Hey Everybody. New Volkswagen owner here, and I gotta say I'm a little intimidated by all the problems with my car.
I actually got a 1999 2.0 L New Beetle for my girlfriend for free. However, there were lotssss of problems (hence the free).
I spent the money for a new battery so I could get it to a mechanic. I spent $900 dollars at a mechanic for a lot of the problems, but It's still got quite a few that I'm trying to tackle myself because I'm not made of money.
I'm fairly certain I'm capable of fixing the rest of the problems except one that has got me a little worried, because I don't know where go with my troubleshooting.
A little background of previous issues that may be important.
- Mechanic fixed the charging system by replacing wiring and plugs etc. Said they were really corroded, huge mess. This solved the cars problem with locking the doors randomly, beeping, and accidental alarms being set off.
- Stereo was not working. I pulled it out and put an aftermarket stereo deck in and It's working well again, but while I was doing this the car would beep and lock the passenger door randomly.
- Fuel Guage is not working
- Tachometer is not working
Speedometer is working great, and the trip is there, but my fuel and rpms are at 0 all the time.
I've checked the fuses.
I have checked the fuel sender unit with a multimeter and it seems to be working right, so this leads me to assume that it's the cluster that is faulty, but with all the weird stuff happening above, I'm also a little afraid that I have a deeper problem with wiring (maybe a ground problem?).
I've pulled the instrument cluster out, but it was too late to see well enough to get the connectors off so I came in for the night. However I'm not sure where to go from here anyway so I thought maybe some of you more knowledgeable owners could help.
I figure I should probably test the cluster but I haven't a clue how. So tomorrow I'm thinking I'll take it the rest of the way out and head to the dealer. Maybe they can test it for me? I dunno, that might be a pipe dream. 'Paranoid they'll just tell me it's broken anyhow and try to sell me something.
SO. What would you do next?
Think it's a deeper wiring problem? Where to start?
or Test the cluster maybe?
If anyone knows how to test one and are capable of explaining it as if I were 5 then that'd be awesome. Hopefully the dealer can do this for me though.
If the cluster is faulty then what do you do?
Buy a new one? or repair the old?
I looked on one website and their quote for a repair on my cluster was $225. I really don't have that much money (it's already being spent on different parts for the car).
Anything help or support will help me not feel so flustered guys.
Thanks so much!
I actually got a 1999 2.0 L New Beetle for my girlfriend for free. However, there were lotssss of problems (hence the free).
I spent the money for a new battery so I could get it to a mechanic. I spent $900 dollars at a mechanic for a lot of the problems, but It's still got quite a few that I'm trying to tackle myself because I'm not made of money.
I'm fairly certain I'm capable of fixing the rest of the problems except one that has got me a little worried, because I don't know where go with my troubleshooting.
A little background of previous issues that may be important.
- Mechanic fixed the charging system by replacing wiring and plugs etc. Said they were really corroded, huge mess. This solved the cars problem with locking the doors randomly, beeping, and accidental alarms being set off.
- Stereo was not working. I pulled it out and put an aftermarket stereo deck in and It's working well again, but while I was doing this the car would beep and lock the passenger door randomly.
- Fuel Guage is not working
- Tachometer is not working
Speedometer is working great, and the trip is there, but my fuel and rpms are at 0 all the time.
I've checked the fuses.
I have checked the fuel sender unit with a multimeter and it seems to be working right, so this leads me to assume that it's the cluster that is faulty, but with all the weird stuff happening above, I'm also a little afraid that I have a deeper problem with wiring (maybe a ground problem?).
I've pulled the instrument cluster out, but it was too late to see well enough to get the connectors off so I came in for the night. However I'm not sure where to go from here anyway so I thought maybe some of you more knowledgeable owners could help.
I figure I should probably test the cluster but I haven't a clue how. So tomorrow I'm thinking I'll take it the rest of the way out and head to the dealer. Maybe they can test it for me? I dunno, that might be a pipe dream. 'Paranoid they'll just tell me it's broken anyhow and try to sell me something.
SO. What would you do next?
Think it's a deeper wiring problem? Where to start?
or Test the cluster maybe?
If anyone knows how to test one and are capable of explaining it as if I were 5 then that'd be awesome. Hopefully the dealer can do this for me though.
If the cluster is faulty then what do you do?
Buy a new one? or repair the old?
I looked on one website and their quote for a repair on my cluster was $225. I really don't have that much money (it's already being spent on different parts for the car).
Anything help or support will help me not feel so flustered guys.
Thanks so much!