86-92 TD purchase advice?

[iggi]

Hi,

This is a little outside the normal exciting performance talk but I hope some of you can help me out.

I'm shopping for a 86-92 Jetta or Golf 1.6 TD and would truly appreciate some shopping tips.

What is easily fixable?
What is a definite deal killer?
Acceptable specs.  e.g. compression, etc.
Other notes about the cars.  Things to watch for, weird problems, expensive to fix things, etc.

Thanks a ton.  Beer for whoever is local to me.

Ian

[chrissev]

watch the usual stuff.  Excessive smoke combined with low compression (less than 435psi) is bad.  Oil running down the front of the engine from the headgasket is bad.  Oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil is bad.  Change the timing belt and tensioner as soon as you buy the car and before you start driving it, unless you have documented evidence (ie a receipt from a garage) that the belt and tensioner were changed within the last 90,000km.   That is the limit.  

Pretty much anything and everything can be wrong with a 13-20 year old car.  Go in with your eyes open and check everything