I'm trying to reassemble a Mk2 Golf GTI (1988) and can't for the life of me understand why the wiper stalk isn't working: it's floating about with no resistance/not locking into position. I fear that something rather critical has fallen out/off when it was removed. Probably something rather simple, and me being silly, but it's got me stumped. Any help would be appreciated.
In the 3rd pic I see alot of plastic shavings , in the first pic the detent and spring are missing....pretty much worn out and without those parts it won't lock,could be wrong but have a new switch in front of me . Cheers.
Appreciate the reply. It was actually working when I took it off for the restoration. Would you have a picture of the detent and spring I'm missing (are they separates or one housing?): probably in a box of bits that I can't otherwise identify? Thanks again. Cheers, Jon
From memory they can fall out if the lever piece comes to far away from base when the 3 mounting screw are taken out,the new one I have has a thin electrical tie to hold it together previous to fitting , its a brass pin with a spring behind it . I had one that wore out due to old age and the brass pin popped out too far and the spring bent and jammed up...couldn't fix it ,I suspect this has happened to yours as I had all those plastic shaving also . Best you buy a new on ,cheers.
keep hold of it anyway, finding a good mfa stalk these days pretty tricky./ you can transfer the detent over from non-mfa stalks, I assume even mk1 stalks would work? might even be able to find a suitable spring and whittle up your own detent from some scrap PTFE or similar
Cheers John. Slightly annoyed with myself as it was working perfectly. Even more annoying; I have another Mk2 and I've removed the wiper switch in the very same fashion and have seemingly lost those two bits too... I do have a spare Mk1 indicator/wiper assembly so will carefully open up and see what it all looks like as i currently can't quite visualise how it should be. And my next question was if I could buy a replacement non-mfa for a few quid and then transfer the gubbins over – which your message confirms, which is a relief. Thanks again for the advice. Cheers, Jon
Oh dear forgot about it being MFA switch sorry believe they have become the new version of gold if you can find one ?. RJ nailed it just buy a used switch and rob those parts ,if you look you will notice there is a deep detent on the third detent notch in the body of the switch , ideal place to insert replacement brass pin and spring,that area has the least tension on the spring so it should pop in easier ,that's what I did but the spring was bent and hole for the pin chewed out. Clean up the area and apply non- conductive grease to switch contacts and detents you should be fine ,cheers.
Thanks for the update, and apologies for the delayed reply. I opened up my spare Mk1 wiper assembly and can confirm thatrubjonny was correct in stating that the Mk1 is the same. I'm reluctant to take it apart as its clean and firmly seated so will probably do what you have both advised and buy a used one and swap it all over. Cheers again for the input.