[yem_icculus]

Ok, so I'm probably going to get flamed for posting this since it's probably somewhere in the vortex, but I'm lazy and this has been bothering me for a while, so I'd appreciate any help I can get.
I have a '92 Jetta 8v, and I've been having this problem for a couple months now. Sometimes when I turn the lights on, the speedo and tach won't light up. When I give the plastic a good tap (or even punch sometimes...) the guages light back up. I'm suspecting a loose electrical connection somewhere behind the guages, or bad wires. What I'm wondering is whether or not anyone else has had this problem, and how much work I'm gonna have to do to get behind the guages. Do I have to rip the whole dash off or what? Any help would be much appreciated!
One more thing, I have a leak somewhere in my fuel system. Water keeps getting in and screwing up my engine, so if anyone has any info about this as well, I'd be quite grateful!

 

[VegasJetta]

Re: MKII Jetta Guage Lighting Problems (yem_icculus)

fuel leak, you are on your own, buddy.
Gauge light, my specialty! you probably have bulbs that are old and not happy like this ->

you need new ones, that will be happy like this ->

there are 3 bulbs in your cluster, 2 on top and one behind the clock. to get to them, you need to remove the dash bezel, radio, switches, ac/heat controls etc...
then there are 2 screws holding the cluster in the dash, take them out, tilt forward, and you will see the 2 top bulbs, twisted and locked into the white piece. they make contact on that flimsy blue plastic circuitboard. make sure they are tight, and replace them if they are black or burnt looking. if you are lucky, you can replace them with 2.0 volt bulbs (oem is 1.2) and it will light up real nice.
Good luck!
have fun! http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

 

[yem_icculus]

Re: MKII Jetta Guage Lighting Problems (VegasJetta)

Thanks a lot for the help!!!
Last night, I also found this helpful web page:
http://www.nwlink.com/~vdb/vw/...ights
Now that I'm planning on taking on this project, I figure I might as well do it right and find some new guages. VegasJetta, I didn't really like the ones on your page, does anyone else know where I can get some classy looking ones? Also, is there an easy way to change the color of the guage lighting? I think blue would be cool as hell!!! Thanks a lot again everyone!