B4 - '97 Passat; VR6

For some time, about 2 out of 10 times when I started the car, I would hear
a buzzing sound behind the instrument cluster that sounded like a small
relay chattering. Since I had gotten the recall letter and already knew
that the ignition switch was flakey, I had always been explaining it away as
just another symptom of the bad switch.

Well, I had the switch replaced and the problem didn't go away, so I was
inspired to do a little Owners Manual reading, a little Bentley book
investigating, and a little symptom watching.

What appears to be happening, is that still about 2-3 times out of 10, when
I start the car, I hear the buzzing and the clock and MFI resets. What I've
learned is that the buzzing isn't a malfunctioning relay, it's a "properly"
functioning Oil Pressure Warning Buzzer. The manual says that at "start",
the oil pressure idiot light is supposed to come on and/or blink as a "test"
and then go off after the car is running. When things work properly, that's
exactly what happens.

On those 2-3 times, I've noticed that when I turn the key to the "start"
position, the oil pressure idiot light DOES NOT come on and I get the
buzzing sound, presumably from the Oil Pressure Warning Buzzer. I can't say
how it's related, but when this happens, the clock always resets to 01:00
and the MFI memory is also cleared.

Any ideas?

TIA-trebor

I had this very same problem with a '95 Passat...it was one of the
grounds for the inst cluster. Clean the contacts up and make sure the
'daisy wheel' that all the ground wires plug into has a good, clean
connection. It's located on the left firewall/A pillar area inside the
passenger compartment.

On Thu, 26 Feb 2004 13:07:56 GMT, "trebor4258" <nospam (AT) nospam (DOT) com>
wrote:

Ron/Champ 6

1963 8E5 Champ (Champ 6)
1962 Lark Daytona Convertible (Boomerang)
1995 VW Passat (Vanilla..yuk)
1994 Volvo 850 (Tilley)

"Ron /Champ 6" <rondame (AT) charter (DOT) net> wrote


Thanks a lot. I'll take a look at this over the weekend with a lot of
crossed fingers, toes, etc.

trebor