I've owned a 1997 Golf 2.0 Automatic since new, and currently have approx. 125,000 miles on it. The car is well maintained, and I have had few problems with it. Recently the red BRAKE light will light up on the dash, but only at half brightness. When that happens, the HVAC won't work, and the wipers won't work. If you shut the engine down and restart, it might go back to normal. Sometimes I have to restart it 4 or 5 times to eliminate the problem. I've heard of electrical problemswith VW, but I've never heard of anything like this. WTF?! Any ideas?

 

wow...no other dash lights come on, just that one? Something's going on behind your dash, chaffed wire somewhere. Any other elctrical problems happen, like a speaker system was fried, or some other electrical was overloaded. Have you checked your fuses??

 

Thanks for the reply. That is the only light that comes on. I've checked the fuses, to no avail. About 7 years ago the A/C would stop working on/off, until eventually the car shut off in traffic with no warning. It was FLAT dead from that point. The dealer replaced the starter?, and that fixed everything. Does that even make sense? Could it be related now? Thanks

 

check the fueses on top of the battery
the left one will burn not blow so pull them out and check the contacts

 

Thanks again, I'll give that a shot. I did just clean/wash the engine compartment about 3 months ago, maybe water got in there and corroded things out.

 

is there a lot of corrosion on your battery??? try to look up under your dash, maybe you'll need a mirror, just kinda poke around and look at the wires...see if any one of them are questionable integrity.

 

I think I got 'er figured out. When moving the carto my garage inthe rain today, I noticed that when I was starting the engine (wipers were left on from before), the wipers would work. When I returned the key to the 'on' position, the wipers quit. I tried this several times with the same results. I then left it run with the wiper and fan switches 'on', and then jiggled the ignition key. Everything would then turn on and off. I've made an appointment for the dealer to replace the ignition. Thanks for everyone's help.

 

sweet! Welcome!

 

Hi, My Routan was running great. My son was in the car while it was running, with ac on and listening to his phone through the VES auxillary mini-stereo jack. He turned off the ignition, then on again to accessory, then everything went dark. Car has no response whatsoever. I connected a charger to try to start it, and I got a no fuse error. I think a fuse is blown. I've located the fuse box, and checked all the M fuses, they look fine. I think the next step is the testing the cartridge J fuses, then relays. Does anyone have any idea of where I might find the right fuse to change? Are there any other fuses that could cause this total blackout? Thanks.

 

Repeated exposure to a surge can damage electronics and drastically reduce their lifespan. Surges sometimes cannot be helped, as they're caused by lightning strikes, electric company slip-ups, or damaged power lines.





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