I have an 02 TL and we just replaced the starter, checked the battery and it was good, and replaced the battery ground. It just started acting up about two to three weeks ago. The first time, I tired to start it and it made a click, i didn't know what to do so I had some one try to jump it and that didn't help at all. I let it sit over night and tried the next morning. We tried to jump it again and it wasn't working and all of a sudden it stated one time. I drove it down the street to a friends house to see what the problem was and over time, we thought it was because the positive terminal was corroded, we cleaned it and it worked. Then about three days later, I drove to another friends house and it was doing the same thing again, this time his dad was looking at it and they said they had seen sparks fly out. He pointed out that my ground was bad and we cleaned it up a little bit, that lasted for about a week. Last sunday, I was at another friends house and it started acting up again, so i had held the ground in place while he started the car, as I was driving home, ALL of my dashboard lights started acting up and my headlights eventually went out as I got to my house. I replaced the ground connection yesterday, and still it wouldn't even click like it was. Me and my dad were looking at it and we charged the battery, and replaced the starter, but still no luck. I haven't spilled and drinks or anything to cause a short, we put in neutral and tried to start it and still no luck. Everything works but it just wont start... and it wouldn't shift to park from neutral, and vise versa. I have no idea what the problem is, I not that fancy with cars, I'm only 19 so I don't know what to look for, or what to fix, or where to find most of the things that I've read to look at and replace. If any body could help me that would be great.

 

Are your brake lights working? Maybe it could be the switch at the brake pedal going bad, but it does sound like either could be still a ground issue or the alternator you put in is faulty

 

Did you replace both the negative and positive cables?

 

Does the Immobilizer "green key" indicator flash on the dash ?
Could be a problem with the interlock system.

 

Ill have to check the for the green flashing key in the morning, and yes all the break lights work. I thought it still might be the ground too so ill have to check that in the morning also. I never replaced the alternator, just the starter. nor did i check both positive and negative cables.

 

Have the electrical charging /starting system load tested at most any auto parts store for free. Also have them check for a scavenger leak draining power. Inspect the battery's connections and especially the main ground to the tranny housing.

 

That may be the problem, we moved the ground form the tranny housing to part of the battery holding spot., cause my bold is just about completely stripped Also the green key isn't flashing

 

The grounds are very critical. The one going down to the tranny is a common problem. Replace the cable and use a new bolt.
It appears that the immobilizer is ok, if not flashing continously. Maybe a poor connection somewhere or an iffy relay ?

 

How would I check to see which relay it is? what is it? and how would I go about trying to fix it? and the green key was flashing before but its not anymore.

 

I'm not sure if it was the ground or not, but I moved it back to where it was originally, cleaned the negative battery cable, wrapped it with eletrical tape, the checked the ign fuse relay, and some other things, after all that it started back up. Thanks alot guys!

 

Hopefully cleaning and wrapping will get ya by for now. But, for best results....replace that old stuff !!!

 

Will do! just in time though. Do you know more about tls and what you can put on them and stuff? Cause I want to do more to it. I especially want to swap the tranny to a newer tl manual tranny. I know is able to be done but idk what all Id have to do, and I think i might want to turbo it. I have a friend thats about to replace his gti turbo with a new one and he said I could have his old one

 

Check out the 2nd Gen "Sticky" for doing the 6 speed conversion.
It's been previously done and everything is well documented. Unsure of GTI turbos.