:)

Then I suppose the following acronym make sense for SVA.

S Schalt = change gear

V Vorschlag = suggestion

A Anzeige = indicator

Got the mfa Stalks today, fitted perfectly. Worked out that it needs power from a switched live and the output does indeed go to pin 8 of the clock multiplug (Found this out by putting the handbrake on and off) So far only the clock, elapsed time work (I haven't checked the speed yet) Everything else needs senders or wiring sorting

The finished article

Everything works great apart from the overall mpg gauge, which can reach 99mpg after about an hour of motorway driving.

Holy Thread Revival I know but I'm looking at doing this and just wondered how much chopping (if any) you had to do to the loom etc. and how you managed to get all the parts working. I've had similar issues with late/early clocks regarding oil pressure lights etc that you had here. I just resorted to early rev counter clocks.

Anyway, I have the MFA stalks (with the 4 wires and socket) and looking at MFA clocks. Is there a particular year to look for? Also I see you have the brake and choke indicators from a golf there. Are they mk1 ones and what did they take to fit?

The handbrake/choke indicator is more or less a direct fit. There's no clips like on polo switches it just pushes in with a bit of force. You need the multiplug for the back of it though, it's the same type that goes on the back of the clocks except it's only 4 pins wide.

I only remember the MFA stalk being one or two wires? It's been 7 years since I did it though!

The accuracy of the digital average MPG gauge is laughable. It shoots up to 99.9 within minutes and stays there. It's because the clocks need a 'top gear' signal to activate the analogue mpg gauge. Because the polo 5-speed doesn't have this (4-speed formel E boxes do) I had to earth the pin so it's just on all the time so it thinks it's in top gear constantly. The analogue gauge is pretty accurate though!

The oil temperature seems to work fine, I've no idea how accurate it is though. The highest I've seen it is in the 90s and that was using a sender that replaced the sump plug

Outside temperature gauge used to work fine but where I put it is susceptible to heat soak (I think it's in the inner wing, near the aerial. So if the sun gets on it it gets really hot. Really it needs to be under the car down the side of the fuel tank or something

Miles covered is reasonably accurate, the trip counter and digitally recorded miles are a few percent different, this is because the mfa was calibrated to run off a golf speedo which needs fewer rotations from the speedo drive to count a mile.

Mine are from a late mk1 golf. I think they were introduced with the 1.8 mk1s. You are more likely to get a set of cabrio ones, the difference being there is no analogue MPG gauge (there is a digial instant instead I believe)

A majority of the 14-pin connector wiring was the same. Just the handbrake had and choke signals had to be changed if I remember righly. Choke was the 0.3bar oil pressure switch and handbrake was the mfa switch. There's an additional 6 pin multiplug and a hall sender that goes onto the back of the speedo. Hopefully when you get the clocks you'll get both of these as I imagine they're quite hard to come by now.

Oh, I almost forgot. The only thing that doesn't work is the 'shift up' light. It was another thing that needed a switch in the gearbox. Later clocks won't have this.

Yeah, my stalks have four wires - red, blue, white and black. Where should these plug into (assuming I have the right ones)

The 6 wire multiplug, where does that go to?

Would it be possible to swap my odometer and speedo across, or do I have to use the MFA ones (due to the 6 pin plug etc)?

Could a 'top gear' switch be rigged up in the shift assembly in the cab? I mean a simple push switch to say it's in fifth? Or does it need a special sender?

I appreciate it's been a while since you did this, but thanks for all the help

Edited 26 January, 201313 yr by prankstar2003

pics of your stalks please! Do they have a 1-2 switch on them?

The 6-pin plug goes to an extra plug on the back of the MFA clocks. This is what all the extra sensors wire to. I wasn't very clear before, it's just the hall sender that plugs into the speedo and a polo speedo can be retained (as per my pic!). There is a blanking cover over the hole for the hall sender and this needs to be snapped off to get the hall sender to fit in.

you probably could mount a switch on the linkage somewhere for 5th. It is just a switch and nothing fancy.

Ah, that's what that 'removable' part on the back of the speedo is for. Always wondered that.

Still cinfused about this 6 pin plug. So the wires go from one part of the cluster to another (in other words wires don't come from the car etc.)

Stalks

the 6 pin plug is like the main plug on the clocks. it comes from the dashboard loom and provides the clocks with the extra information from the additional sensors. Unless your car started out as a formel E, this extra plug isn't present on polo clocks or on the dash loom so you'll need to source one.

Right I've sussed it now. Those must be later stalks. On mine, the 1-2 switch is on the clocks in the top right corner of the rev counter. So mine only has two wires just for the mfa button. So you'll need to get a matching set of clocks

Really? Do you not think I could use an earlier set of clocks and connect up the relevant wires? What does the 1/2 switch do?

What exactly do you connect to the 6 pin plug the, inputs from the various sensors? Do I need the car-side too?

Also, tell me more about your oil temp sender, what was it from?

the switch is to change from short term to long term memory. for example, it measures the single journey trip distance in position 1 while in position 2 it gives you the total distance covered since the last time it was reset (just like on all mfa's fitted to later vw group cars)

if you got early clocks you'd just use the switch built into them and not the one on the stallks, it seems a shame to have the switch on the stalks and not use it! You'd have to solder to the back of the switch I think as the switching is done internally on early clocks, i.e not through one of the wires going into the clocks through the main or supplimentary connectors.

If you look on the previous page it explains all the pinouts for the 6 pin plug. Basically it's the outputs from the clocks to all the sensors you need for the MFA

The oil temp sender is a single pin water temp sender, as fitted to polos with an aluminium thermostat housing. Fitted into an m14x1.5 to m10x1 adaptor which replaces the sump plug. You can also fit it in the head, but both my outlets are already occupied and I didn't want to use a t-piece. Also I think that it's sat in the bulk of the oil where the temperature is more consistent.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LMA-Gauge-Sender...=item53f3f9cb71

Thanks for that link, I've used that company before. I like the idea of using a sump plug rather than a sender in the head. I know the sender you talk about, I had one as the sender for water on the original engine.

I'll have to have a play about to see if that switch can be used, or else I'll keep an eye out for some early stalks. Only paid about £11 for the ones I had a while back so not a huge loss. I've seen them go for a lot more however.

One last question (thanks for your patience!) is the 6 pin plug and hall sender the saem part, or are they seperate? If it's the latter, could the plug be sacked off and all inputs soldered to the pins (using spade connectors to make them removable) as a last resort?

Separate.

6 pin plug can be seen here, next to the speedo

http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showim...,0&format=0

hall sender is above it

It's not a good idea to solder to the blue foil pcb stuff it tends to melt.

I edited my previous post as I found a higher res pic.

Looking at that in a bit more detail, those are later clocks and there is a third, two pin plug. (top left) This has got to be the plug for the 1-2 switch. I did wonder how it would get the extra signals as the number of pins on the clocks are already on the short side

That's great, thanks. So early clocks won't have the red/white and black/white wires that come from the top left?

Thats a 6 pin plug with only 4 wires - what's missing?

The hall sender is screwed to the back of the clocks there, right? Just left of that white colar on the back of the odo?

Edited 26 January, 201313 yr by prankstar2003

missing pins are the 5th gear switch and the shift change switch as both of these were part of the analogue mpg gauge not fitted to those clocks so the wires weren't needed

hall sender is what you think it is yeah

and yeah the 1-2 switch wires aren't there on early clocks as the switch is built into the clocks

Awesome, thanks. I think that's all I need to know (for now!). I'll keep this thread updated if that's ok, with progress and a few photos.

Saying that, where do the wires from stalks go, or is it obvious?

I'm not 100% on the wiring for the stalks but I'd guess that 3 of the wires from the stalks go to the clocks, the other one goes to earth.

Where did your's go? You say to the clocks, but to which part, the big multiplug? How many of your's went directly to the clocks - both or just the one?

On mine one went to the multiplug (pin 8) and the other went to earth. On yours, one would go to the 14 pin multiplug, two would go to the two pin plug we discussed earlier and the final one is earth. I've no idea which one is which!

Of course, one of them would be used to switch the mfa display I guess. Hope I can work it out.

Again. Really appreciate your help on this. Now trying to work out how to get the digital mpg reading to work

The digital MPG reading on later clocks would work all the time, no switch needed as the swtich for it is one of the missing wires in that photo we looked at.

Right I see. Cool. Hoping for later clocks (a set went only last week) but will settle for earlier