Our Community is 940,000 Strong. Join Us.


'97 Jetta Won't Start (not battery or starter)


cotehockeypuck
01-26-2005, 09:28 AM
My '97 Jetta wont start, so we replaced the starter (again) and cleaned and had the battery checked and its fine as well. So we tried the Neutral saftey switch and it still dosen't work. Please help! I'm running out of ideas and I dont want to take it to VW because they charge $89.00 just to tell you what's wrong with it.

boschmann
01-26-2005, 03:29 PM
Does the solenoid click, indicating power is getting to it? Is the alarm system operating correctly?

cotehockeypuck
01-26-2005, 03:42 PM
Yes, the solenoid does click and we used a reader to make sure its getting power. And yes, the alarm system is working correctly.

boschmann
01-27-2005, 03:21 PM
First I would carefully check the ground cable from battery to the engine & body. Also check the positive cable at the starter. The earlier A2 cars had a similar problem, on them the solenoid would draw too many amps for the rest of the wiring (ignition switch, relay, safety switch) to handle. Yours could be this or just a bad solenoid. Try connecting a jumper wire directly from the battery to the small "trigger" wire on the solenoid. If it only clicks it's the starter, if it cranks I can tell you a way to hook up an auxiliary relay into the circuit (that was VW's fix for the earlier cars).

Add your comment to this topic!