Guys, My Son's 95 Jetta has a problem with the istrument cluster. The fuel and temp gauge work fine but, the speedometer and tach intermittently work. The VW dealer wants 600-700 to fix this by replacing the entire cluster. Any VW mechanics on the board? Got any ideas? Thanks, BobK

The exact same thing happened on my roomate's 1996 Passat.  He replaced the cluster at $600.

Thanks! Boy, VW's are expensive to fix. Just spend $1400 on brakes, timing belt, 90,000 mile service and now this. BOBK

Yeah, I had a '96 Passat GLX.  It was a great car for the first four years, but then stupid stuff started going wrong.  The engine was fine, but little problems like instruments not working, etc. will cost a lot of money.

Bob,

I've had a '94 Jetta since 96, and it's had a few issues that I fixed myself. The tach started bouncing up and down while driving, and I thought it was the cluster going out too. I did some digging under the hood, and found out the 3-wire block connector that feeds the tach output shaft RPM for road speed was corroded and loose. I bought a new connector from VW for $24 and spliced it in. Works great again. I've also replaced the pads and rotors on my car twice in 85K miles, put a new exhaust on it, and fixed the electric driver door lock, so I'm pretty well-versed in later model VW's.

What symptoms does the Tach/Speedo exhibit? Do they work at all?

Email me if it's easier.
Good luck.

Brian

I had a 2001 jetta..shit was getting goofy...I got a 2003 passat...just got rid of it because VW service sucked.

I put 25000 miles on the Passat in 9 months and the only issue I had was a bad speaker.

I have
year      miles
85 van   322,000
91 jetta 250,000

The first thing I would do is ask WHY the cluster needs to be replaced ? Is it really the WHOLE cluster or is it the boards in the cluster. If the speedometer and tach intermittently work then its a good chance its in the power supply or ground for those two units. I would remove them and look at the power or ground for those units. A loose, burned connection. and then jump them out rather than buying a new board.

If this isnt your cup of tea, check junk yards. It should be about half price of new. They arent that hard to remove.

Brian, the Speedometer stays at zero and the tach needle vibrates slightly. Everyonce in awhile the tach and speedo function. The car for the most part has been trouble free. It has been sitting in the garage since my Son is away in the Navy. So I would take it out about once a month and drive it. Everything was fine until a month ago I pulled the car out to drive and they stopped working. I'm planning to fix it as I will be sending the car out to San Diego. I had thought it might be a loose or crappy connecttion and I think my Son had a shop manual for this car somewhere. BobK

Brian, the Speedometer stays at zero and the tach needle vibrates slightly. Everyonce in awhile the tach and speedo function. The car for the most part has been trouble free. It has been sitting in the garage since my Son is away in the Navy. So I would take it out about once a month and drive it. Everything was fine until a month ago I pulled the car out to drive and they stopped working. I'm planning to fix it as I will be sending the car out to San Diego. I had thought it might be a loose or crappy connecttion and I think my Son had a shop manual for this car somewhere. BobK