TSi Start Button replacement?

[sjgharib]

Does anyone have an experiences with replacing the start/stop button (near the gear shifter) on push to start Golfs?

The button requires signficant force to start the car or even turn on the electrics (when you don't press the brake). So that rules out the brake switch or clutch switch (this car is a 5MT).

Have others experienced this issue? I seems hard to believe it's actually the contact requiring additional force, but it does seem to reliably start/stop as long as you push the button pretty hard.

Anyone know the part number? its a 2017 1.8 TSi 5MT in the US...

thanks!
Simon

 

[Cuzoe]

https://parts.vw.com/p/Volkswagen__/Ignition-Switch/119721873/5G1959839B3Q7.html

5G1959839B3Q7

 

[sjgharib]

So it's a weird fault - replaced the switch and everything worked nicely. Until it got cold and sat overnight.
It seems like the issue is temperature related... has anyone seen this?

 

[sjgharib]

So in case anyone else experiences this -

This is a case of high precision German engineering combined with lower precision crappy aftermarket chinese parts...

The start button sits in a hole in the console. The way the hole and the switch are constructed, the button "bottoms out" on the console ring, vs the internal mechanism of the switch.

So in warm temperatures, there is enough depression in the switch to close the contacts and start the car.

When the temperatures are low (below freezing), the parts inside the switch shrink enough that pushing on the button while it's mounted in the car is not enough to make contact...

If you pull the switch out, connect the harness and push it when it's not in the mounting hole, it works. Put in in the hole and the button doesn't depress far enough to work (when it's cold).

Pull the silver cap off of the switch and push on the inner mechanism works. So a 3D printed spacer ring placed between the inners of the switch and the silver cap (so the light sill shines through) is enough to allow the switch to work in all weather!

I suspect the $70 switch from VW is just slightly bigger to make contact in all temps...

 

[Sc629]

Replaced it myself pretty easy for the same issue but don’t remember exact steps. Single plug right at the bottom and plug and play replacement. Pull the trim around the shifter by hand

 

[sjgharib]

Thanks - replacement was easy - The issue, at least with my car, was that it seems either the tolerances within the aftermarket switch are not the same as the OEM VW switch, or the way the switch sits in the console is such that it can't be depressed fully.
The interesting thing is that the tolerances are so close that temperature makes a difference - contact is made when it's warmer out, and the issue only arises when it was cold enough to open up the gap between the switch internals and prevent operation.

The additional spacer seems to have solved the issue, I'm not willing to spend another $75 on a VW switch to prove the point

 

[The Fed]

How many wires are coming out of the plug? If only two (not counting any for the light), is there a resistor in the switch?

 

[Cuzoe]

The button is E378.

 

[The Fed]

The button is E378.

View attachment 302949

More than I thought.