Warning Light
Hello Guys, I have got a Golf GT TDI and its about 5 year old. Anyway the warning light keeps coming on in the dash board. The one which is a triangle with a circular arrow round it. It only happens when i go on journeys more than 30 miles and i am usually travelling at about 80mph. It never comes on when iam driving round town. I havnt got a clue why it comes on.??
Any one gota nay ideas or suggestions?
Thanks, Nicola
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297 Said,
March 30, 2005 @ 12:11 pm
Either a dying MAF or a malfunctioning wheel speed sensor. – My guess is the speed sensor, since you did not report problems with idle or poor performance, and that it only comes on at high speeds.
formerAuditech Said,
March 31, 2005 @ 12:20 pm
yup – those are my thoughts…..faulty wheel speed sensor, which is quite common by the way……welcome to the lovely world of VW’s
niki Said,
April 1, 2005 @ 9:44 am
Warning Light – Hi, thanks for replying.How easy is it to get fixed? and why would that light come on anyway?
nicola
297 Said,
April 1, 2005 @ 10:11 am
Warning Light – That particular light comes on because it thinks your car is out of control — and when it does come on, it blinks.
A solid light probably means the car knows a sensor is malfunctioning and implies that your ABS/ASR has been deactivated (pressing the ASR/ESP disable button on your dash controls does the same thing and turns on that light).
Two ways the sensor is damaged: the exposed portion of the wire harness going to your wheel has been compromised (a kinked wire, a wire whose sheath is partially cut), or the sensor is indeed faulty.
You’ll have to put the car up and take off the wheel to see. It’d be good to know WHICH sensor is reporting failure, but for that you would need a VAG-Tool.
Replacing it yourself is relatively easy if you are car savvy, but a mechanic should be able to do it cheaply. The part is around $50-60.
Call your VW dealership, ask for parts, then ask for the part number — they’ll give it to you and a price quote. Then go to World Impex and search for that part number and see how much cheaper you can get it by yourself. The labor cost should be 1-2 hours, so for VW it’d be $70-140 (erring on the side of $140), and for a local mechanic, maybe as low as $40.
formerAuditech Said,
April 1, 2005 @ 10:21 am
speed sensor – you can pull wheels and inspect the wiring and connectors and see if perhaps you can see which one of them is the faulty one…..
but…
you are probably going to have to go to the dealer, sorry to say. we would rack the car, go in with the vagcom and then test the signal from each wheel and then see which one isn’t sending a signal and then go inspect the wiring and the sensor itself……
if you have one that is messed up (wire worn or cut) that you can see and you do replace it yourself, there will still be a code in the system. so sorry to say you are probably stuck going to the dealer. but i would be sneaky and see if you can get the dealer to tell you which one it is and then go get one from an aftermarket source for a heck of a lot less, Paul is very right on that one.
and the light comes on because the control module isn’t seeing a signal from the wheel speed sensor, be it a bad sensor or a cut wire. and the wheel speed sensor ties into your traction control system as well as your ABS system. so that is why the light is on, because something is wrong and throwing a hard fault code. if that sillyness makes any sense.
297 Said,
April 1, 2005 @ 11:35 am
Warning Light – You can get away from going to the dealer to find the code if you find someone with a VAG-Tool. Since you have a TDI, you’re already “”in”" with a comprehensive resource of people who do have VAG-Tools (most of them use VAG-COM) at TDIClub’s VAG-COM Scan Too List.
Find someone near you, have them scan your car to find out which wheel is reporting the error, and now all you have to do is jack the car up and take off that wheel. If you can see the problem, then fixing it may be simple if you like to tinker.
You can always go to an independent mechanic, tell them to replace the sensor for so and so wheel, then after the repair have a TDIClub member reset your ECU.
Basically, if you’re going to the dealership just to have the ECU read and reset, there are other options. Either through hook-ups with other TDI folks, or getting a VAG-Tool yourself. Dealerships charge about $90 for a diagnostic scan if there is no warranty coverage. That’s for ONE scan. Now a comprehensive tool like VAG-COM can cost a lot, but after three scans it’s paid for itself. There’s an even cheaper way if you own a PocketPC PDA with a serial port, and that’s to use VAG-Check. The free version can read and reset codes, which is all you need right now, so the expense is on buying an OBDII adapter, OBDTool.com’s is $71.