I had to push start it tonight,everything was fine with it today and then when I went to leave Target 2 hours ago it wouldn’t start,it had full accessory power but wouldn’t turn over.I also noticed when driving it home that when parked at a red light it hesitates now a little bit when the clutch is pushed in but not enough to stall.
Think its the starter? What kind of labor am I looking at to change it? Its a 1997.
Thanks
-Jon
Check your voltage. It sounds like a battery and/or alternator dying a slow death.
meh, not really. check your grounds first, will the car crank at all? i remember hanzels car did this, he was positive it was the starter, swapped starters, ended up doing the same exact thing. turned out to be the power cable from the battery to the starter. $8 and 5 minutes later we were rolling. :hang:
see in my VR’s it was always that little red wire falls off…
was the starter acting up at all before. on VW they usally never go.
Nope,wont crank.
I got the car in July and have no clue of previous maintenance but it hasn’t given me any problems up until today.
I’ll check the battery/starter power cable on Monday :tup:
Edit…no previous problems leading to this event.
srsly, my bet it isnt the starter/alternator, its just a loose connection.
def not the alternator if you can bump start it and it runs fine. BIKERFRY
does it just click? has the starter been sketchy lately (wont crank for a few tries, then fires right up?)
edit - thanks for making me look like a jerk 
check the connections
side note Ive owned, 4 Vr6 Jetta’s (3 97’s) (1 94) and a GTI VR6 95… the only time I ever replaced a starter was on the secound 97 I owned and thats because some one put jumper cables right ON the starter.
exciter wire. and if this is off the battery light on the dash will not work. If that is the case just run that wire right to positive and it’ll be fine. Cheaper and easier to do this on a vr6 than the alternator.
altho check the little grounding strap that goes from the Relay to the starter housing that will rust can rust away.
dot
If you’ve got a meter, take the 2 seconds to poke your battery terminals to see what the voltage is. It’s the easiest thing to check so start there.
I’m guessing at least not the starter since there are symptoms from when it’s running. Could be loose/dirty connections of the wires mentioned above too.
The wire I have circled was completely rotted off and the remains just crumbled in my hand…
A new piece of wire and some solder and im back up and running,thanks to my uncle.
clearly you have never had a digi.
That’s the ground to the solenoid right?
Glad it’s running for ya.
