 kw is the most basic and simple, but good reliability. In my mind, the best version overall is probably the 81kw version with variable geometry turbo, provides better driving characteristics, and if well used, can be as reliable as the regular turbo version. Just don´t let any 1,9 TDI run cold, check the oil, and especially with the variable geometry turbos, drive with little throttle before turning off the engine, but sometimes (once per fuel tank) give the engine good beans and let it rev out even to like 4500-5000 RPM. Do it only with the engine with oil, properly warmed up etc, since the only time i saw those engines blown up, was with one guy, that has the 4×4 haldex octavia, and uses it to carry trailer with firewood. He is heavy footed, especially after startup, and during the winter, in -20 °C he floored it on cold engine somwhere in the forest, and in the high rpm, probably due to the frozen oil, the timing belt jumped few teeth and two pistons got slaughtered. so yeah, one of the engines drawback are the users😂

Be interesting to see the modern generation 2.0 TDI version in a tear down to see the differences

I don’t know what you guys got in the Golf 4 1.9TDI’s where you are based, over here in sunny South Africa they came with the AHF engine, it looks very similar to the one featuring in your video, perhaps a little modernised. We got ours brand new in 2001. 600k kilometres and still going strong. Never been opened just serviced regularly…

THANK YOU very much for this video, those engines are very famous here in Europe more specifically in Portugal guys love that engine and tune it to the max. I have one myself an 1.9 tdi AGR 90hp which I rebuilt 2 months ago. Quoting "One of the best diesel engines ever made"

After watching this, I really miss my 1996 Passat TDI wagon.

What about the old 1600 air cooled flat fours ?

Criticism: none. This channel rules.

1.9tdi 110 and 130 PD's were the best

I miss my 97’ Passat 1.9 Tdi. I put about 150k miles on it before selling it with 190k when I needed a truck. Only had to replace the turbo at around 140k. Got around 47 mpg and it sure saved me a lot of $$ commuting.

33:50 Jetta Mk2 owner here: that same engine block is coming from the 70s. That very same casting is used from 1.5 carburettor petrol engines (like 55HP or something) up to the very top performer 1.8 G60 electronic injected motors, plus all the diesel engines from naturally aspirated up to TDI engines. Now this is what I call versatile 😅 Interesting was that water pump impeller, I've never seen one in brass, usually they are cast iron… It's been a while now that I've seen one of these dismantled, was nice to see one again. Fortunately, my engine in a Mk2 Jetta GT from '85 still runs fine 🥰so hopefully I won't see one again in a short time 🤞🤞🤞

My '98 AHU TDI made it to 330,000 miles. About 200,000 were on biodiesel and free used fryer oil! Best engine EVER! The only repairs to the engine were alternator and starter and one injector. Floor pan did rust out.

That’s a rebuildable engine

If you do another VW engine, how about a VR6 3.6. Definitely use more gas than a 1.9TDI, but can last extremely well if properly serviced as well.

haha…Toyota 1/2/3 C series diesel was the best small disel ever built!

The "what if I do this" killed me.🤣🤣🤣

Yes, these engines are really good.They die only because of stupid owners like this exemplar. Let the engine rev high after cold start, make no oil change, drive
with low coolant or leaking cooler, ignore warning lamps, never have a look at the driving belt. After destroying the Engine blame the car brand for "bad quality".
So some legends of Volvo and VW are out in the net, but they are not true. Searching for bad Quality engines? Look at modern V6 like Jaguar and others…

I am no fan of VW, but credit is due where credit is due, this engine is really good.