^ Your memory is good.

 

Another common problem with connections to the instruments module is spurious coolant shortage indications. This doesn't always get fixed by replacement of the expansion tank. The level sensor feeds in/out at pin 16, at the bottom/opposite end of the same connector.

The mating connector locks into the PCB connector so any movement/vibration of the wiring loom will tend to waggle the whole connector on its solder joints. I think it's  reasonable to expect that the end joints would be most stressed/strained?

 

Off to see what uses pin 32 now...

An earth connection it seems.

15 is fuel gauge input. Another thing that's been known to play up.

Edited 8 July, 20169 yr by Wino

Hmm, that's interesting.

 

I did replace the expansion tank about 8 months ago.  Also replaced the coolant temp sensor.

 

Afterwards, we still had the coolant level indicator on the dashboard, even though there was plenty of coolant in there.  I used some snake oil (as there seemed to be a load of mayo on the coolant cap (even after the new one).  The snake oil did solve both problems so didn't think any more about it.

 

Sounds like I could have a whole bunch of issues going forward.

 

Might be time for the great car-park in the sky ;-(

Or whip the dash cluster out, apply hot soldering iron, reassemble and marvel at the simplicity of the procedure and that it took less than an hour from start to finish to completely fix all the problems.

 

Your choice, though probably best to just give up and throw it away, repairing, repurposing and recycling is for old hippies like us lot.

May I suggest a slight soupcon of flux on the joint to help things along. Looking at poor solder problems, I wonder if this just happens to cars left out and when there's a prolong snap of cold weather or even hot. Normal electrical solder ( and even higher melting point stuff ) has been known to crystalise especially after low temperatures. On a lot of valve stuff ( mostly high power) , multi frequency mobile transmitters, all connections in the transmitter are made using high temp solder as 60/40 cracks rapidly. From memory ,i believe one of the effects of these was a rectifier effect, where the joint acted as a diode.

Might also be of interest to Tech1e

>sepulchrave

 

I'd deffo' be up for giving that a go, but without a clue about removing it, knowing which bits to solder etc - I'd be completely lost and probably cause more harm than good.

 

I'm not afraid of having a go - I replaced the steering angle sensor, brake light switch, drivers door lock and a load of standard service type stuff, but the electronics? Out of my depth I think (sadly).

 

I'll try a few of the ideas above and report back.

 

Thanks for the input guys..

 

Oh.. just wondering - does anyone have an idea on whether the immo' lamp would come on the very first time the car had the problem? This might rule out a fuel line issue , which was my initial focus with all of this.

 

It could then mean I only had one issue - a "failing" immo system - much more likely then for me to have a go at all of this. 

 

Thanks again.

 

Simon

if your happy to remove but not solder   you could send it away for checking /repair  I understand checking only ie: good,   results in a handling fee + postage

Ok, so here's my update.

 

Visited the car today armed with my laptop and PSMCAN and VCDS and also a handheld code reader.

 

Plugged VCDS in and struggled with the com ports etc - seemed to be going through loads of ports without finding the codes. Then plugged the handheld in and after a minute said, "no codes found".

 

Bummer..

 

Then I turned the ignition off and back on again - this time the immobiliser light went out, hmmm.... Cranked the engine and started first time with no drop in revs and subsequent stall.

 

Did it again - same result, plus the engine light had gone out.

 

Checked the half-baked attempt at connecting the fuel pump and reseated the pipes to ensure they were "in". At the cost of a nasty petrol burn to my hand - all Ok now.

 

Car was left for 15 minutes running - then I took the journey home (5 miles) in it.

 

No more lights on and have since started it up 1st time on 3 occasions.

 

So all seems well - no idea what had happened, so the plan is to leave it outside and keep cranking the engine to make sure the fault doesn't come back - in which case I'll have to take proper action.

 

Was it the fuel pump and an erroneous immo' issue? Who knows. I'm going to properly check for codes tomorrow to see if anything lurks in the ECU.

 

I forgot to take the info' with me about  "key in, key out, hold trip..." etc, but half remembered it and I did actually do that. Actually the odometer did flash 0000 so seemed to be asking for a code. Maybe that did something.

 

Anyway, I will report back on any further issues and also to report if the problem went away, but wanted to thank you all for putting your time in.

 

Cheers.

 

Simon

Hello again,

 

Ok so today everything has "nearly" been great with the little fabia.

 

I have been starting it up many times and took it on a trip too.  No problem with starting apart from on two occasions the immo light flashed - after which I had the standard start up and then drop revs to stall.  Remove the key, put it back in (and let the immo light go out alongside the other lights) and starts no problem.

 

However.. This car needs to be reliable as it's for getting to appointments for the missus so I do need to at least look at the options.

 

From what I've read on this thread, and a number of others, it looks like I have a couple of options; (please feel free to tell me which option isn't actually an option)  ;-)

 

Replace the ECU that doesn't have the immo on it - seen a few on ebay (not worried about having no immo)

Get the cluster out and have it re-formed? - I don't seem to be able to find any info' on this so no idea how difficult this is

Send my ECU off and have the immo part removed

 

I got excited on ebay when I spotted an OBD reader that would turn off the immo. I think that's for different models though? Does the 1.4 mpi have a different setup?

 

I'm reluctant to start ripping bits out as I know how that'll end up - so any advice on my best option (and contacts if available) would be greatly appreciated.

 

I think I'm in hope it keeps working mode at the moment, but doesn't seem the best medium term solution - as I know I'll get a call from the missus stuck 1 hr away.

 

Cheers all.

 

Simon

What's your approx. location Simon? Someone near you may be willing/able to help. Edit: I see you tell us Bristol a few posts back, bit far from me unfortunately.

 

Just been looking at a spare cluster I have, and sufficient access to the relevant pins of the connector on the PCB can be had without much effort. There's a piece of plastic trim above the steering column that unclips towards you to reveal two Torx screws. Remove them and pull cluster towards you. Release two wiring connectors (the big one has a lever type latch IIRC, the small one has a plastic flap that has to be pulled out, away from the connector body).

 

Take indoors and release the 7 plastic ramp catches from the periphery of the rear cover. Remove PCB with bezel, needles etc. all still attached.

 

 

 

 

Lift the right hand edge of the bezel and you have a view of the back of the green connector, where the solder joints (may) need re-flowing. Take a soldering iron and carefully apply to each of the red-circled joints, along with some flux-cored (standard) solder. Avoid joining any pins together with solder blobs. Clip cluster back together, refit, test.

Edited 25 October, 20178 yr by Wino
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That's really helpful - and almost looks do-able ;-)

 

I'm in sunny Bristol, by the way.

 

I'll read through again tomorrow and see if I have the guts to go for it.

 

Cheers.

 

Simon

Ok, so thanks to Wino the soldering has now been done.

 

Actually quite a straight-forward job apart from;

 

Managed to drop my tork spanner down behind the dash (school boy error) - which took a few minutes to retrieve.

 

and

 

battery went flat while continually turning the ignition for 2 days etc.

 

There were a few codes in the system (haven't got them written down as of now- will get and post tomorrow) - but they were all immo based and as suspected.

 

Cleared them down after re-fitting the dash and it's a case of trickle charging over night and then see where we are.

 

Big thanks for the input and will let you know how things pan out - in case it helps someone else.

 

Cheers.

 

Simon

Fingers crossed here. :sun:

Hi everyone,

I'm a VW Polo 1.4 2002 owner and I believe my car shares the same cluster as the same year Skoda Fabia cars. I'm having intermittent immobiliser issues (see original thread for the full story http://www.uk-polos.net/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=68573&sid=96f66f28742b5f4416408b902fd2b46f). I disconnected the instrument cluster yesterday and noticed some joints looked bad (see pics on other thread). When I put the cluster back in, some of the lights failed to show when I turned the ignition on; before the EPC and CEL lights would come on then turn off. Is this a sign of faulty joints on the connector? Did the resoldering work for your simonjr? Thanks

Edited 29 July, 20169 yr by Akp250

Hi,

 

I did post a follow up to the issue above but for some reason it didn't appear in the thread.

 

Anyhow...

 

For the first day or so the immo light flashed - I'd say once every 15 times. Turning ignition off and on again rectified it.

 

For the last month or so, though, we've had no issues.  I now ask the missus to hold the ignition in position 2 and look at the light before attempting to start.

 

Since we have been doing this (light checking) the immo light has never flashed.

 

So - either there was a bit of fault code remnant floating around OR by simply giving the car an extra 2 seconds before moving from position I to II the fault has gone.

 

All in all a great result. Did the soldering work? I can't tell, but seeing as the car now has no issues (well not this issue anyway) I'm going to see it was 100% worth doing and actually a pretty simple job too.

 

Thanks guys - much appreciated.

Simon

Same issue here, car is VW Polo 1.2-2002 (9n).

I soldered all those connections, and Immo works now ok! Thanks everybody, very good topic!

This topic helped me too, re-flowed them and works like a charm.