Newbie with N109 issues and other stuff.

Newbie with electrical issues and other stuff. A3

Hey all, i'm new to the forums here although I've been using TDI club primarily for all my trouble shooting needs on my newly inherited '97 Jetta TDI. This is my first VW. You guys run a great forum here, a lot better than VW Vortex.
Little background on the car. It's ran fine, a little rough around the edges. Glow plugs don't seem to be working, it starts fine if it's plugged in but once the block cools off it gets very hard to start. I just replaced harness, glow plugs, and relay.
Now for my current issue. I parked the car running normal, did a DIY window tint job so it sat for a few days. When I went to start it again it would just crank crank crank with no signs of firing. After some research I got a new 109 relay (2 actually) which I can now hear clicking, but still didn't solve the problem. I've checked every fuse i can find. All good.
When the key is switched to on I don't get any CEL or GP lights, stereo doesn't work, horn doesn't work, blinkers, RPM, Speedo don't work. Headlights, tail lights, back lit dash lights all do work.
I ran a jumper wire to the N109 solenoid and i could hear it clicking and got the car to fire. Although it would not shut off with the key with that jumper wire.The stereo also worked with this jumper.
Any insight would be greatly appreciate, I fell in love with this car during the little time I got to drive it but now i'm about at the end of my rope with this thing!
Thanks in advance.

Here's a picture of the TDI, it's fairly clean for 400k Miles!

Sounds like you're in need of an ignition switch.

-Todd

That's one of the things I was thinking it could be. But I still hear power going to relay 109 when I switch the key to on. Would a bad ignition switch still allow that relay to switch on but cause these other problems as well?

You 100% sure it's the 109 clicking? If you have VCDS, plug it in....if it communicates, it's getting power.

I'd still test the switch. I've read flakey things occurring when they're bad. Pull the lower cover off and jump some wires, bypassing the switch. That'll be a quick and easy test.

Going off the top of my head, red is power, red/black is starter, black/yellow is run. Just don't probe anything brown, which would be ground. Verify with a meter.

Grounds should also be something to check.

-Todd

Todd, it turned out to be the key switch. Thanks for the help!

I don't have vagcom, sure wish I did!

Thanks again

Great! There's a sticky, that should help with removal. Hopefully, it's not a bunch of dead pics.

-Todd