"New" car, some questions. Bulbs, fuel gauge, wires, oil

Hello,

I just got an 87 Golf 1 Cabrio, so super excited, but I do have some concerns, and I thought I list them all in one topic, since most of them I think/hope are very minor.

Noticed fuse nr 18 was broken, and replaced that, got the horn working, but some problems still remain.

First, the green light from the dash does not blink, the indicators work and they also make the clicking sound, but the little light just does nothing.

Second, the fuel gauge worked when I was driving home but after refilling, stopped working.

The engine bay looks good from the top, the car is mostly without rust and the interior is freshly renovated, but from the bottom, I see some hoses, etc. that are "wet", I have attached a pic with 3 oily details, would like to know if that is something serious and if I should avoid driving and if could I manage to fix that stuff myself

 

I also attached pictures of 2 wires/plugs that don't go anywhere, From the boot I see some speaker cables, I guess it had some wires added for sound system.

 



Also from the boot, the rear plate number wires are supposed to just hang freely?

It has been over 10 years since I have owned an older car, so just getting back into the hobby. 

Check your fuses for the turns.  Lower number is for the hazards and f19 for the turns.

Hoses are the power steering, they are about normal.
Wait for you to get a lower mount of fuel of fuel  as it need to be at 3/4 to half before doing and service on the sender.

Is your water temp gauge working?  Yes, then the issue is in the sending unit, no, then your issue is the 10V stabilizer in the clocks.

I have how-to links in the archive section that may help you click the link in my signature.

Hey, thanks for quick reply. Water temp seems to be working, it goes to about quarter way usually, haven't driven more than 20 minutes at a time tho. I went over every single fuse, all others seem to be fine.

Oh also, the driver side mirror housing is very wobbly, glass inside is fine. The passenger side is super solid all around

After 20 minutes your temp gauge should be at mid point or a little to the right.  So I would suspect that you need to plump your main clock connector,  add a new ground point to the main cluster pin 2, and then test both gauges.  Now you could have a lower number t-stat than what is normal 95C rated.

You can use a 9V dc Battery to test all the circuit path from the sender to the Gauge.  see my how to threads.

The mirror housings can get loose where the spring clamp works loose.  Getting a good replacement is the usual fix.    You can try to make it tighter by compressing and re-spiking it tighter. it is where the mirror flag body attaches to the mount post.

So I got the electrical tools, removed the instrument cluster, added extra ground, did the electrical tape trick to connection and put everything back together, also even swapped the non broken fuses to be sure. Still fuel gauge works 1 time out of 10 , tempi reaches almost half and the little green bulb for indicators wont blink on the dash. Everything else, horn, high beams, dash lights, indicator lights themselves, hazards, all work fine..

I just have noidea how much fuel I have and if I have forgotten my indicator in

 see:
https://www.volkswagenownersclub.com/threads/repairing-your-flaky-water-temp-gauge.32211/

Cold solder joints in your water temp gauge, and a wonky 10V stabilizer.

The 10V stabilizer powers both the fuel and water gauge, since you said both have issues the common thing between them is the 10v Stabilizer.

If the lights for the Hazard blinks (green one in the middle, and your higher fuse is good, then it is time for a new hazard switch.

I will try this 10C stabilizer then, thanks.

Indicators blink themselves on all 4 corners, with hazard button and when turning. The green one in the middle is the problem, that is not blinking.

Could be the bulb in the dash is blown….

So the turn light doesn't blink at all in either 4-way, or turns, as they are separate functions.  



If you look, the bulb in the dash is K5 and it derives power from the K circuit in the fuse box from the Relay.
It could be that the flasher is broke corroded or burnt.
Or the wire out of the Fuse panel to the indicator is also broken  also the switch can be broken if both F4 and F19 are gone.  If f19 is blown then the turns only cause
The indicator to glow when you use either direction, as it is back feeding from f4.   

It's a bit tricky to tell from your images, but looks to me like you have a power steering fluid leak.

As briano says, check and keep your eye on your p.a.s.  oil level.

If you're keen, then spray some degreaser or engine cleaner all over the oily wet areas to clean it all up, then go for a drive. When you get back you can have another good close inspection, and you should be able to see where the leak is coming from.

Then you can fix it.

Does the car have a Weber carburettor fitted ?

I can't tell, but the last image showing some redundant wires looks to me like they once connected to the original Pierburg carb, and hence now not needed.

Im not sure about carburettor. pic from engine bay:



Would this be a correct 10v stabilizer ?

So a little update, the issue with the green indicator telltale light was the bulb, I got a new 12V LED diode and swapped it around. With improving the grounds and pluping the connections, and taking everything apart and putting back together twice, seems to have fixed the fuel gauge as well.

Thanks jazzydog and briano1234 for help and ideas

now will look into drivers side mirror and if power stearing leaks, and then hopefully can go have a MOT