A3 Ignition Switch Replacement DIY w/ pictures

Great writeup! Just what I needed!

Is there anything else I should purchase when doing this job? I have a noise in my steering wheel while I turn that my mechanic mentioned could cause me problems down the road. I assume its the electrical connection or clocksping or whatever. I just want to know everything I should replace while I am in there so I'm not doing this again anytime in the near future.

Oh and for you canadian tdi people here is a link for the ignition switch for $21.39

http://www.autopartsway.ca/autopart...en~Jetta Sedan Turbo Diesel TDI 1.9 L4~241656

Replace ignition switch, but now steering wheel is off a bit???

Hello all,

As you can tell I now have a fresh Ignition Switch in the car. Overall the job wasn't too terrible! Getting the U-joint nut and bolt off took a little gymnastics, but again not too bad. The thing is now my steering wheel is off by a lot of teeth. I have my hands at about 2 o'clock and 5 o'clock or so. What did I do wrong when tightening the steering wheel? I made sure my wheels were straight... Please can anyone help me out???

Just finished this on my jetta. Thanks again it went very smoothly. I didn't have a problem with keeping my steering wheel aligned, I just marked it on top like the writeup said and kept those lines marked up and it's strait. If your steering wheel is off, I would turn the wheels strait, then take the steering wheel off , then put it back on so it looks strait.

Raber said:

Thanks kooyajerms!
For the excellent photos.
Really helped cut down on the anxiety level
when replacing the switch!

I used a vise grips on the collar and pulley puller
to pull the collar. - Which worked well.

Thanks for taking the time to take and post photos.
Very helpful!

Click to expand...

you need a NEW vise grips tho--as theres very little shoulder for it to catch on--

kooyajerms said:

Glad that worked out for you. Yes, I have more tools 3 years later. I would rather have cut the collar off and put a new one =)

Click to expand...

much easier with the vise grip method--

i did all this and now my buzzer is going off and the radio doesn't automatically turn off

the car starts normal but did I install the ignition wrong? or a wire wrong?

can someone tell me where I should start looking
thanks
phil

hey guys i have my column out. My ignition switch was bad, but my son broke the key off in the lock cyl.!!?? But i need to know how to remove the lock cylinder from the housing??? Anyone please help me out.

Thanks guys.

DieselmannG said:

hey guys i have my column out. My ignition switch was bad, but my son broke the key off in the lock cyl.!!?? But i need to know how to remove the lock cylinder from the housing??? Anyone please help me out.

Thanks guys.

Click to expand...

The lock cylinder housing is made of zinc. You have to drill a hole in the 'exact' spot so you can use your drill bit to push in a spring loaded locking pin which releases the lock cylinder. With the locking pin pushed in the cylinder is released and slides right out.

Here's the tricky part, the VW Bently manual illustration 'almost' shows you the exact spot to drill the hole. The graphic shows you an area where to drill the hole, but if your off by 1mm you will have to keep making the hole larger until you get it. This can make for a rather buggered up looking lock housing.

If you or your local locksmith can't get the broken key out of the key cylinder you will have to order a new key cylinder. The new key that comes with the key cylinder will not match your old key so you will have one key for the doors & trunk, and one for the ignition switch.

When I went through this I took the new lock cylinder to a locksmith and had him match it to my oringinal keys. The only part that makes this annoying is that the black metal bezel ring on the front of the key cylinder is a press fit into the cylinder. It has to be destroyed to get the tumblers out. My local locksmith was able to order a new bezel ring (from one of his suppliers) before reworking the tumblers so everything looks good when he was all done. You cannot just order the bezel ring from VW, only a whole new tumbler/cylinder & key asssembly.

Let us know how all this turns out for you.

glad someone could answer that one =)

Ok, this question is for the people who have done the switch by removing the adapter collar-when you put the collar back on, is it safe to smack it back on w/hammer and block of wood? I just bought a small puller today,and will be doing it later tonight.Does it go back on easily,or does it take a bit of force? I just don't want to go too berzerk w/ it and end up w/ problems w/ rack or u-joint from banging on the end .....

tdidieselbobny said:

Ok, this question is for the people who have done the switch by removing the adapter collar-when you put the collar back on, is it safe to smack it back on w/hammer and block of wood? I just bought a small puller today,and will be doing it later tonight.Does it go back on easily,or does it take a bit of force? I just don't want to go too berserk w/ it and end up w/ problems w/ rack or u-joint from banging on the end .....

Click to expand...

The 'preferred' way to seat the collar is to take the large nut that holds the steering wheel and use that to press the collar back onto the steering column. This is done with the steering wheel OFF the steering column, the nut is pressed directly against the collar. Then remove the nut and install everything as usual. It's actually a very smooth operation.

If the collar is not pressed down as far as possible, you will not get your steering wheel back on correctly and it will be loose, even though you can have the nut as tight as possible.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the info Brian.I ended up taking the 13mm bolt out at u-joint-should've done that to begin with. There was a little paint mark at end of shaft where splines were(steering wheel end)-if none there,make sure the bolt at u-joint is easier to remove,then put a mark on the top side of collar/threads.This way you have an easy reference point when you slide column back down to attach to the u-joint-somehow my shaft turned after I took it out to put switch in-the end of shaft at u-joint has a groove in it that the bolt needs to slide through.

i had to remove my lock from a car i was parting and put the steering shaft back to steer the car. i didnt see this thread so i cut the lock housing off the column. (2 cuts on either side) i guess i can get lock cylinder out from what i read here by drilling a hole.
i figured at the time the splined collar at the end (by the steering wheel) was supposed to come off and i was beating the center shaft sensless and never came off! thats why i cut ithe lock housing.

oh OP, a pic of pulling off this splined end piece would help.

Hrm the collar that everyone is talking about pulling just a couple posts up? That's not part of this how-to. That doesn't get cut in this option, or pulled off.

I just did the switch on my b4, and didn't have time to get a replacement collar or a puller so I did it the way I said I wouldn't; pulling the whole column out. Just as easy as it was 5 years ago.

Just did everything exactly like it says here and it worked great, I recommend to anyone trying to do this be certain to read through this once and print it off. I intitially kept the steering wheel on but determined the shaft was easier to work with, without the steering wheel. Took me about 2 and half hours total.

I just did this for my Brother In Laws '97 Jetta. A neighbor kid thought he'd try to steal it, but failed, thus breaking the plastic housing around the column and damaging the key lock.

Had I thought about it...it would have taken 15 minutes to drill the hole and replace the new key cylinder...but alas I did the whole job in 45 minutes (without a puller)....smartest thing was to straighten the wheel before removing anything and marking TDC on the column splines so when reassembling all we had to do was insure that it was centered...Viola! easy peasy.

Thanks for the play by play it helped enormously.

Dread

Thanks for the thread!

The accessories not working was becoming more and more frequent, so I took the plunge and replaced my ignition switch on my 98 Jetta TDI. As some have noted, I found it much easier to leave the steering wheel intact. I pulled all connections to the steering wheel, unbolted the u-joint, and undid the shear bolt. Pulled everything out as is.


Rather than order the ignition switch online, I bought one locally at Advance Auto Parts. It cost me about $30 (too much I know), but I was worried about receiving a faulty one by mail and then I'd have a car with no steering wheel while I waited for a new one.


Sure enough, the first one I bought at the store was faulty. I had everything put back together, and I tried to start the car (lying flat across the seats because I was worried about the airbag deploying, lol). Everything worked, but the car wouldn't start. Turn the key to the right, and no response at all. Accessories work, but the car don't move. Damn, right? I took everything all apart, and put the old switch back in, reinstalled everything. Car starts fine with the old one, just the accessories don't work. Faulty switch for sure.


So, after returning the switch back to the store, finding out that was the only switch they had in stock, driving across town to another Advance and buying another switch, I finally installed a new working switch and everything works perfectly.
Would've taken me under an hour had the first replacement switch not been faulty. With all the extra trouble, it took a little over three hours including trips around town. Thanks for the helpful posts, you guys are the best!

Great Thread! Looks like I will be using it sooner than I thought. My new to me 95 Passat (VR6 now but soon to be TDI from my 96 donor car) had a few problems, one being a finicky ignition switch. It started for me a dozen or so times and then began to have serious problems.

At first, I could not get a key into the lock tumbler. Then after much fiddling around, the key would go in and turn, but it was free spinning, as thought it wasn't connected to the switch or steering wheel lock. And that is where it stands now. Key will turn (and accessories come on with the key, but no engine on, no engine start, and steering wheel remains locked).

So my question is what does it sound like I need? A new ignition switch (the electrical part that is), or a new lock tumbler, or both, or more?

Anyone have a clue here what broke, so I can order the needed parts before hand.

TIA