new to me 1992 golf Cabriolet

I started on the motor mounts. What an utter PIA. The easiest one so far was the transmission mount. SMH

on a different note. where can I find new lightbulbs for the instrument gauges by the shifter?

Try 171919243M

Awesome Mate, thank you. 

So I replaced the transmission mount, the passenger side mount, (evil) , the front mount. I will replace the engine mount on the driver side after I got my water pump and timing belt, will I have to losen up all the other mounts again to get that one out a bit easier?

So far the shifting has improved a bit. It's still a bit vague. and second gear likes to hang a bit in downshifts sometimes. as well as the first likes to end up in reverse sometimes. Oh and 5th gear likes to be directed well or it likes to down shift to 3rd.
Should i get an entire shifter kit or would the bushes be ok? How much of fine tuning would I have to do afterward to get the gears go in smoothly ?
I also plan on getting some redline 50305 MT-90 75W90 GL-4 and replace the transmission fluid.
maybe that will help too.

I would think a couple of issues…When you replace all the mounts you are to loosen them at the through bolts.

You shake the hell out of the engine let it settle, then do it again…. Once it settles then you tighten down all the mounts.

It is also a good thing on the front valance mount to loosen it and shove a couple of flat washers between the cup and the mount…One side then the other.

It tends to tighten that mount up and reduce torque loss on the engine when you rev it.

Now you can replace all the shifter links and bushings.
and adjust your shifters per the how-to on www.cabby-info.com.

If you add a short shifter and a weighted billet to the rod, then you have more fun shifting and get a more positive feel on engagement.

Yes the right side mount is a large PITA… I have been dealing with that since 1982 on a Diesel Rabbit.

Missinglinkz sells a cost effective short shifter (bolt on) and a weighted billet… he ships overseas…. I had one on my manual Cabby, and enjoyed the heck out of it, and when my wife rode in the car, her leg wasn't in my shifters way for 5th… I guess it is different of you are single.  

Alright got the mounts done. I also refilled the transmission . Refilled with redline GL4. There was maybe a quart that came out. Not sure if it didn't completely drain or if it was that low. I will redo this in a couple of months anyway and see then what the fluid level will be then.

Funny thing all the instrument and gauge lights stopped working. Fuse seems good and so does appear the switch. Hmmmm got to investigate more. It was late yesterday when i got home and i was tired. Is there a common failure point?

If all the lights worked, you can test for 12V on the headlight switch as that is the common failure point of the Cluster lower console heater lamp failure.

To Validate that all the lights are good
1. make sure that your gray/blue wire isn't burned up Very common thing.
2. the 90ish cabbies have a fused console light switch so measure the voltage on both sides of the fuse Key in and the switch turned on.  To validate your fuse is good.

Make sure your Dimmer roller is all the way up…. have moved it by mistook once or twice.

Test it 2 ways.
Ignition switch off key out, headlanp switch off.

Take a 9V DC battery and apply the + lead to the Gray/blue wire and the Negative to the frame.  Do your lights light? back side of the headlamp connector

You can also take a +12V wire from the battery and apply it to the gray/blue wire on the back side of the connector to see if the lamps all light.

You are by-passing the switch and dimmer to validate that all your bulbs didn't fry at once time due to age.

Usually if all the lamps go out at the same time you either have rolled the dimmer all the way down, or the switch is bad… Briano's rule of thumb.

Yeah first thing i did is roll up and down the dimmer. No result. The instrument lights ate LED but the center xomsole ligts are standard bulbs so i doubt all went out at the same time.
Ill get a new switch at the junk yard although. Do you have the pin out for the switch ?

Yes I have the pin out, but getting a Bentley is going to do you more service.

Perfect… I just found that part where it said
Fuse 20 10amp… that's why my lights don't come on.
thanks

AllMacs said

Fuse seems good

Seems and knowing it is good are 2 different critters…
I have seen ones that don't look blown, but the meter doesn't lie….

Haaaa thats true indeed

Today my dash went out intermittently . I guess the 10c voltage regulator is the next thing to be replaced?

AllMacs said

Today my dash went out intermittently . I guess the 10c voltage regulator is the next thing to be replaced?

Or your 14V or Ground is intermittent.  Look at my thread on plumping the connector, verify that the pin 14 and pin 2 are 12V and ground, then test the 10V stabilizer, but that 10v Stabilizer only effects the water temp and fuel gauge.  

I had a pin curl up on pin 14 Black 12V in that It layed flat when I remove the connector and scrunched up when I returned the connector.

I have a thread in the how to's (link on signature) on back feeding voltage to the cluster.

Yes , the entire dash wend out including the Turn signal LED and tachometer.  It came back after a few minutes. Ill read through your update of the cluster now.

ok…today the speedo stopped working again. I tried to get the speedo cable out at the transmission side, but it seems to be stuck. I don't want to face the issue, thinking that the cog might come off the cable. Is there any advise on how to do this the sensible way?

Speedos on the latter cars that stopped working isn't that they have a bad cable it is of you look at the cable wrong, or Pull on it or move it, it will pop off the back of the speedo.  You can remove the Drivers side Vent, and worm your way back up there to "pop" it back on as it click holds.

my worm gear is stripped in the center portion.
Someone replaced the bolt that holds the speedo cable with a different M7 hex bolt. Can you tell me how long the bolt normally is supposed to be?
 this one seems rather short.

M7X1,25X13
N 012 234 5

Seal: 171957861B

Take care not to drop the gear in the Transmisison, there is a "C" clip that tends to fall off, and if the gear comes off then you are looking at fishing it out, or a tranny overhaul to get it out, yes it is but a plastic gear, and yes the tranny can chew it up, however: It's bits can get stuck in the syncros..Causing a more massive rebuild than just getting it apart to remove the gear and clip.

When I have done it in the past, as to Fill the tranny…. I have jacked the car placed it on jack stands, car in Neutral, then rolled the wheels a bit one way then the other to make sure there was no pinching of that gear by the diff drive and it came out easily.  Some have had to pry, pull and struggle…. me I have never found that to be the issue if I made sure there wasn't a bind in the Diff.

Yes i am doing a similar thing to get the gear out.
About that bolt… its not a hex bolt originally, correct? More like the bolts  for the motor mounts?