1995 VW Jetta

IRENE STEMBOKAS

MEMBER
1995 VOLKSWAGEN

My Jetta runs great but recently my tach and speedometer stopped working. They work sometimes then sometimes they don't. I noticed that the cold weather or having the car sit for a whole day will make it work.
Also, my back lights went out. The brake lights work, but the back lights do not.
I recently had it in for an oil change and they put the wrong oil in it. I ended up having to replace an oil pressure switch right after that because it was spraying oil out of the engine all over. Maybe this could be related somehow?
Thanks a bunch for your help.

3 Replies

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,754 POSTS

Does the odometer work?

The back lights, would that be the backup lights? There is a switch and wiring on the tranny to tell when the car is in reverse. The wire could have come disconnected or the switch itself could have failed.

Your speedometer and tach problem sounds like an electrical break. When cold it connects and probably stays working but when warm and no current it expands and disconnects. This could be and I believe it will prove to be the speedometer and tack itself. They are separate units or part of the same gauge?

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Saturday, January 13th, 2007 AT 5:54 PM

IRENE STEMBOKAS

MEMBER
2 POSTS

The odometer does work. It's not been failing when the tach goes out. The speedometer and tach are two seperate gauges and they both stop working at the same time.
I do have back-up lights and my brake lights work fine. I just don't have any night lights in the back. I do in the front. The parking lights in front don't seem to be affected. I changed all of the fuses just because one went out about 2 months ago for the radio. (I guess I'm a little overboard!)

Thanks so much for the response. I was told that I needed an instrument cluster that was going to cost about 400 dollars. I'd hate to have to spend that kind of money if it's just a tach and speedometer.

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Saturday, January 13th, 2007 AT 6:16 PM

BRUCE HUNT