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What to look for when purchasing a caddy
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concepts12
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 5:53 am    Post subject: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 9:58 am    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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.
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williamM
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 10:14 am    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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.
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crsmp5
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 5:22 am    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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..
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stewardc
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 3:26 am    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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..


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
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 8:23 am    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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.
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dub01
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:25 am    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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..


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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PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 11:18 pm    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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
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crukab
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 7:18 pm    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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...


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Work'en Truck !!

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:40 pm    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

Those pics remind me of some of the towing I did with my Rabbit.

Because Racecar
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rtroy
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 5:20 pm    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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..


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
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Jos.Hall
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PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 2:03 am    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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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PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 3:34 am    Post subject: Re: What to look for when purchasing a caddy Reply with quote

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.
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