1984 Rabbit will not turn over

[Trent]

Car stopped turning over.  New starter, newer battery.  I'm thinking it's the ignition switch?  Does anyone know how I could check that?  Are there any fuses that could cause this?  I'm new to rabbits and diesel engines.  Car starts if I arc the starter.  Any help would be much appreciated.

[ORCoaster]

Trent,  If the car starts using jumper cables then you have voltage at the fuel solenoid and that comes from the Ignition key.  You may have a wire problem on the starter solenoid side.  Which could indeed be the ignition swithch.  You can take the cover off the bottom the steering wheel and see the back of the switch.  it may just be a loose wire.  I take the panel off the bottom of the dash on my Rabbit by removing the two screws then remove the two screws that hold on the cowling of the steering wheel.  Seeing up in there is a bear as you need to lay on you back or sit in the seat and use a mirror and a light.  Lately I have pulled the drivers seat out since it is so easy to do.  that gives me a better place to lay then across the door and up into the pedal area.

Hope that gets you  started. 

[Rabbit79]

First thing I'd do is check for voltage on the wire that goes to the starter solenoid with the key in the "start' position. If you have voltage there then you probably got a bad starter (well... not technically the starter, since you've already established that it works, but the solenoid. Since they come as one unit, you'll be replacing the whole thing if that's the problem). If not then you need to start going back upstream. Ignition switch is a possibility, also on some Rabbits there is a seatbelt lock out relay which will keep you from starting the car unless your seatbelt is latched. That whole deal is a PITA if you ask me, but it is pretty easy to by-pass.

[air-cooled or diesel]

Ignition switch is a possibility, also on some Rabbits there is a seatbelt lock out relay which will keep you from starting the car unless your seatbelt is latched. That whole deal is a PITA if you ask me, but it is pretty easy to by-pass.

yea about '79 we figured out pretty quick to disable the seatbelt saftey, as i recall theres a wire or 2 running to the seatbelts, both front(?possible?), also 1 of these could be bad and giving a permanent false reading, as i recall pulling wires (@connector) solves this,

[LOBOTAC]

Bad ground path will cause all sorts of problems.  replace cables, add extra ground straps to alternator, frame, engine, transmission.

[CarlosA]

The ignition switch in this case is very tricky. I had an impossible to track down issue where the pump solenoid would be active when the key is on, but would lose voltage when cranked to "start" position. This was due to wear inside the ignition switch. I carried around a remote starter thumb button thing for a couple months.