Hi, I am new here. I have a 1996 Golf 2.0L 5 speed and the starter wont engage. I have no power to the starter solenoid. The starter works fine with a jumper wire and the car can be push started. I checked and I don't have a interrupt switch on the clutch pedal, which I find kind of weird since it's a 96 and all. Any help would be nice.

 

In case someone reads this, I found it. Ignition switch was bad. Wired up a push button starter and all was well.

 

Those ignition switch, tend to go bad after a while on those MK3 models. Same thing happened to mine, during the winter. I'm glad you found the problem.