Robmel

No worries! We ended up with a Subaru Outback which seems a fine car. I really miss the scout though! That sweet little Diesel was a joy! Pity Dieselgate sealed the fate of European manufactured Diesel cars ... Curse you VW!

An update... We're selling the car (it cannot tow the small caravan we have bought because of weight restriction). Murphy's Law has caused the problem to return ... And it was caused by the same soldered joint failure. Easy and effective fix. I considered adding some hot melt glue to support the board, but since I'm selling to a friend, I'll let him do it next time!

Thanks for suggestions ... Search with google? ... Never thought of that! The pressure vents seem the most likely, having eliminated as best I can the other possibilities. I guess pulling out the lining and hosing the car while looking for water running down is the go. Glad the rear windows aren't mentioned I feared having to seal them myself!

Sorry if this is covered elsewhere, bit I can't find it if so. Have a water leak somewhere at the back of the car, with water filling up the spare tyre well. The rear door seal looks neat perfect, and the car has never been in an accident. Anyone seen this?

No worries, I think we and the UK are pretty similar re trade agreement and copywriter laws. The car has 4 electric windows ... And pretty much all the usual bells and whistles for that era (no collision avoidance or lane departure warnings - but IMHO, if you can't do those things yourself,you should leave the driving to someone competent anyway 😉 It's the "Scout" version of the Octavia - AWD, 2 LT Diesel, 6 SPEED DSG. We've had it from new and are very happy indeed with it. Tows a camper trailer with little noticable effort. Had one other curious problem which has appeared in these pages - engine running cool. Fortunately amongst the il-informed opinions, one article was correct - there is an inline (dumb wax bulb type) thermostat on top of the transmission under the air intake trunking. It had failed open (as they always do) so engine overcooled. New 'stat cost not much on eBay and easy to replace. Car warms quickly, runs at correct temp (90C) and returns best fuel economy again. Never listen to anyone who says diesels always run cool! Regards, Rob.

Thanks for that suggestion, Wino, erWin appears accessible here (🎶 everyth'ns up to date in Melb'n city 🎶 😄) I will investigate subscribing. If I can disconnect the console switch wires at the controller that should help. It has to be a problem with something that is able to lock all doors at once. If you can see what wires they are (I doubt CAN is involved in that connection) that would be most appreciated! Hope you and yours are OK in this strange era of modern human history. We seem to have Covid19 under control (nearly eradicated in fact) here in Australia, but it's a tenuous situation. All it takes is a silly mistake by an individual and things can start to unravel. Cheers, Rob.

Thanks folks! I thank you for your responses, and assume, since I said I'm in Australia, that "drivers side" is "right side" A nerdy semantic point ... "Drivers door" refers to the side the steering wheel is ... In Australia and UK (and many other countries) this is the right side of the vehicle. However the manufacturer is essentially German, so they would consider the drivers side to be the left side. Is the door lock controller changed for vehicles sold in Left hand drive vehicles? Surely this would lead to enormous complication in parts stocking. The vehicle was built in August 2011. A broken wire could explain this curious behaviour I guess, but I doubt that would only show itself in hot weather, and further get worse as time passes. I have not noted any sign of door sensor switch failures. I will certainly follow "broken wires" up but I will also look for points where wires might get pinched. Do you know where I can get info on what various wires leading to the controller do? I am particularly suspicious of the centre console lock switch wiring run and would like to disconnect it at the controller as a diagnostic measure. Re the pneumatic lock actuator:- I played with one of those on an earlier (Mk 4?) Golf my son owned (before he purchased a frustratingly idiosyncratic fiat 500!) Have also seen a uTube Flic of a Golf being unlocked with a sharp puff of air from a holed tennis ball applied to the keyhole! Regards, Rob.

Sorry! I'm sure this has been covered many times but I can't find a reference. Car is Mk II OCTAVIA SCOUT. 2lt diesel purchased in Australia so right hand drive ( like the UK) Trying to track down a central locking issue which only happens in out HOT summer! Car randomly and sometimes repeatedly locks itself - even with the engine running! I'm thinking it's a connector problem or even a pinched wire, so I may need to follow wires (OMG!!!) Can anyone tell me where the central locking controller is physically located in a right hand drive version. Not looking for fault tracing help unless you've experienced and fixed it. Appreciate any help! Cheers Rob.

Glad it was helpful! Almost certainly the problem will be widespread through the whole VW manufactured range. Question to moderator: Can this solution be more widely associated with other vehicle models?

Ooppps sorry, TheClient!

Thanks MicMac, if you do check your old one and find my diagnosis correct, it might be helpful to others who battle with this to hear corroboration. Cheers, Robmel

Thanks for pointing that out MicMac, On reading your earlier post more carefully, I see I misunderstood it first time round, and that in fact you pointed the finger at non-lead solder. My gut feel was that that would be the case, totally agree with you. Watching molten non-lead solder cool, you see the surface go from shiny liquid to frosted solid - nasty brittle-looking stuff indeed! Certainly not eutectic behaviour. I don’t think the original solder was ROHS, the solder was shiny, but cracked around the pins. I’m sure the joints failed due to mechanical vibration. Being bolted to the back door which is routinely slammed shut would probably be the source of the vibration.

Does get a bit warm here, but it does elsewhere. Do ROHS systems exhibit lower numbers of dry joints? That’s an interesting point!

Thanks for the observation about water ingress. Micmac. I had seen mention of that problem on the site. Maybe they fixed that or else in Australia the seal is not as stressed (not much ice where this car lives!). Certainly no sign of water in the gearbox (I looked!). IMHO, the mechanism seemed very nicely engineered. Given that there are many stories of such intermittent behaviour followed by total failure, I’m sure the problem is as I described. The repetition production of such things means the problem would be duplicated and widespread.

Hi Everyone, I'm new here so please forgive a topic which may have been done to death. My background is field service engineering, so I am used to finding obscure problems and repairing them without the benefit of all the spare parts! The rear screen wiper on our Mk2 Scout became intermittent and then stopped all together a while back, and I think I've round the solution! In this case though its not obscure at all - it's a very common issue with any system where a printed circuit has solid connections to the outside world, especially where these connections are the mechanical anchors for the board. The rear screen wiper drive assembly contains a small PCB, with connections to a 4 pin connector (earth, +12, and two control pins). Internally, here are two connections to the motor which are made via soldered pins within the assembly - and that's the problem. In my Skoda Scout, the soldered joints on these connections were "dry" where either due to poor soldering at manufacture or vibration induced fatigue failure of the solder, the joint looses integrity. It's simple to fix if you're handy with a small soldering iron - and a breeze if you have prior experience as a hobbyist in electronics. Getting to the assembly inside the rear door is the hardest part - popping the cover off - but I'll leave that for you to look up how to do this on this site and or any number of others! I removed the whole drive assembly - unplug the cable, take off wiper arm, and remove three 10mm head bolts, but if you're a contortionist you might be able to do the job without assembly removal. You will see a small rectangular cover (about 35mm X 25mm) on the front (/back?!) face of the assembly near the connector - use a fingernail to get it off, a screwdriver is not required. You'll see the PCB as in the attached picture (sorry about focus but its good enough!). I have arrow-ed the two offending connections. If you use a decent magnifying glass youll see that the solder around one or both the pins looks like its cracked and crumbly - that's classic "dry joint" appearance! Ideally, remove the existing solder (with solder wick or a "solder sucker") and then carefully re-solder those two joints. If you can't remove the existing solder, though, just apply a minimum amount of quality resin-cored (electronics) solder and apply enough heat to allow the solder to flow around the pins. Inspect the joins to make sure the surface is nice and shiny with no cracks. Incidentally, the joints on that board look too shiny to be ROHS compliant non-Lead solder, so you might find old school lead-tin solder if you have any, will be easier. Clip the cover back on, reconnect the cable and give it a test - in my car (2l Diesel Scout) the engine has to be running for the rear wiper to work (that had me tricked for a while! (-: ) Respond with any comments or questions! As a newbie, I welcome constructive input!