1990 Volkswagen Jetta from North America - Comments

Hey every one with a older jetta or golf. I am a VW technician and You should try a fuel pump relay. I just had a friends car in the shop, a 1989 Golf 1.8. Would run for an hour and then stall while driving. It got towed to my shop and it started and ran fine. When I got it hot it would stall. The fuel pump relay was bad, it would get too hot and stop working. I replaced the fuel pump relay and the car has never stalled since. He was ready to sell the car because of this. Now he loves it again. Maybe this can help you guys out.

I have been reading a lot about the the older jettas and golfs, and I am getting mixed feelings. I am very interested in purchasing a VW, but I need to know what kind will be reliable and fun. Also what should I look for when examining these cars? Any information would be great.

tbubbel@sti.net.

I own a '91 Volkswagon Jetta [ They won't allow me to spell it correctly ], which I enjoy very much. It's comfortable and feel safe driving it even in bad weather. However, it starts very hard as if it's not getting enough gas. I keep it going until the idle is normal (about 2 minutes) Then it runs fine unless the Air Conditioning is on as at times I'll have a "flat miss", the car "bucks", but then will resume to normal. I bought this car in '90 and have had these problems since. I've had it back to the dealership and other repair shops, spent much money with no good results. Any ideas out there?

Hi All.

I had the exact same problem with the engine cutting out and stalling for no reason on my 86 Scirocco. It's pretty scary when it happens on a busy highway. After spending a lot of money trying to fix the problem I discovered that it had something to do with the poor design of the fuel pump relay (or something to that effect.) Apparently, when the engine gets hot a vacuum is created in the fuel relay and the engine is starved of gasoline. A mesh-like filter is added to the fuel relay to prevent the vacuum from occurring. It turns out there had been a RECALL on many models from this period (mid-eighties to nineties) because of this design flaw. It was repaired at the dealer for free and has not stalled since. BTW, I'm writing from Canada, so the recall may not apply in the States, although I would imagine it does. I even sent VW Canada my receipt for the perfectly good Bosch fuel pump I unnecessarily replaced due to their design flaw and they sent me a cheque! I hope your story ends as happily as mine.

Hi I am a Volkswagen mechanic in England, relays are a common fault in all makes of vehicles usually due to a loose soldered joint which can be seen easily and cured with a bit of soldering skill, I have run a 1988 Jetta 1800 for thirteen years and other than brakes and rear silencer have only spent three hundred pounds half of that was converting to power steering what more can I say the older ones are by far the best. nice to read all your comments, cheers.

I have a 1990 Golf GL. The car is killing me since I got it 3 weeks ago it has left me stranded twice were I had to get it towed back to my house. The Car stalls wile driving then won't start again and each time this happens it has to sit for longer and longer.

I have orderd a new Fuel filter, Distributor, knock sensor, Ignition control unit, and now it seems that it all has to do with the fuel pump relay so I guess I will get one of those too and send my receipts to VW because of their faulty design. I have also replaced the ignition Coil and V belt. and the car has had its Dist cap replaced 5 times in its life by the PO.

Thanks for all the posts I will post again on here with when I put all those parts in the car.

Hello-

I have a 1991 1.8L, manual transmission, Jetta GL. Over the past few weeks, it has developed a consistent problem with the idle following deceleration. The sequence is as follows: I depress the clutch as I am decelerating, the RPMs increase significantly and then immediately drop to around 500 or less, the quick drop in RPMs sometimes results in a complete stall. If it doesn't stall, then it returns to 750 RPMs as the ususal idle. I can't figure out what is causing the wild fluctuation in the RPMs during this one seqence of deceleration involving the clutch. Any ideas?

Hi! I got a '91 Cabriolet cheap because the seller was disgusted with it. He had sunk many $$$ into it without improvement. It was at the dealer so long the place dropped VW (or vice versa) and it wasn't even a VW place when I picked it up there!

Basically it starts good when cold and runs okay initially, but anywhere from 2-20 minutes later it will start idling very rough and stalling, bucking, etc. Sometimes you can put your foot to the floor and it just keeps stumbling and coughing. Other times that will get the RPMs up enough to keep it going, but its gutless for a few moments. Frequently it will get over it as fast as it got sick and it will pull hard. Only once or twice did I just get on the highway cold and keep on going and then it seemed okay; go figure! Point is, hot or cold are mostly okay. In between is where it has problems.

Ex-owner and former VW dealer changed air slow sensor, ignition module and ECU that I know of because I got the old parts. O2 sensor looks new. I changed CTS and (falling apart) knock sensor. I added a few additional grounds where I thought they might help. I put Stabilant on everything I could. It seemed improved for my efforts, but not for long. Two weeks, maybe.

Any ideas? This is the darndest thing! BTW: When it starts stumbling and stalling it smells like it's running very rich. That's funny because I think it's running like a car that's way lean! BTW: This is 2H engine, Digifant II.

Thanks! Don.

I have a '91 Jetta that won't start if it is wet. Heavy fog or rain and it will not turn over. Any suggestions? bmcenroe2002@yahoo.com

Hi, I read a couple of the comments and found similarities to some of the issues I am having with an '83 Scirocco (stalling, but only when it seems very hot outside). I found a VW recall site and found some very interesting in-line fuel pump recall notices and will have to see if that is the issue I am experiencing. You can check out the information at http://auto-recalls.justia.com/VOLKSWAGEN-SCIROCCO.html. After, I will try changing the relay and then look at the cable from the fuse panel as another possibility. Man, the time and parts so far and it could be a simple recall issue - let's just hope so!

I just purchased a '90 Volkswagen Jetta and recently, when I turn the car off, I hear a motor running in the back of the trunk on the drivers side. It goes off in about a minute, then starts back up again and doesn't stop until I turn the car on again (it'll go on all night). Any ideas?

Hey all, I have owned VWs my whole driving life and they do have some quirks, but are as reliable as they come if you look after them. The guy having trouble with the idle... check your Idle air stabilizer (Round thing with two wires to it on top of the valve cover) Turn your ignition on, but don't start the car... it should be buzzing. If not check the wiring to it or replace it with one from your local pick and pull. Also check for vacuum leaks, be sure your timing is set right as well or try turning the Idle air screw in the intake (by the butterfly valves). Hope you figure it out. I have almost 400,000 km on my '90 Jetta and it runs like a dream.

I have a 1992 Jetta GL that won't run when it rains. I plan on replacing the ignition coil as that seems to be the problem. (I replaced dist cap, button, plug wires, and found out the hard way that the coil shocks me if I touch the coil can.)

Recently though, the car starts fine, idles fine, until it gets warm, then it shuts off. I will look into the relay problem. I miss having a reliable VW.