BUY WITH CARE

Recall 11V490000 (2011): on 2009-2012 Jetta/Jetta Sportwagen, 2010-2012 Golf and 2010-2012 Audi A3 with the 2.0L TDI common-rail diesel, the fuel-injection pulses can coincide with the natural frequency of injector line #2 under certain load and RPM conditions. The resulting resonance stresses the line, which can develop small cracks and leak fuel; leaking fuel near an ignition source can cause a fire. The remedy installs an improved #2 injector line and adds vibration dampers to all of the injector lines, free of charge. Corpus complaints in these windows corroborate the mechanism with diesel fuel leaks and sudden no-starts.

Check — Run the VIN through VW/Audi's recall lookup and confirm 11V490000 is complete. On any 2.0 TDI of this vintage, check for a diesel-fuel odor or wet fuel lines around the engine before buying.