Hey,
I'm in need of a little help here. I recently picked up a 1992 AWD Tsi with about 90k miles on it, which was going to be my DD, but I've hit a snag. Apparently there was a full engine rebuild, and some other stuff done to it but I'm pretty sure that most all if it was a lie, because this thing is a bit rough. Right now, I need a little help trying to figure out why my dash lights and tail lights don't work, as well as a horrible battery drain. Fuses are all good from what I've checked, and I'm not sure where to even start on ripping into this bad boy. I have also found an exhaust leak in my manifold, which is causing a nice little rough idle. To top it all off, and I don't know if this is because of the battery, but when I go to start the car, it cranks for a second and then everything just dies. I was thinking bad ground and or starters going bad? I'm just a teen, I don't know cars too well and I'd love to learn, but I have no idea who to go to about this, and I'm pretty tied on time between work and school. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm going to guess whatever is causing your lights to not work is causing the draw on the battery. I would start following the wires from the source and check for breaks in the wires. I know it sucks but if you don't have any reference I could give you, it is the easiest way. Honestly not that bad either.

As for the manifold. If the manifold itself is cracked I'd buy good condition 2g one or a new forced performance manifold (great upgrade). If it's leaking at the gasket extremepsi has good gaskets at a good price. As for taking it off, it's about as straight forward as you can imagine. The only thing you need to know is you have to also buy the turbo inlet gasket as well. NEVER reuse those gaskets. It's also a good idea to buy new fasteners for the manifold. The nuts can be a real bi*** to get off so soak them in PB Blaster every day until new gaskets come.

I'm going to guess a bad ground for the dying on starting issue. I'd check all of the grounds on the starter first as well as all of the wires going to it. There should be a ground wire that goes to the transmission that you need to keep in mind as well.