1994 Volkswagen Golf Car turns self off = dashboard gauges

1: At first the problem was occasional. You would start the car and it would die right away, like it had been turned off.

2: Now, the car will start and run for a few moments up to a minute or two and then turn itself off.

3: If you try to restart it, it will make funny buzzing sounds from somewhere in the dash and the speedometer will rev up to about 50mph.

If you leave it alone for about an hour, it will repeat #3.

4: When looking at the engine bay you will occasionally see brief sparks from either the distributor or from under the battery box. But they do not happen every time you engage the starter, just once in a while.

I don't know how to isolate the issue and have checked all the connections I can find for exposed wires without luck.

I have read that these models are noterous for issues with the ignition switch, but don't see how that could make the speedometer rev up.