Voltage stabilizer — check and replacement (VW Golf 1)

The fuel gauge and engine temperature gauge must receive a perfectly even voltage. Otherwise, voltage fluctuations will cause the instrument needles to vibrate. That is why there is a small assembly on the back of the instrument panel that is inserted into the board with its three contacts. This assembly is called a voltage stabilizer.

Checking the voltage stabilizer

Turn on the ignition.

In the engine compartment, remove the plug from the coolant temperature sensor.

Connect the voltmeter clamps between the stabilizer contact and the ground.

It should be exactly 10V.

If the value is less than 9.5 V or more than 10.5 V, then the voltage stabilizer is defective

Replacing the voltage stabilizer

Remove the instrument panel and place it face down.

Remove the voltage stabilizer.

Pull the stabilizer out of the board connections.

When the on-board voltage drops to the desired value, heat is released. For perfect heat dissipation, the voltage stabilizer must have good contact with the metal.

In models produced before March 1977: the silver-finned metal cooling surface of the stabilizer must be adjacent to the metal housing of the tachometer.

In the model produced after March 1977: for cooling, a metal cover is screwed to the tachometer housing or there is a special metal cooling sheet on top of the tachometer.