96 bad electrical proble. need help :(

[evangelos]

hello vw guru's,

the car was working fine, parked it for aprox 6 hours.
the temp was dry aprox 2C here in Montreal and i tried
to start the and nothing. no "click". the odometer and
time display would blank out when i tried to crank the
car. when i let go they reapear but the clock is
reset. it seems like the attempt to start the car send
off crazy signals.

came back a few hours later and it would hear the
"click" sound on the crank but some switches that i
have made for my veggie conversion worked and did not
work while the key was on the "ON" possition. the
problem is very inconsistant.

i spoke the a fellow who supposedly know about vw's
and he told me that the key cylender is not making
proper contacts when turned.

has anyone else had this issue? is the guy correct?

not sure if this means anything but my fusebox is
under the steering wheel in the cabine.

i also noticed in the past few weeks that on the first attempt to crank the car the glow plug light would not light but on the second attempt it would.

could this be a relay gone bad? if so which one? there
a relay that is just for egnition?

with all of this the car never started.

i have not fiddled with any electrical stuff in the past couple of months.

any suggestions?


evan

[rabbid79]

I once had a 1980 Porsche 924 with a bad ignition switch.  It caused all sorts of problems.  For a long time I thought I had a hot-start problem, because if I let the car cool down, it would usually start back up.  Once I figured out what the problem was and replaced the switch (cheap and easy), the problems went away.  Physically, the switch in my '80 924 could be the same as your '96 VW.  They used to share a bunch of the same parts back in the day.  I'm not saying that this is your problem, but it's an easy enough thing to try, and I wouldn't rule it out.  Good luck.

[Chestrockwell]

I've had the same problem in my 97 Jetta and my pal in his 95 Golf. In my car it was the starting problem as well as the headlights would cut out randomly  :shock:  Turned out to be the ignition switch in both cars. New switch is $30 or $40 from VW or the parts store. Easy to do if you have a few tools and a torch makes life easy. I'm sure somebody here will be able to tell you all the exact tools required for the job.  If you're confident working on your car, you'll probably be able to figure it out; if not, don't bother with it.

[evangelos]

thanks for the replies,

i had a chance to speak to a young vw guru, not sure if he posts here (wingaman), and he pointed to the egnition switch as well but since the alarm would trigger on and off he suggest i join the 2 red wires on the alarm module of which it should over ride the alarm because it cost nothing and if the problem would persist then go for the egnition switch.

but there is a large number of people who have told me its the ignition switch asside from this great forum of which i do trust.

today was ssoooooooooooooooooooooo  cold and windy outside i just could not gather up enough strength to  battle to attack the problem.

for arguments sake do u guys think its best to change the ignition switch just the same because the car is older and winter is here!!??

thanks for the help,

evan

[Chestrockwell]

Older??? haha it's still new especially if it's a diesel. I actually took my switch apart and cleaned it up... works fine but had a replacement been available I wouldn't have wasted all that time rebuilding a silly switch.

[burn_your_money]

It could also be a bad battery, or poor connection (either ground, or positive)

That stuff's free to check, so I'd start there. Plus good clean connections never hurt anyone... well that's probably not true, I've been electircuted a few times :lol:

[evangelos]

I've had the same problem in my 97 Jetta and my pal in his 95 Golf. In my car it was the starting problem as well as the headlights would cut out randomly  :shock:  Turned out to be the ignition switch in both cars. New switch is $30 or $40 from VW or the parts store. Easy to do if you have a few tools and a torch makes life easy. I'm sure somebody here will be able to tell you all the exact tools required for the job.  If you're confident working on your car, you'll probably be able to figure it out; if not, don't bother with it.

i am looking at building up my courage to tackle this job on monday, can someone tell me where the switch is located, does the switch have a number? is it on a particular box? what type of tools do i need exactly?

thanks

[burn_your_money]

The ignition switch connects to the key cylinder. It's usually a white chunk of plastic (on mk1/2 anyways)
You need to remove the steering wheel, wiper/turn stalks and then the cylinder. There's a slight chance you can take it off without removing anything else, but I doubt it. If you have air bags make sure you disable them. Mark your steering wheels orientation prior to removing it

[evangelos]

this is on the mk3

[burn_your_money]

it should be about the same... give or take a few details

[evangelos]

It could also be a bad battery, or poor connection (either ground, or positive)

That stuff's free to check, so I'd start there. Plus good clean connections never hurt anyone... well that's probably not true, I've been electircuted a few times :lol:

when u r reffering to the ground - which one exactly? there is a large wire near the battery connecting somewhere close to the tranny (if my memory serves me right?). there are many ground points are some more prone to failure than others?

thanks for your time.

evan

[burn_your_money]

when u r reffering to the ground - which one exactly?

Any and all, vws are well known for their poor grounds, and the haywire they cause. Your car will be alot happier if you clean them all up

[745 turbogreasel]

I'd check battery voltage on no load, and while attempting to cank...

[evangelos]

Any and all, vws are well known for their poor grounds, and the haywire they cause. Your car will be alot happier if you clean them all up

are all ground points in the engine bay?

evan

[evangelos]

i was trying to invision the repair job and i seem to have confused myself.

is the ignition switch near the fuse box or behind the the key cylender housing?

i might be mixing up my information.

thanks to all who took the time to help me out.

evan