PD_Roomster

Pulled the scuttle covers but all looked good as far as the loom goes in there. Ended up running a new cable from the plug under the dash to the alternator along the original loom route. All seems to be working as it should now, light comes on with ignition and goes out once started 👍 Cheers for the help!

Not getting anything when taking it to ground so don’t think it’s shorted anywhere but not getting any continuity if I go end to end on it either?? Showing 11.9v at the blue cable on rear of the brown plug above, but 8.2v at alternator socket. I’ve just ran a piece of cable straight from the blue wire on the brown plug to the alternator and the battery light is now coming on with the ignition like it should. I didn’t start it to see if it extinguished as the air box/maf and battery are still out of the car and it’s now gone dark. I’ll carry on with it tomorrow.

Is this the one?

Cheers for the help! I’ve had the battery tray and air box out and checked the wiring along the chassis leg up to the bulkhead but there’s nothing obvious wrong. Looks like it goes up into the scuttle rather than straight through the bulkhead. The car doesn’t have DRL’s. I’m just trying to figure out how to access the module above the pedals now. I’ve removed the polystyrene cover but looks like I might need to remove the lower part of the dash and move the module to allow for the plugs to be removed.

It’s a 58 plate BSW motor. Resting voltage of the battery is 12.8v

I was thinking I should but had other cars where components are a ‘pass through’ for other systems, so one thing failing can take out a few.

With just ignition on, the brown with red tracer was showing 12v and blue just over 8v at the alternator plug. The blue was unchanged when running but brown/red was showing 13.8v after I gave it a blip of the throttle. I was getting the same figures at the other side of the plug near the starter and there was no resistance showing in the short run of loom between there and the alternator. Not sure how to check with alternator plugged in? This was with the alternator unplugged. The wiring looks good after taking the small black Flexi conduit of up to the point where it joins a larger loom under the battery. Looks like it runs along the chassis leg then but can’t see a lot with the battery and air box there.

Just been and checked the connections near the starter that the mk1 suffers from but they look good. I got mixed up yesterday, the blue one had the lower voltage on it, not the brown with the red tracer, so I’ve got low voltage on the blue if I should be seeing 12v for the battery light. Still wondering if it’s a fault in the heater panel causing it as I think these are part CAN?

The faults showing up in VCDS scan seem to relate to a faulty heater control panel but just wondering if signals are sent and communicate ‘through’ this panel?

Cheers. Blue wire is showing battery voltage. Browny orange one is showing around 3v. Not sure what they’re meant to be? Hopefully the weather is better tomorrow and I can have a proper look underneath.

Broke down due to flat battery as alternator wasn’t charging but had no warning light. Battery light isn’t coming on with ignition and then shutting off after the engine is started, as it should. It illuminates if I do dash output tests with vcds but other than that, nothing. I’ve replaced the alternator but it’s not charging unless it’s revved over around 2k rpm, continues charging at idle after that. vcds scan isn’t coming up with anything related to alternator load signal as I was expecting. Do these suffer with the same fault as the mk1 with the plug near the starter motor? Anyone else had this fault on theirs?

Great news! I don't think you need software to program the remote side of it unless there were too many remote fobs already allocated to the car. That used to be the case anyway. Also, I thought the remote side was already working too, from an earlier post? You could just swap over the remote fob part of the keys that work if that’s the case. Id read that the virgin software was how you did the immobiliser off function on the ecu. Is the immobiliser key/car symbol extinguished now, once it’s running, or is it still blinking?

The cluster and ecu pins need to match before you can program keys. I think you may need at least one matched key to get the process started too if you aren’t linked to the vag server. I don’t know if you‘ll even need the keys programming to sort it. I’d have thought your keys should already be programmed to the cluster if they’re original, it’s the replacement ecu pin not checking out ok that’s triggering the immobiliser. Did they give you the cluster PIN number? I thought I’d pulled it from mine at first with my super vag unit but then realised it was just the coding number that you can see in VCDS. If he has pulled the cluster pin, Do you know what they used? Changing the engine ECU pin to match it Is fairly straight forward with VCDS as it’s older tech than the cluster. You’ll still need some other software to pull the current pin of the ECU though as you need that to log in and change it.

Broken wires in the door loom could also cause this sort of problem. They’re quite common to fail near the hinge inside the rubber boot.

Hi. Did you ever manage to get the PIN number for the mk2 cluster? If so, what did you use?

That’s what my current, original dash looks like. They start with immobiliser active but cut out after a second or two. Do you have any way of looking at what codes it’s throwing up with the ignition on? Does the coil light time out as normal or is it flashing? May be worth trying the ecu that was in the boot to see what you get? Might not run but could maybe tell if it’s the original if it doesn’t activate immobiliser. You know the keys/cluster aren’t at fault that way too and there’s a chance you can still pull the pin from the ecu to code into the new one. If you were local I’d be happy to plug it in and see what we could do? I’m North West based.

That’s the software I use. It works with pre 05 stuff, on that vid I think he’s using a b5.5 Passat. It won’t work on the Fabia 2 or Roomster clusters that I have tried. I’ve tried it on my 08 Ibiza too and it’s the same story, unable to read the cluster pin.

Yes, it’s different to my original one too. Known as a maxidot unit due to the better info screen in the middle I guess. I needed to repair/replace mine so thought I’d upgrade as I prefer having a temp gauge and a proper fuel gauge. As for the dealer, it’s not that they can’t reprogram units, they can, they just have no access to the codes themselves like they used to. They plug the vehicle in and its done remotely by accessing the VAG server. They never see the information at the dealer end. Have a google of ‘ODIS GeKo’. If there’s a work around for this I’d love to know what it is as it’d be handy, I’m always tinkering with vag stuff.

I couldn’t find much info on the Fabia/Roomster, polo, Ibiza of this age but thought it would be straight forward as I’d done it on plenty of vag cars in the past. After trying without any luck and doing some further research, it’s not possible to pull the cluster pin on this model. As I understand it, not even the dealer can. Possible on lots of other Vag stuff but not on this. Looks like lots of expensive, specialist equipment is required and the cluster is out if the car on the bench. As above, you can pull the Ecu pin with fairly basic stuff and that’s the same pin if the ecu is original. You may have a good replacement ecu with a non matching pin. Could possibly pull the pin from the one you found in the boot if that’s original and try changing it over. Make a note of both of the pin numbers though for reference. Pin change can be done with vcds but you’ll need something like vag tacho, vag commander or a super vag unit to extract them in the first place. I’ve just ordered the later version of the super vag unit as mines an older one. I’m hoping it’ll give me more access to this cars systems but I’m not holding my breath!

I’ve tried pulling the cluster pin but I couldn’t do it with my usual software. They changed how they work around 05 and the dealer can’t even extract the pin. You can pull the pin from the original ecu as it’s older tech and that will be the cluster pin also. In my case, I’ve got a replacement cluster that I can’t extract the pin from. I don’t have the ecu from that car to use as a reference for the PIN number so I’ve hit a dead end for now with that. Hopefully you’re not in the same boat!

You need to find out what has been changed really but sounds likely just the ecu. The transponders in the keys are coded to and checked against the instrument cluster and then the cluster checks it’s pin number against the pin of the ecu. If something doesn’t check out, the immobiliser is triggered. The mechanical side of the key and the remote locking aren’t related to that side of the system. The ecu pin can be checked and changed with the right software but the instrument side of it, the dealers can’t even check. I’ve just found this out myself when attempting to change to a maxidot unit. I’m sure the dealers could sort it but they choose not to as you haven’t bought hundreds of quids worth of electronics from them! An immobiliser off ecu will work to get it running but if it’s an issue with the key transponder and cluster you’ll still have the immobiliser active warning showing on the dash. Where are you based?

Hi. Yes, I’ve got a Roomster. They share the Fabia mk2 dash and wiring ( same car from B pillar forwards) so thought I’d have more chance of getting info in here. The Roomster isn’t the most popular car, even less so for modding! The replacement cluster I picked up is a Fabia unit but it’s a straight fit into the Roomster. I need to change the cluster pin to match my old one but I can’t do it with my usual software, VCDS and Vag Commander 3.6. I can read the pin from the engine ECU for my original one but I need the pin for the replacement cluster, I don’t have the ECU for that one.

I’ve recently bought a car with what I thought from past experience we’re a couple of quick fixes needing to be done, namely a dodgy door micro switch and a failed cluster speaker. I’m still looking for the door fault after replacing the door micro switch and the loom hasn’t cured it. Then, after taking out the instrument cluster, I’ve now discovered that previous owner has been in there and purposely disabled the speaker as well as removing a couple of bulbs (door open indicator and heater plug/fault light indicator) and supergluing it back together! I’ve picked up a replacement cluster, an early maxidot unit with the same two plugs, but after fitting it discovered it isn’t as straight forward as it used to be to code them in. I’ve tried a search on Google and the forums but couldn’t pull much info up. Does anyone know If it’s possible to pull the pin from these clusters or get it to recognise keys without having an original? What software or hardware is required? All of the info I’ve turned up seems to relate to either the earlier or the later clusters, this 06>09 stuff doesn’t seem to be well documented.