Author Topic: HOW TO: Fit MK3 style stalks to a MK2  (Read 10091 times)

Offline rubjonny

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HOW TO: Fit MK3 style stalks to a MK2
« on: 25 January 2006, 15:52 »
This will only work on late MK2 Golfs, with the hazard switch on top of the steering column.  If the switch is on the dash you need to do a bit more work, you'll need a late MK2/MK3/late SEAT ignition housing, and will have to do some wire splicing to get the wires to plug in :)

For the indicator stalk, try to find a late model SEAT. These have MK3 stalks but with the correct MK2 button on top, it's a straight swap, I got a set from a SEAT Toledo and they went straight on my gf's Polo MK3. Otherwise you have to swap the old MK2 hazard button onto the MK3 stalks, which is fiddly but not too hard.
Any MK3/late Passat/SEAT wiper stalk will do, they're all a straight swap, try to get one from a model with a rear wiper or the stalks wont press forward.  You can modify them so that the rear wiper works though, if you have no choice (or forget like me!).

1. Take off the centre horn push and undo the 24mm nut slightly, but leave it threaded a little.  Yank the wheel towards you, when the wheel comes loose take the nut off completly, centre the wheel and remove. You might want to mark the wheel & spline to make sure you put it back on straight :)
2. Undo the 3 screws holding the stalks on
3. Undo the 2 screws underneath holding the bottom half of the shroud in place, then unclip & remove
4. Try to undo as many as the plugs as you can, its a bit fiddly.  Don't worry if you can't get em all off, just try to undo as many as you can.
5. Press the hazard button in and pull the stalks out, this will be tricky as you have to get the hazard button under the hole in the shroud and if any wires are still plugged it it wont have much slack.  Persevere and they'll come off, then you should be able to undo the rest of the plugs

If you have MK3 stalks with the wrong style hazard button, you'll need to swap your old one over.  If you found a set from a SEAT with the correct button, skip to step 8:
6. With both the old & new stalks side by side, you'll see what needs to be done.  There's a plastic trim pice on the front of the stalks which you'll need to unscrew & swap over, be carefull as bits will pop out of place, especially the indicator cancel tab.  Notice the horn contact goes through the stalks and out the back, you'll need to push this out from behind, carefully press it onto a hard surface to persuade it to start coming out, then lever the cover off.
7. Now you need to swap the hazard button over, you can either carefully prise the red plastic button off, or you can remove the complete hazard button switch.  To do so, release the 2 clips in the top either size of the hazard button, and the complete button assembly will come off.

8. If you got a wiper stalk from a Vento or Toledo (i.e. no rear wiper) you'll find that the stalk wont press forward.  This is not a problem however, all you need to do is trim a small piece of plastic off the stalk and your rear wiper will work :)
Look just behind the stalk arm inside the stalk housing, and push the stalk forward.  You'll soon figure out which part needs to be trimmed off, simply get a sharp knife and cut it.  You can do it without stripping the stalks down, but if you feel confident you can take the stalk apart.  Its a fiddle to get it back together though especially due to all the springs etc :)
9. Refit the stalks the same way you removed them :)

The effort is worth it though:
« Last Edit: 07 February 2007, 10:35 by rubjonny »
Hello my name is John and I'm a dub addict.