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95 Passat 1.9 TD, instrument cluster, steering & fuel ec

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Forrest:
Howdy,

I've got a '95 Passat 1.9L TD that was imported to the US from Canada.  First question is about fuel economy.  I've been getting 32mpg on straight highway driving, which seems really low to me compared to both the TDIs and the 1.6L VWs here in the States which seem to get 40+ regardless of model.  Is this normal?

Second one is...  My instrument cluster apears to be totally batty.  The temp gauge, and fuel level gauge generaly aren't accurate, often the temp will be nearly pegged at the top, and the temp light on, when the car is far from overheating, and other times the gauge will just drop to 0.  Oil light often comes on for no reason, oil is full.  Speedometer seems to work consistantly.  The tach seems to work, unlesss the dash lights are on.

If the dash lights are on, the tach and temp will almost always drop to zero, the speedometer often goes to zero, sometimes the fuel gauge will go to zero, also the dash lights themselves aren't on, but the dial is in the on position.  

This is probably the worst thing to do, but I got annoyed one day, and slapped the dash in the upper left near the speaker.  Lo and behold... the clock re-set, the dash lights came on, and the gauges all resumed working (though temp/fuel still often reflect very incorrect data).   Any idea what I should be fixing here?

Next, the steering makes a kind of creaky, stretching, grindy noise whenever I'm turning the wheel below about 1500 rpm.  Above that seems to be fine.   The AC also seems to work fine at high rpms but makes the car seem to run really rough below 1500 rpm.  Any ideas on this would be swell too.

Thanks

ricosuave:
the smack was telling - maybe just loose connections?

mainer:
www.tdiclub.com
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starrd:
Forrest, the gauge problem is most likely the voltage regulator in the gauge cluster.  Many of these had problems with cold solder joints for the voltage regulator socket.  It's an easy fix.  If you send me your e-mail address, I can send you a document which illustrates the fix.  I'm not totally sure on the 95, but does it have the mechanical speedo (cable drive)?  Anyway, I would try here first - I had the same problem with my 93 TD. 

This fix is for the fuel gauge and temperature gauge fluctuation problem.  It is also possible the plug in the back of the cluster is loose, or a bad ground.

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