Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Dad passed away in March and Mom gave us his beloved 1999 Jetta TDI. It just reached 129,000 miles and was running great. The AC broke last week, just started blowing hot air. Took it to a mechanic and they replaced the compressor, condensor, dryer, expansion valve and put in freon ($1400). Picked it up at noon on Tuesday. Used it Wednesday morning and it broke down at noon on Wednesday. Will not start at all. Took it back to the same mechanic and he said the timing belt tensioner gave out and the belt came off (estimating $800-$1000). He is now in the process of replacing the water pump and timing belt and still cannot get it started. The scary part is that he has to bring someone in to adjust the timing belt because no one in his shop can do it????? We have never owned a VW nor have we owned a diesel engine. We are bummed out as we are now second guessing ourselves as we should have gone to a VW mechanic, maybe shouldn't have spent the money on the AC (however we live in Florida), or should have sold it before anything went wrong. Is it really possible that it just happened to break down the day after they worked on it? The mechanic acts like he is just guessing about the water pump and tensioner and might be in over his head and won't admit it. When do we bail and call the salvage yard? We were really keeping it for sentimental reasons and as a backup car. Thanks for any input.
P.S. Records show the timing belt was changed at 80,000 miles.

 

Welcome to the forum.

You should have taken it to someone who deals with TDI's. The set the injection pump timing you need a device called VCDS which VW tecnicians should have.

If you didn't know anything about your newly acquired vehicle you should have Googled it. There is a fantastic TDI Forum which I'm a mod on. You can search for any problem you have. Timing belt and tensioner breakages are very common. Depending on your model they should be changed every 80,000 miles and the tensioner at 160,000 miles. Even though your records show it was changed at 80,000 miles I think you were just unlucky.

https://volkswagenforum.com/forum/ne...gnature-34185/