2002 Jetta Electrical Problems

fallon_vii

Hey all,
I'm at my wits end here.
I don't know anything about newer cars (anything newer than 80's lol) and know especially nothing about VW.

I have a 2002 VW Jetta 1.8T / Automatic / Sedan.

My basic issue is that I'm having intermittent problems with it starting, and problems with it stalling at idle.

Overall, the car runs great. Just had it into my mechanic and dropped over $1000 (new shocks & struts, front end work, tranny flush, filters, etc.) They gave it the all-clear. Then, it started acting up.

This has all been within the last week or two. A few times now, it hasn't started. Once, I'm fairly certain it was my fault since I left the lights on. Got a jump and all was well. Did it again and I had to move the shifter around (from park through D3 and back up again), the it started just fine.

More often though, (still within the past week or two) my car has been shutting off sometimes when I stop at stoplights. For a few days in a row, it happened every day. Hasn't happened yet today though.

Just had the charging system checked, and no anomalies found. I was seriously hoping it was a weak battery.

Below is everything I can think of to note - if anyone has any ideas, that would be most appreciated!

~ NAPA ran battery & charging system test, nothing showed up and he said the results were totally normal.
~ Car still intermittently shutting off when stopped at lights. Car starts right back up with no issues.
~ Clock and tripometer intermittently resetting. (0.00miles / 12:00)
~ Car wouldn't start today, clicking noise coming from dash, tachometer and speedo hands seemed to be "ticking" just up once, then back down, like a broken clock. I shifted in and out of park, car started fine.
~ No interior lights come on when I open the doors, even though I have the lights set to that setting.
~ "Door ajar" light sometimes comes on as I'm driving, must open door and slam to turn light off.
~ No buzzing sound when lights left on.
~ Trunk fails to open with fob at times, but think I need a new fob battery.
~ Have never used the alarm before, but the other day, I accidentally set it off and had to turn it off - I think that was just before all of this started happening. Unsure if it's related at all, but thought I'd mention it.

fallon_vii

Right before this issue started, I had some work done to the car - specifically R&R air filter and trans flush. Could this be related at all?

fallon_vii

this is disappointing.

Claires

I had some of the same symptoms with my 2002 Jetta 1.8T - the car would shut off spontaneously while stopping but started up ok immediately, as well as intermittent problems with interior lights and the radio. It would occasionally fail to start on the first try but always started on the second try. Turned out to be a failing ignition switch -- once it was replaced, all the weirdness ceased.

fallon_vii

The shop hasn't even mentioned anything about the ignition switch, although I did bring it up a few times. What was the cost of R&R for you on that?

Claires

Sorry - can't find the invoice, but it wasn't enough to make me decide it was time to replace the car.