1997 (1998?) California Pop Top

[JBj]

I just bought my first T4 California and I am very happy to have it. It has around 130K miles, lots of recent work done to it, and many great qualities. It does have the 1.9TD which is a new engine for me. I have had VW TDIs for over a decade and have done tons of work on them including full engine swaps and all kinds of modifications so I am sure I will tinker a little bit with the 1.9 but I am not expecting a power house, just a nice reliable engine.

One question I have is that the VIN Code has "W" in the 10th digit which indicates 1998 model year but it was sold/registered in Germany at the end of June 1997, seemingly before the 1998 model year would have officially started. It is definitely a W, not a V, as indicated on all of the original paperwork and on the van itself. Is this common?

I am looking forward to learning more from this community. Thanks in advance for all the help.

 

[calikev]

I just bought my first T4 California and I am very happy to have it. It has around 130K miles, lots of recent work done to it, and many great qualities. It does have the 1.9TD which is a new engine for me. I have had VW TDIs for over a decade and have done tons of work on them including full engine swaps and all kinds of modifications so I am sure I will tinker a little bit with the 1.9 but I am not expecting a power house, just a nice reliable engine.

One question I have is that the VIN Code has "W" in the 10th digit which indicates 1998 model year but it was sold/registered in Germany at the end of June 1997, seemingly before the 1998 model year would have officially started. It is definitely a W, not a V, as indicated on all of the original paperwork and on the van itself. Is this common?

I am looking forward to learning more from this community. Thanks in advance for all the help.

Pm me the vin I will see if I can check for you

 

[WelshGas]

I just bought my first T4 California and I am very happy to have it. It has around 130K miles, lots of recent work done to it, and many great qualities. It does have the 1.9TD which is a new engine for me. I have had VW TDIs for over a decade and have done tons of work on them including full engine swaps and all kinds of modifications so I am sure I will tinker a little bit with the 1.9 but I am not expecting a power house, just a nice reliable engine.

One question I have is that the VIN Code has "W" in the 10th digit which indicates 1998 model year but it was sold/registered in Germany at the end of June 1997, seemingly before the 1998 model year would have officially started. It is definitely a W, not a V, as indicated on all of the original paperwork and on the van itself. Is this common?

I am looking forward to learning more from this community. Thanks in advance for all the help.

I believe VW start their Model Year on 1st July the previous year, so 1st July 1997 to 30th June 1998 would be model year 1998.
However, I believe some vehicles with the new model year are often built prior to 30th June rather than absolutely from 1st July.

 

[JBj]

Pm me the vin I will see if I can check for you

It doesn't look like I have that option.

 

[WelshGas]

It doesn't look like I have that option.

Only VIP members, a perk of Membership together with all the Discounts VIP membership offers.

 

[JBj]

VW start their Model Year on 1st July the previous year, so 1st July 1997 to 30th June 1998 would be model year 1998.
However, I believe some vehicles with the new model year are often built prior to 30th June rather than absolutely from 1st July.

Thanks! This is what I have read as well and this one was sold on the 26th of June 1997 in Germany so it could have been released into the wild a few days early.

 

[JBj]

Only VIP members, a perk of Membership together with all the Discounts VIP membership offers.

I have seen that when browsing around; considering the prompt for a PM came from the admin/founder of the website I think he is aware too.

 

[Vagophile]

I will tinker a little bit with the 1.9 but I am not expecting a power house, just a nice reliable engine

Welcome. It sounds as if you know what you are doing, I hope that it gives you years of enjoyment.
I understand that this engine can be tuned for better performance, but maybe not after 130k miles.

 

[JBj]

Welcome. It sounds as if you know what you are doing, I hope that it gives you years of enjoyment.
I understand that this engine can be tuned for better performance, but maybe not after 130k miles.

It has a new (remanufactured) engine less than 1K miles ago so I think it will be alright to play around with a little bit. It seems it had a cam belt issue and the owner sunk a ton of money into it. I have over £8K of receipts from the last 13 months for engine, maintenance, body work, suspension so it is in beautiful condition.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

I just bought my first T4 California and I am very happy to have it. It has around 130K miles, lots of recent work done to it, and many great qualities. It does have the 1.9TD which is a new engine for me. I have had VW TDIs for over a decade and have done tons of work on them including full engine swaps and all kinds of modifications so I am sure I will tinker a little bit with the 1.9 but I am not expecting a power house, just a nice reliable engine.

One question I have is that the VIN Code has "W" in the 10th digit which indicates 1998 model year but it was sold/registered in Germany at the end of June 1997, seemingly before the 1998 model year would have officially started. It is definitely a W, not a V, as indicated on all of the original paperwork and on the van itself. Is this common?

I am looking forward to learning more from this community. Thanks in advance for all the help.

We had the 1.9 TD. It will happily sit at 70mph on the motorway and is well torqued for its 68bhp! Super reliable engine as not much to go wrong.

Suggest to fit EGR blanking plates (easy DIY job), and add some fuel additive such as Rhino...especially if it’s only been used previously for shorter runs.

The only thing that eventually went on ours was the rubber seal on the diesel pump. Most decent Marine places can refurbish the pump for approx £200/£300 (We got ours done in Hove.)

Shed a bit of weight by fitting alloy wheels & alloy spare, and then it will be like driving a sports car!

 

[JBj]

We had the 1.9 TD. It will happily sit at 70mph on the motorway and is well torqued for its 68bhp! Super reliable engine as not much to go wrong.

Suggest to fit EGR blanking plates (easy DIY job), and add some fuel additive such as Rhino...especially if it’s only been used previously for shorter runs.

The only thing that eventually went on ours was the rubber seal on the diesel pump. Most decent Marine places can refurbish the pump for approx £200/£300 (We got ours done in Hove.)

Shed a bit of weight by fitting alloy wheels & alloy spare, and then it will be like driving a sports car!

For the EGR blanking plates is that something people are making themselves or is there someone that has them for sale?

I hear ya on the diesel pump; this one was rebuilt about 7K miles ago so it must be a common issue.

I don't know much about them but it has Intra KBA 43383 15 inch alloy wheels on it already so that may fit what you are talking about for a lighter weight wheel. I just tried googling them and all of the info came up with German websites so it may be something sold there.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

For the EGR blanking plates is that something people are making themselves or is there someone that has them for sale?

I hear ya on the diesel pump; this one was rebuilt about 7K miles ago so it must be a common issue.

I don't know much about them but it has Intra KBA 43383 15 inch alloy wheels on it already so that may fit what you are talking about for a lighter weight wheel. I just tried googling them and all of the info came up with German websites so it may be something sold there.

EGR blanking plates from eBay:

The diesel pump on ours had done over 160k miles when the seal went.

Ours came with steels, so we just swapped for load rated ones from a caravelle. You already have alloys so just keep them on.