Greetings.

I am currently considering a private party purchase of a 2002 Passat
GLS with the 1.8t engine and tiptronic. The price is fair according to
Internet resources (and fixed since it will be a lease buyout). The
car has 14k miles, and is in near-perfect condition.

One problem I found: it is 4k miles overdue for the 10k oil change,
and the 5k was most likely *not* synthetic (US$23 at a VW dealer), so
it has been running dino oil for 9k miles.

The oil sludge problem with this engine has me worried. I don't want
to be facing an engine replacement/rebuild down the road and I fear
that the lack of documentation for a 10k service would be enough for VW
to reject any claim under the 8 year extended warranty on the engine.

Should I buy it, change the oil, and hope for the best? Should I look
for another car?

Thanks for any thoughts or insight.

-James