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superb interior light problem


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That's great news for you. I may well have a similar problem to you since repeated looks under the front passenger carpet have drawn a blank for me. Can you be a bit more specific regarding where the faulty wiring was and what it looks like please? Well done.

Ill try my best to.

What problems are you having ????

If you have a look here http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/152490-water-ingress-problemsolved/

Baker21 done a great job on the pictures etc maybe read that first.

In the first picture you can see a bunch of red and black wires these look like the ones that had been repaired already in my one so they could possible be the ones that affect the alarm as I explained before.

In the second picture at the far left is where I had issues with more of the red and black wires and some others (you can see where he has taped it up after the repair. and on the far right is where he took the first picture.

In the third picture (similar to the first but from a different angle) where he has taped it up is where I found the blue and yellow wires that fixed the interior and puddle lights you can see where he taped it up after he repaired it.

I taped the whole lot up once it was repaired because I also had some purple wires corroded (third picture far right where the picture ends) the water gets wicked up the wires even though this part is not submerged......

DISCONNECT BATTERY FIRST!!!!

WHAT I DONE AND WHAT TO LOOK FOR.

Once you have the front seat out.

i ) Take the two plastic covers off the bottom of the seat from the rear with seat forward one screw holding each one on (put the little cap out first)

ii) Get the seat to go as far back as possible with the back up (i found it easier to get out) from the front look under the seat there are three connectors (electrics) the yellow one has a sort of cover push that over and unclip and pull at the same time the green and red just need the clips moved and pulled.

iii) From the front at the bottom of the seat there are two bolts (not the single nut on the black part of the seat under that..) take the two bolts out and then sit on the seat and give it a little nudge backwards and the seat will just come out of the runners

Now remove the plastics along the side.

in the front footwell there is one screw with a plastic cover pop that out and undo the screw and pries it out there is a little clip at the top but it should come out easily.

The trim down the side just needs to be clipped out run a flat screwdriver along the length finding the clips and prizing them upwards when you come to them.

I was unable to get the rear seats out on mine (pulled watts left off my hair out trying lol) so I had to leave the rear end still attached under the rear seats BE CARFULL NOT TO SNAP IT WHEN YOU LIFT CARPET ideally you should find out how to remove it fully.

Anyone feel free to help with that please !!!!

you can remove the glove box out of the way I did makes it easier to clean the water up from behind that part of the dash/carpet and clean the footwell/glove box light contacts that were rusty.

I think that was 5 screws in side and two underneath if I remember correctly. It just slides out becarfull to disconnect the two cables.

Ok now you can try and lift the carpet up the whole length of the car and place screwdrivers along it to hold it up.

I unwrapped the silly material tape the VAG people used the full length (you don’t have to do it make the job allot longer re-wrapping it all back up) but I found the wires dried allot quicker.

I found this the best way to look through the wiring for those silly joins in the loom.

**** WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ARE RUBBER BUNGS THAT ARE PLACED OVER THE JOINS / WIRES IN THE LOOM ******* the wires are joined inside them and they place these plastic covers over them to stop them shorting out but the water gets soaked up the wire or submerged in the water it corrodes the bare ends inside the plastic covers and eventually the wire breaks off loss of contact = no lights/alarm/central locking etc......

I removed all of the plastic covers from that part of the loom and cut the wires back till they where clean connected them back together soldered, heat shrinked and taped solid then taped the whole lot up tight as a ducks behind lol.....

This does take some time (not to remove seat etc but to solder and wrap) so before you start go down Costco buy a pallet load of kitchen towel as you will need it to soak up all that water lol It keeps coming and coming and coming out of that insulation material under the carpet. also the insulation from behind the glove box and water collects around the plastics by the fan

once its all done put it all back the way it came out make sure the air vent in the carpet is placed back correctly over the flat tube that sits under the seat (you will see it once the carpet is up.

I think thats it.

Alot to read I know but I tryed to be as accurate as possible maybe read a couple of times first as its a bit jumpy .

Any questions ask away.

My fingers are sore now, its your turn to read.

All the best and I hope this helps some one out there!!!!!

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Thank you. That helps. I have had no front interior lights and the 2x adjacent map lights, no vanity mirror lights, no puddle lights for over a year now. But I have never had any water ingress, I am certain about that. I have been paranoid about checking water drains and the pollen filter seal is new and doesn't leak (yet). I have checked more than once and the wiring looks like new under the carpet. The rear interior lights work just fine and the ash tray lights work, door handle lights work, switch illumination works, it's only the above mentioned lights that don't work in the front cabin area. Curiously, the 2x small red LED's in the front interior light cluster work fine.

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Thank you. That helps. I have had no front interior lights and the 2x adjacent map lights, no vanity mirror lights, no puddle lights for over a year now. But I have never had any water ingress, I am certain about that. I have been paranoid about checking water drains and the pollen filter seal is new and doesn't leak (yet). I have checked more than once and the wiring looks like new under the carpet. The rear interior lights work just fine and the ash tray lights work, door handle lights work, switch illumination works, it's only the above mentioned lights that don't work in the front cabin area. Curiously, the 2x small red LED's in the front interior light cluster work fine.

My lights were the same as yours "no front interior lights and the 2x adjacent map lights, no vanity mirror lights, no puddle lights", all the rear lights worked also for me and the little red lights but the passenger side puddle light still worked on mine

It may be a case that the connections on your loom were not connected very well the blue wires at the rear on mine just fell out as if they were not connected at all !!!

If I were you I would physically check the wires I mentioned really it sounds like a lot of work but if you just want to check them out it will prob take you an hour max to open it all up.

Remove the silly VAG tape look for the plastic plugs make sure you remove them fully and check there clean you can push the plugs back on after then roughly rap it back up.

1 x philips screw driver

1 x large flat blade screw driver

1 x 13mm socket & ratchet

1 x roll of insulation tape

1 x 1hour of time

Atleast that way you know the loom is 100% good then it maybe the control module (I had loads and loads of water and my module was dry as a bone inside!)

Trust me I think you will be suprised its not going to be the bulbs or any thing like that if there has been no water then the control unit should be ok. It could just be dodgy VAG wiring oxiditation/moisture .

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Thanks again. This is really very useful, it's the first suggestion I've seen that might pinpoint where the issue can occur without the usual water ingress. I think you're right, I have a wiring issue along the lines that you have suggested. I doubt that the control module is damaged, I've had it out of its box twice and it looks like new.

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Thanks again. This is really very useful, it's the first suggestion I've seen that might pinpoint where the issue can occur without the usual water ingress. I think you're right, I have a wiring issue along the lines that you have suggested. I doubt that the control module is damaged, I've had it out of its box twice and it looks like new.

I have managed to get so much great information from this forum its nice to think that I have been able to give a little back.

I hope you manage to get it sorted and if I can help any more feel free to ask.

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Just out of interest...how difficult is it to remove the carpets and check the box of electronics under the passenger seat? i quite fancy checking this item that seems to be the root cause of the problem on lighting issues, and maybe encase the whole thing in something a little more watertight than it is at the moment....therefore giving it a little more longevity in the job that it has to do. Also, is it a difficult job to remove the seat in order to have better access? cheers for any info ...regards andy

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It's no use keeping the water out of the box on its own because the majority of the faults I have seen reported here have been due to faulty cable joints caused by water ingress, or in my case, even without water ingress. Best solution it seems is to seal the pollen filter properly, keep an eye on it and keep all water drain routes free of debris, leaves etc. Even by doing this though, I still have no front interior lights. By the, way you can access the box without removing the seat but the carpet is very stiff and very heavy.

Edited by Fred Bloggs
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It's no use keeping the water out of the box on its own because the majority of the faults I have seen reported here have been due to faulty cable joints caused by water ingress, or in my case, even without water ingress. Best solution it seems is to seal the pollen filter properly, keep an eye on it and keep all water drain routes free of debris, leaves etc. Even by doing this though, I still have no front interior lights. By the, way you can access the box without removing the seat but the carpet is very stiff and very heavy.

I'd agree totally with fred it tend's to be the top quality joints used by the manufactor that give the most grief (even a cheap chinese toy has better quality jointing system) . To lift the carpet push the seat back fully remove the left side kick panel (one screw) pull up the runner panel and using brute force lift the carpet up (a tip here is have a few pieces of timber one foot to 18 inch's handy to hold the carpet up) then check the joints also check the connectors (plugs) on the control module inside the large box look carefully in the back of them as these also corrode. the problem with this issue is that the fault could be anywhere, at present I have located an interior wiring loom and its just a maze. Wires go up then back and it would just amaze you the route some take to get to their destination and this seems to be down to door switches, time delays, puddle lights, all inter connected so it look's like jump up and down on the haystack and see can you find the needle

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So it look's like jump up and down on the haystack and see can you find the needle

Ill agree with you on that one.

What the hell were they thinking when they made that loom its like they kept forgetting bits and just adding a bit here a bit there.......

Maybe they took it from a two door vw polo and tryed streaching it, as it broke they just connected anouther bit or wire lol....

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when you say that water was dripping underneath the car doesn't sound like the pollen filter seal seems to me that that hole under the battery is blocked whip out the battery and check first as for an expert on repairing the wires under the floor anyone with a knowledge of lifting the carpet and locating the joints in the loom and can use a soldering iron will be able to sort most of the problems just check out the link from some of the others above it's not rocket science if water has got into the module (the little black box inside the big box) then you may have to visit a breakers yard it will cost you about £50 for a used one (you may have to recode the central locking on a replacment box) . This problem is like a vocation once you start down the path of repair it becomes addictive and you be driving along thinking of areas under the carpet to check next god bless those VW engineers the *****RS

You are absolutely right dohertyjj!

It was the whole that was blocked. As I am hopeless with this sort of stuff I take the safer option and decided to take it to someone who knows their stuff. So I took it o Roger who isn't too far from me. And he did an excellent Job. He cleared the blocked hole under the battery. It was completely blocked according to him. He checked and made sure the seal was OK. I had the seal replaced recently and he thinks the water probably got in before the seal was placed. He cleaned up the wiring. Luckily for me the comfort unit was OK. But there was plenty of water in the foot well which finally dried up.

I had a problem with one of my interior lights. And it turned out this had nothing to do with the water though. He said it was something about the contacts close to the bulb itself. After roger has done his magic the light is fine now. So everything is OK for now I guess.

But he did say the hole might get blocked every now and then so I should get this checked every now and then!

Just one more questions to you experts out there. Now that I have done the sealing properly (Using the new VW seal) Can I be sure that even if the holes get blocked with leaves, The water won't get into the passenger foot well? Or can the blocked water eventually get into the footwell?

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If you get any rain water trapped in the plenum chamber, there is a high risk of brake servo failure followed by engine damage. Do a forum search to get the details.

I regard it as being essential to remove the stupid "duck bill" drain outlet under the battery and to push the similar drain bung in the servo well right out - at least an inch below the plenum floor. The servo well drain has a tube running through it and cannot be removed without cutting it out - which is unnecessary.

Only if you remove the bungs and re-seal the pollen filter housing is there a chance of these cars being water tight and avoiding brake servo failure. Even when modified, I would not park one of these cars under trees or facing uphill in the rain - and I would still clean the plenum chamber annually. Crappy design.

rotodiesel.

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If you get any rain water trapped in the plenum chamber, there is a high risk of brake servo failure followed by engine damage. Do a forum search to get the details.

I regard it as being essential to remove the stupid "duck bill" drain outlet under the battery and to push the similar drain bung in the servo well right out - at least an inch below the plenum floor. The servo well drain has a tube running through it and cannot be removed without cutting it out - which is unnecessary.

Only if you remove the bungs and re-seal the pollen filter housing is there a chance of these cars being water tight and avoiding brake servo failure. Even when modified, I would not park one of these cars under trees or facing uphill in the rain - and I would still clean the plenum chamber annually. Crappy design.

rotodiesel.

Thanks very much for that rotodiesel. Actually it was you who first warned me about this problem shortly after I bought my Superb. And thanks to you I knew what to do when this happened. So I guess I will have to keep an eye on this anyway. I plan to check an clean out the drain holes about once every year.

I was wondering if there is any clever way of avoiding the leaves from falling into those holes at all? Like putting in some sort of a mesh that will trap leaves before they can do the damage? Some sort of a nylon mesh barrier under the bonnet around the area just under the wipers? that way the leaves will be trapped there and will have to be cleared out every now and then. Does this sound practical at all?

Edited by sam2000
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I don't think it's really practical to screen the air inlet against the ingress of dirt. Pine needles, for example will always find their way in and there's not a lot you can do in the area around the bonnet hinges.

After fixing the drains and the seal, just make cleaning out the plenum chamber part of your annual maintenance - I remove the covers and use a long slim vacuum cleaner nozzle. One thing I would do though, is to cover the air inlet with an old towel if snowfall is likely (bit late now). A great slug of melted snow ending up in there is not ideal.

You have to apply Teutonic logic to this problem and think the way they do.... Call in the tree surgeons.

rotodiesel.

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:D:D:rofl:

If only we could invent a hydraulic ram for the battery box just like a mini forklift we would make a fortune cause that battery sure is a bitch to move some pieces of advice i'd give is at each service lift up the battery and clean the holes cause as an annual chore it may be a bit to long to leave it. also make sure the battery cover is fitted cause I have noticed that a lot of these covers are thrown aside as they can be akward to refit and if you can lay your hands on a very fine nylon black mesh (fly screen from a good hardware shop) and glue it under the original slots using body moulding adhesive (large black tube available from any auto parts supplier) this will stop a lot of the debris getting into the chamber but remember to remove the panel from time to time and wash the mesh

fred the servo problems you mentioned how about this one--- if I am freewheeling down a hill and I brake more than once I end up with a hard pedal and no braking power on more than one occassion i have had to reach for the handbrake and as I live on an elevated site its a great way of being wakened in the morning do you think this could be servo related or is there a vac pump problem or a valve located somewhere it dosn't annoy me too much cause I have looked at whats involved in replacing the servo and it doesn't tickle my fancy at the moment I sure would appreciate your view

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  • 3 weeks later...

I don't think it's really practical to screen the air inlet against the ingress of dirt. Pine needles, for example will always find their way in and there's not a lot you can do in the area around the bonnet hinges.

After fixing the drains and the seal, just make cleaning out the plenum chamber part of your annual maintenance - I remove the covers and use a long slim vacuum cleaner nozzle. One thing I would do though, is to cover the air inlet with an old towel if snowfall is likely (bit late now). A great slug of melted snow ending up in there is not ideal.

You have to apply Teutonic logic to this problem and think the way they do.... Call in the tree surgeons.

rotodiesel.

thanks rotodiesel, Is there any simple 'test' you can do to check if the holes are bocked? Like pouring some water over the windscreen and checking if you get two streams of water coming out of hte bottom of the car? Would it work?

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If you get any rain water trapped in the plenum chamber, there is a high risk of brake servo failure followed by engine damage. Do a forum search to get the details.

I regard it as being essential to remove the stupid "duck bill" drain outlet under the battery

I think I should ask my mechanic to do this next time when i do the MOT. Just to make sure i understand, are you recommending removing the rubber 'drain plug' like thing from the drain hole and throw it away?

and to push the similar drain bung in the servo well right out - at least an inch below the plenum floor. The servo well drain has a tube running through it and cannot be removed without cutting it out - which is unnecessary.

In this case do you mean just push it down about an inch but don't remove the bung? is this right?

Thanks

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thanks rotodiesel, Is there any simple 'test' you can do to check if the holes are bocked? Like pouring some water over the windscreen and checking if you get two streams of water coming out of hte bottom of the car? Would it work?

of course if you do this and they are blocked, then you're just adding to the lake!

If you remove the battery cover then you can, with a bit of a squeeze, put your hand in and reach with fingertips down the side of the battery. You should be able to reach what feels like the bottom of the chamber - it's not , but it's pretty close. If you get wet, then it contains water :giggle: . If you don't get wet, then either the drains are clear and the chamber dry, or the drains are blocked but the water is out of reach - maybe less than 1" deep.

I did this on a fairly regular basis, especially after periods of heavy rain, for over three years before I felt any water. At that point I whipped out the battery (well, struggled manfully to lift it out!) and got rid of the rubber bungs - releasing a good few pints of water in the process.

cheers

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  • 1 month later...

Guys!

I thought I fixed it! I got the sealing done a few months back. But just a couple of weeks ago I found out I still have the leak!!

I park on a slope so the front of the car is always facing down. When I reversed up the car on to level ground, as it became level I saw water pouring down from behind the glove-box on the passenger side. pouring down! not dripping down.

I am taking it back to the guy to fix it. But if any of you experts could help me by giving any clues as to what is happening it would be great! Thanks so much!

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The reason you can't easily remove the drain bung in the servo well is that there is a pipe running through it.

Just push the bung out (downwards) and slide it down the pipe about 1" and the servo well should stay dry.

It is a matter of the utmost importance that water does not accumulate in the servo well as brake assist failure will result from the water entering the servo. Engine damage due to water ingestion (petrol) or water in the oil (diesel) is another consequence.

As supplied, these cars are dangerous. Our spineless VOSA is doing nothing - technically this problem "only" causes loss of brake assist. I'd like to see VAG's chief engineer stop a Superb at speed with no servo... He'd need underpants in the rear door, not a brolly.

rotodiesel.

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As supplied, these cars are dangerous. Our spineless VOSA is doing nothing - technically this problem "only" causes loss of brake assist. I'd like to see VAG's chief engineer stop a Superb at speed with no servo... He'd need underpants in the rear door, not a brolly.

rotodiesel.

Nice one Roto

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  • 4 weeks later...

Oh Sh... poo It looks like I have developed this loom problem. Started with water in the footwell about 3mths ago & carried out the repair as per Baker,s instructions (excellent)Didn,t have any problems with things not working apart from reversing senser. Put it all back together last week after allowing 2mnths to make sure everything was A OK

Now now now now -Ist thing when turning on ignition Airbag Fault, seatbelt sign illuminated, rear interior lights not illuminating, wing mirrors not dipping when selecting reverse, + reversing sensers. The good news is suddenly at 11-45pm last night reversing sensors & wing mirrors WORKING Is there a full moon? Well at least I have saved myself £20 having to pay Skoda for the radio code (until the next time) for some reason the code I was given by Skoda, the last time I had to pay for it, won,t work

Tel

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oh Sh... poo It looks like I have developed this loom problem. Started with water in the footwell about 3mths ago & carried out the repair as per Baker,s instructions (excellent)Didn,t have any problems with things not working apart from reversing senser. Put it all back together last week after allowing 2mnths to make sure everything was A OK

Now now now now -Ist thing when turning on ignition Airbag Fault, seatbelt sign illuminated, rear interior lights not illuminating, wing mirrors not dipping when selecting reverse, + reversing sensers. The good news is suddenly at 11-45pm last night reversing sensors & wing mirrors WORKING Is there a full moon? Well at least I have saved myself £20 having to pay Skoda for the radio code (until the next time) for some reason the code I was given by Skoda, the last time I had to pay for it, won,t work

Tel

To day i,m as happy as a pig in the brown stuff I have finally got to the root of my interior light problem and discovered some interesting things in the process the loom just in front of the back seats carries all the funtions of the interior lighting from puddle lights to delay and interior lights with the little bunch of blue wires the roof lights front and rear the brown orange wires the delay control the red bunch seem to be multi funtional but to be on the safe side repair all the connections in this area---- god knows why they jointed them in this area is a mystery but im not german---- having stripped a loom from a scrapped superb i would hate to have to create a scymatic drawing it would be like a cat pi****g in the snow another thing I discovered was that I had a problem with two micro switches one in the drivers door and one in a rear passanger door these doors did not send any signal to any of the funtions that they should so not sure if the micro switch can be got on its own but its a simple earth system switch so Im toying with transferring the wire down to the bottom of the door and just putting a toyota door switch on it --- it works so unless I find out different this will be my Irish solution to a german made problem -----------at this stage I can strip carpet -door panals- remove door lock assemblies front and rear remove windows seal pollen filters clean plenium chambers replace servos and rewire a suberb think I should apply for a job in a skoda garage

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