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Car Forum / Volkswagen / Water Cooled Volkswagen Cars / June 200995 cabrio start power problem
I have a 1995 vw cabrio, 5 speed manual transmission and I am having a problem with the dash, car starting, bucking and stalling. I replaced the negative battery cable about 2 weeks ago because the old one was was badly corroded and my tach and speedometer would work intermittently (when it doesn't work, the needles usually bounce and I have replaced the cluster 2x's with no change). After the neg cable change, the car seemed to start as if it had more power (but the prob with the tach didn' t improve) but I noticed that about 1-2x's per every 5 starts, the car wouldn't start (no dash lights, no click, nothing) but when I turn the key again, the car would start as if nothing happened. I have rechecked the battery cables and they are on tight, with no corrosion. Over the past 3 days, I began to notice that the car "bucks" when I am on the freeway going over 55 mph (I haven't noticed this during street driving but I am constantly getting caught at lights). It does this about 2-3x's a day and 2 days ago, the car actually cut off at a light (but it started right back up). From a visual inspection, I can see that the ground strap to the cylinder head is badly corroded and the ground to the coil is just as bad. I am going to replace these this weekend and have my ignition coil checked but aside from that, is there anything else that I should check/test/ replace? FYI...I have already changed the distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs and wires about 2 months ago. Just an update. I decided to take the streets today (instead of the freeway) and it bucked! But this time I heard "clicking" from inside the dash. The car bucked several more times during the 45 minute trip (it seems that the clicking and bucking is after the car has warmed up for at least 20 minutes or more, and within a shorter time for freeway trips) and I was able to narrow it down to the fuse/relay panel. Relays 18 and a relay with a white cap (it sits right above the #19 & #20 fuse) were very hot. I will check my Bentley manual when I get home later today but if anyone knows what those 2 relays are, please let me know. TIA!!!! I vote ignition switch! AND how many keys are hanging from it? > Just an update. I decided to take the streets today (instead of the > freeway) and it bucked! But this time I heard "clicking" from inside [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > TIA!!!! > I vote ignition switch! > > AND how many keys are hanging from it? That sounds like a good guess. Also, since the battery cable was so corroded, you need to check something else. There's a cable tray on under the positive terminal that catches any run off from the battery and holds it on the main wiring harness for the engine. Dumb, dumb and dumber on VW's part. The acid eventually starts eating into the harness. Clean it out either with a commercial battery corrosion spray and rinse it until it's all cleared out, or cheap out like I did and use a baking soda and water solution to neutralize the acid and rinse it out very well. Inspect the wires for damage - mostly insulation eaten away. I was lucky. Only the outer covering had been damaged. Taped it up and it was good to go. Hopefully that's all that ever happens, but since you brought up the corrosion, thought it would be something to check... Mark '95 Jetta GLS (sold) '08 Jetta SEL > In article <uatIl.27783$yr3.23...@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com>, > vwdoc1nos...@pleasehotmail.com says... [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > '95 Jetta GLS (sold) > '08 Jetta SEL I will check this out as well. On Apr 24, 5:53 pm, "dave AKA vwdoc1" <vwdoc1nos...@pleasehotmail.com> wrote: > I vote ignition switch! > > AND how many keys are hanging from it? Lol! Well....There are a lot of keys hanging on my key chain (more than 10 but at least 18+ keys). I have all of my house keys, a set of keys for each of my cars and keys to my mom's property (but in my defense, I had a bad habit of locking my keys in my house/car but since there are a lot of them on my key chains, I notice right away if I have them or not and the loud jingle is a dead giveaway). I will check into the ignition switch (and leaving half of the keys off of the keychain) this coming weekend and park the car until then. I have my VW key in the ignition and nothing else. My truck has the ignition key, three house keys, a few padlock keys and some other keys. Way too many keys but I have had that key set for years and the truck for 20+. In any event for the VW one key is all I need to drive it. I have that huge storage compartment by the gps power connector to hold keys not required to drive car. i have emergency house keys in the garage and in the barn if I were to forget the house keys on the countertop. Much cheaper than wearing out the ignition switch. :-) >On Apr 24, 5:53 pm, "dave AKA vwdoc1" <vwdoc1nos...@pleasehotmail.com> >wrote: [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >check into the ignition switch (and leaving half of the keys off of >the keychain) this coming weekend and park the car until then. Well I took off all the extra keys and only have the cabrio key on the chain and have noticed that the "no start" problem (no electrical power at all) has went away. But the random bucking/stalling problem is occuring more often but I have noticed a few things that I didn't before: Aside from the relay clicking (the relay in the #12 position, #167- fuel pump? I have purchased a new one from the dealer and installed it with no success) that I mentioned earlier, I've also noticed that before the car stalls, the following things happen in this order; the car begins to idle slower and slower oil light flashes car stalls hard to start until 3-5 try stepping on/letting up on gas pedal has no effect whatsoever Are these the symptoms of a faulty fuel pump/filter or it's connections? I have checked all of the vacuum hoses (and have had to replace a few), grounding wires, the wires under the battery tray and the wiring in the engine compartment/under the dash and everything seems fine. I have made sure that all connectors are firmly connected and have checked the insulation on all the wires (the insulation on 1 wire to the ignition coil is cracked, I have repaired it with electrical tape until I have a chance to fix it properly) . I am thinking faulty fuel pump (or possibly a connector to it?) or clogged filter. I purchased the car in feb 06 used and the previous owner neglected it. I have replaced the starter, alternator, belts, ignition components (except the coil), battery, convertable top, instrument cluster, relays, fuses, air/oil filters, etc but not the fuel components. How hard is it to replace the fuel pump? I forgot to mention that the oil had been changed about 5 months ago and is still a light honey color (the transmission was replaced back in sept 08 and had been back/forth to the shop where it sat for a few months so I've been driving my back-up car). The coolant level is fine and when I check the fluids when the car stalls, there are no tell tell signs of a leak or bad compression (bubbly/foamy oil, engine ticking, burning oil, smoke, etc). One other thing that I did notice was that a week or so ago I did smell gas coming from the engine but when I pulled over to check it, I didn't see any leaks, spilled fuel and couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from except for the engine compartment. I will check the car out but may have to take it to the shop to see what is going on. (I've tried to pull the codes but the only one that comes up is 4444 so the problem doesn't seem to be emission related). >Well I took off all the extra keys and only have the cabrio key on the >chain and have noticed that the "no start" problem (no electrical [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > >How hard is it to replace the fuel pump? Some folks have had good luck reseating connections and loosening and tightening grounds. I have seen comments about the need to replace the ignition switch. Relay clicking might suggest you have problems wit the igntion switch. Hard to start usually suggests leaking injectors. Off the car cleaning or at least Techcron for a few tanks may help. Hmmm Then I would suspect the ign switch being faulty. If you ever take one apart you will notice that the springs inside holding the contacts to one another weaken due to heat. I have even "rebuilt" an ign switch by cleaning up the contacts and replacing the springs. This switch actually worked longer than an aftermarket switch that I purchased. lol You can purchase a good ign switch and just plug the harness to it and test out the stalling problem. Of course you will still need the key to unlock the steering wheel! Just a suggestion!  Signaturelater, (One out of many daves) > Well I took off all the extra keys and only have the cabrio key on the > chain and have noticed that the "no start" problem (no electrical [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > > How hard is it to replace the fuel pump? I just wanted to provide a quick update. There are actually 4 separate issues going on with my Cabrio: The ignition switch was faulty which is why the dash lights, battery, oil, seat belt, ect would either not light or would die out as I turned the key (You were dead on Mark!) The relay #109 was faulty which is why the car would randomly buck and die out slowly. Also, it was the reason why I couldn' t pull any trouble codes and the car would die on me when I tried. Once I replaced it, I haven' had any other problems with bucking/stallig and the car drives perfectly. The oil leak was from the rear of the oil pan gasket. And lastly, the instrument cluster is faulty. I plugged in a cluster that was borrowed from another car and I it worked fine. Thanks everyone for your help! Congrats to locating the problems. And thanks for the update! >I just wanted to provide a quick update. > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Thanks everyone for your help! Troublesome car you've got there! This information proved useful in diagnosing a faulty switch in my 95 Jetta. Thanks for posting back your final solutions. |
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