I'm completely new to Volkswagens, I'll admit. I thought I knew about cars until I looked under the hood of this car.

We've had a few problems with it after buying it for $600 (a steal for just needing it as a temporary car).

It is a manual, and as I was teaching my fiancé how to drive it, the selector rod broke off and well, it wouldn't shift. We got it fixed, and had a new rod ball put on with new bushings.

After that, it ran beautifully. But tonight it wouldn't start after my fiance took it to put gas in it.

From what he tells me, it sounds like it's a problem with the starter. I got in the car myself and tried to start it. No cranking, no clicking, just a slight electrical noise that you'd hear in any car when you started it. If it hadn't been raining, I would have tried to push start it, but I doubt it'd work.

It's a 1992 Jetta GL, 5 Speed with 134,000 miles. All the fluids are fine, battery is fine (no lights dimmed when trying to start) and it's been running without problems it just won't start.

Does it sound like a starter problem? If so, how much would a new starter cost? Or could it be a fuse/fusible link issue? Where can I find the fusible links and fuses?

I also had one more question. I've never started the car by turning the key. The car itself has an "ignition button" above the headlamp switch. Is this aftermarket or did all 92s have this? I haven't found any answers looking for it online.

Any help is appreciated. I'm just so used to my Mitsubishis, this is new to me.

 

That ignition button is aftermarket. I hope you didn't buy a stolen car. [sm=smiley2.gif] I would have your battery tested before you do anything else. It can seem like it's fine when it's actually failing.