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concepts12 Samba Member
Joined: August 10, 2009 Posts: 86 Location: CT
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 5:53 am Post subject: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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So I'm not wanting to step on eny Cabby lovers shoes but I'm intrested in purchasing a cabby and like all vehicle they have their problems. Im intrested in buying one but before I go to take a look at it, I wanted to know what problems to look for.
Common areas that Rust
Engine (the one I'm looking at is a diesel) 1.5 or the 1.6
Electrical
Mechanical
That years have been know to be reliable 1979-1996
Who made the best caddy:
Westmoreland County,Pennsylvania,
U.S.
TAS Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
South Africa
Argentina[1]
Eny help is welcome
Jason |
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TDCTDI Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013 Posts: 12815 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 9:58 am Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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CaDDy or caBBy? Both are referenced. CaBBy's were German built & were not imported as diesels. CaDDy's in the US were built at Westmoreland. It's unlikely you'll find imported CaDDy's.
US built CaDDy's were 1980-1982 although there have been some 1979 production dates & late ones that were titled as 1983.
Normal rust is at strut towers, bed floor, & at body seams. You also need to look for rust/metal fatigue at frame horns where the front A-arms attach. _________________ Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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williamM Samba Member
Joined: August 07, 2008 Posts: 4333 Location: southwest Arizona
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 10:14 am Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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Check head gasket seam- and the # of notches- if fresh- suspect
This was a great engine- depends on how tight the head gasket was. Had interference fit on the valves and critical timing belt change every 60 thou- and pulleys- those teeth would wear rounded and spit belts and valves.
would get 40+ mpg- but had rabbit rear wheel bearings so for a truck- they didn't carry that big a load.
Check the fuse block for water damage- VW had a seal up campaign on (of all things) the radio antenna lead- it came thru the wheel well and dripped right on the fuse block.
The pump timing was critical- as was the fuel filter.
Hard start was almost always the glow plugs- you could check them all when doing a compression test by looking down the injector holes.
find a good book and the brown pamphlet from VW on trouble shooting.
Good luck- they did run a long time when treated right. _________________ some days I get up and just sit and think. Some days I just sit.
opinion untempered by fact is ignorance.
Don't step in any! |
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crsmp5 Samba Member
Joined: February 14, 2013 Posts: 301 Location: ohio
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 5:22 am Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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83 was half year... glue in windshields, gassers have a really unique cat for that 1/2 year too..
fyi.. usa exported caddy to rest of world till they moved the stuff from pa to build in europe.. so pa built round eyed rhd ones for the uk even..
rust
rain tray, only stamped serial # on body is the rain tray.. so if removed worthless.. but lots have hacked them out..
i will not look at any dropped low.. _________________ [url=http://cdn2.driiive.com/7037.jpg]Click to view image[/url] |
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stewardc Samba Member
Joined: August 06, 2005 Posts: 73
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 3:26 am Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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crsmp5 wrote: |
fyi.. usa exported caddy to rest of world till they moved the stuff from pa to build in europe.. so pa built round eyed rhd ones for the uk even..
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Give your head a shake! VW ONLY built squares in Pa, and they are the best IMHO. There are a few later euro Caddys around, but I never liked them. Buy a good rust free one, change to a Mk 2 1.6TD if the engine is questionable, and drive it. I've been doing this with mine for over 10 years now, and never had a bad day. |
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Old n' slow Samba Member
Joined: October 29, 2012 Posts: 619 Location: Western Maryland
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 8:23 am Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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Great little cars !! I've driven about 400,000 miles in commuter traffic in the three I owned.
All were used high mileage when I bought them, amazingly I never had a clutch or water pump wear out ( no rust problems either)......head gaskets though were a common problem. _________________ Currently own : 1969 Beetle w/ 1600cc, Single Port, Solex 30 PICT 2, Dist. 113 905 205 T, stock exhaust.
All my daily drivers gone but not forgotten;
1964(sunroof)1967 & (2)1968 Beetles , 1968 Squareback , 1963 (23 window )Deluxe Sunroof Bus , 1969 Westphalia camper, 1974 Dasher , 1985 Vanagon , (2) 1981 Rabbit Diesels & a 1991 Jetta Diesel . |
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dub01 Samba Member
Joined: September 21, 2016 Posts: 29 Location: Wrightsville, Pa
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:25 am Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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stewardc wrote: |
crsmp5 wrote: |
fyi.. usa exported caddy to rest of world till they moved the stuff from pa to build in europe.. so pa built round eyed rhd ones for the uk even..
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Give your head a shake! VW ONLY built squares in Pa, and they are the best IMHO. There are a few later euro Caddys around, but I never liked them. Buy a good rust free one, change to a Mk 2 1.6TD if the engine is questionable, and drive it. I've been doing this with mine for over 10 years now, and never had a bad day. |
Just to clarify this completely;
The Rabbit P/U was designed in the US for the US in mind. Once they finished the run in Pa, the tooling was shipped to then Yugoslavia where they built them for ROW markets until 1992. That was of course, when the civil war broke out and forced the plant to close. From there the tooling was sent to South Africa where it finished its production run. |
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16CVs Samba Member
Joined: February 22, 2004 Posts: 4020 Location: Redwood City, California
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Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 11:18 pm Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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Be sure to not buy the 8/6/4 engine,they were a real failure. Oh your talking VW rabbit truck and not a Cadillac, My bad.
Stacy _________________ 1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread. |
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crukab Samba Chef
Joined: December 13, 2002 Posts: 6114 Location: Vermont
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 7:18 pm Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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We picked up a '82 Diesel a few years back, California DRY, new head, runs great, we use it on our place here in Vt., they are a great yard rig w/ that low bed. Rust in the strut towers killed my 1st 3 Rabbit trucks, so get a DRY body...
Work'en Truck !!
_________________ Tom
My Pops:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604100&highlight=
I know you will always be with me, rest in peace with no more pain. 8/13/14.....
In the yard right now:
'51 Dodge 5 window truck
'65 Bug
'66 Singlecab
'82 Rabbit Truck Diesel from CALI
'86 Doublecab W/T
'91 Vanagon carat/wolfsbrg.Tiico
'88 Dodge Ram pickup
'11 Jetta Wagon |
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ps2375 Samba Member
Joined: April 24, 2014 Posts: 2471 Location: Meridian,ID
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:40 pm Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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Those pics remind me of some of the towing I did with my Rabbit.
Because Racecar
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rtroy Samba Member
Joined: June 03, 2009 Posts: 259 Location: California
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Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 5:20 pm Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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stewardc wrote: |
crsmp5 wrote: |
fyi.. usa exported caddy to rest of world till they moved the stuff from pa to build in europe.. so pa built round eyed rhd ones for the uk even..
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Give your head a shake! VW ONLY built squares in Pa, and they are the best IMHO. There are a few later euro Caddys around, but I never liked them. Buy a good rust free one, change to a Mk 2 1.6TD if the engine is questionable, and drive it. I've been doing this with mine for over 10 years now, and never had a bad day. |
Hi Stewardc,
Can you please clarify some as it may help me a lot... I just rescued two VW Pickups from the (fairly but not completely) dry CA chaparral desert and one has a known seized engine. The other was said to be running when parked due to bad fifth gear. If we find the supposedly good engine has a lot of issues, you're saying we can swap out to a Mark 2 1.6 turbo diesel? (I'm a newbie to these vehicles, haven't stumbled yet on a good description of the "mark" delineations, so I'm a little lost.) ... Such a swap is a "bolt in" with "no modifications", or is it a potential headache for the uninitiated?
Thanks much,
Richard _________________ Richard
Karmann Ghia and Porsche 356 enthusiast
Founder, The Karmann Ghia Club of N. America |
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Jos.Hall Samba Member
Joined: January 29, 2011 Posts: 336 Location: Sunny So Cal.
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Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 2:03 am Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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mk1 =75-84 watercooled
mk2 =85-92 watercooled
mk3 =93-98.5 watercooled
mk4 =98.5-2005.5 watercooled
mk5 and 6 = don't know don't care
As for the swap, mk2 1.6td is a direct swap. Many of the other mk2 and mk3 engine swaps aren't too bad either but are more intensive (especially with electrical) |
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TDCTDI Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013 Posts: 12815 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 3:34 am Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy |
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Jos.Hall wrote: |
As for the swap, mk2 1.6td is a direct swap. |
Sorta, the mk2 had a different engine mount configuration, the problem with the diesels is that the mount for the mk1 is also the bracket for the injection pump. It all bolts up but swapping the pump bracket is a PITA. _________________ Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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