Maxidot retrofit - Problems - Help me Briskoda!

[Stoofa]

I've just got back from Autohaus where my December 2006 Octy vRS was in their workshop for two hours.

This was to have maxidot retrofitted.

Physical fitting went fine.

Coding went fine, new unit is in place, shows correct milleage and its interaction with the RNS510 is excellent.

Problem.

ABS warning light is on and will not go off.

Autohaus claim to have "tried everything" but couldn't sort it.

I have the car back now but of course a little worried.

I'm assured its the light only - that ABS is in fact working.

However if something does go wrong with ABS I won't know!

Of course having that light on for ever more isn't acceptable.

I've gone away with the hope somebody here might be able to help.

Autohaus have said that if I go back they will refit my old dash pod - but I want Maxidot!

So please people - any ideas?

I don't have VAG-COM.

If anyone has any suggestions on things to try - please let me know in "simple terms" and fingers crossed I'll get to keep Maxidot and get rid of this warning light.

I'm off to Belgium for the day tomorrow and don't like the idea of that amber light looking at me all day...

[VRStu]

Do you have the alarm too?

Remind me, how new is your car?

[VRStu]

I'm 99% sure I know what the problem is and whilst it's not a huge problem you do need VCDS or VAS to fix it. It's quite normal to see this on a TFSi cluster swap.

You'll have some fault codes, which relate to some or all of -

Sensor for Steering Angle (G85)

Lateral Acceleration Sensor (G200)

Brake Pressure Sensor 1 (G201)

Longitudinal Acceleration Sensor (G251)

Steering Limit Stop Adaptation

[Stoofa]

It's a December 2006, so just over 2 years old.

The guy didn't tell me everything that was going wrong (he probably assumed I wouldn't fully unstand it all )

He said something about system requiring some system readings but the car simply didn't want to give them up.

It sounds like you've got an idea what might be up

But it sounds like the need for VCDS or VAS means a trip back to the dealer? :(

Could you tell me what you think it might be and how you'd go about fixing it?

I can contact the guy to make sure this wasn't something he had already tried.

Oh - and do you think the dealer was being truthful when he said ABS was working fine, it is simply the warning light?

Cheers Stu.

[VRStu]

If I'm correct then it will require some simple Basic Setting Adaptations to be carried out. I normally do them with VCDS no problem although it can take 15 or 20 mins. They need to be carried out in a specific order and without one being corrected the others won't follow which is I guess where his comment about the car not wanting to give them up comes from.

The reason I asked was just to confirm you didn't have the newer MK60EC ABS controller which would have been a whole new pile of problems.

[VRStu]

These are some of the procedures you'll need to carry out -

VW Golf (1K) Brake Electronics (MK60) - Ross-Tech Wiki

[Stoofa]

Quite a process then

If I pass the URL you provided onto the dealer with any kind if luck he'll understand it.

I'll also admit I'm not 100% sure as to what VCDS & VAS mean - but I'm assuming they are both pieces of equipment dealers will have rather than anyone on these forums?

[VRStu]

VCDS - New name for VAG-COM

VAS - Dealer Tool

[Stoofa]

So somebody with VCDS might be able to help me out here

I've dropped the dealer a quick line so I'll see what he has to say about thing.

Right, I'm off now - driving to Kent and then off to Belgium for the day tomorrow.

I'll have to live with the light for now and see what options are open to me once I get back.

If anyone stumbles across this thread who has VCDS and might be able to help out then let me know....I'll get ya a pint or two

[VRStu]

Yes VCDS and some persistance will no doubt sort the problem.

[Indulis]

Why not go to some deserted car park and slam on the brakes to see if ABS is still working OK. You'll know soon enough!

[shark_90]

Right, I'm off now - driving to Kent and then off to Belgium for the day tomorrow.

I'll have to live with the light for now and see what options are open to me once I get back.

Black electrical tape is your friend... just like motoring used to be. Don't fix the wiring with it, stick it over whatever warning lights are showing!!

[downtime]

Why not go to some deserted car park and slam on the brakes to see if ABS is still working OK. You'll know soon enough!

And for sure they aren't working. If the light is on, then it's a no no. Same with the ESP.

[Stoofa]

Back from my weekend away

The dealer tells me that ABS should still be working and that although it is the ABS warning light on that is not neccessarily idicative of ABS not functioning.

Remember that with the warning lights available there are only a finite number of "errors" that can be displayed.

An illuminated ABS light surely doesn't neccessarily mean that ABS is not functioning?

The dealer is going to have a read through this thread on Monday so hopefully he'll get back to me.

After just a weekend with Maxidot & Columbus (travelling around France & Belgium) I so cannot face going back to having the standard display

If I was 100% sure that ABS was working then I guess there is always the "removal of the bulb" option - but lets be honest, that's no ideal.

[downtime]

Back from my weekend away

The dealer tells me that ABS should still be working and that although it is the ABS warning light on that is not neccessarily idicative of ABS not functioning.

Remember that with the warning lights available there are only a finite number of "errors" that can be displayed.

An illuminated ABS light surely doesn't neccessarily mean that ABS is not functioning?

The dealer is going to have a read through this thread on Monday so hopefully he'll get back to me.

After just a weekend with Maxidot & Columbus (travelling around France & Belgium) I so cannot face going back to having the standard display

If I was 100% sure that ABS was working then I guess there is always the "removal of the bulb" option - but lets be honest, that's no ideal.

Usually when the ABS light is on, it also disables the ABS function. It's a security measure built in. For ESP this is 100% true, if the ESP light is on, ESP is disabled.

Like Stu wrote, your problem is that the dealer didn't do the basic settings required for the ABS/ESP module after installing the maxidot dash.

They are dead easy to do and your dealer should be able to help. If not, take the car to another dealer who knows what to do.

[VRStu]

I guess there is always the "removal of the bulb" option - but lets be honest, that's no ideal.

Only if you're good at soldering, they are SM LED's

[gav611]

hi vrs stu and stoofa im the tech that had this problem the fault that the car has is that it will not carry out an esp roadtest to reset this light there for the abs fault is that function test activated

this is only the 2nd maxi dot that we have fitted here and the 1st went with out fault like it says in the 1st comment we have spent up 2hrs trying to reset this but with out fail.

i appreciate any ideas ?

[VRStu]

Gav

Was the other one you did a TDi? They seem to have been easier to setup. I'm not 100% sure on the latest revisions of VAS however I was told by a friendly MasterTech last year that the Skoda system wasn't ideal for doing the Basic Setting Adaptations and hence why I tended to do them with VCDS.

Can you let us have a look at the list of faults you have logged for the car?

[EGC]

Just bear in mind that ABS warning lamp sequence is checked at MoT - so it can't be left as it is, it needs to be sorted.

[VRStu]

Just bear in mind that ABS warning lamp sequence is checked at MoT - so it can't be left as it is, it needs to be sorted.

Yes I don't think the removal of the indication was a serious comment - At least I hope it wasn't.

[Stoofa]

Nah - the "remove the bulb" was certainly not a serious one.

If I remember correctly, ABS working is not actually an MOT requirement, however an ABS warning light constantly on is a fail.

So as said, really I do have to solve the issue.

I'm hoping that the final solution isn't putting my old pod back in because that would be annoying.

Hopefully Gav can post some info and hopefully a solution will be found - then I'll be owing lots of people a pint!

[VRStu]

I have no reason to suspect it can't be done but it's just a case of finding somone with the suitable equipment and my money is on VCDS in this instance. As I said I have done a few now and it's always the same thing.

[Stoofa]

Stu,

On a serious note, how easy is VCDS to use?

I have a laptop and I believe the cable and software license sells for around the £250 mark.

Now obviously that is a lot of money to throw at "just this problem" but then I would have VCDS for any future work/problems.

If I did own VCDS, without having ever used it before, how difficult would I find getting a list of fault codes and then finding the solution to them?

*Just thinking ahead in case no other option happens.

[VRStu]

[sales Pitch]

VCDS is a very powerful tool and you'll never explore all of it's functionality however for the avarage DiY user it is a godsend. Ross-Tech have been working hard to include helpers where possible and they also maintain the Wiki which has loads of info.

Finally as a registered user you will be provided support by the guys at RT, now whilst they won't fix your car for you they have an incredible amount of knowledge and experience with the systems.

[/sales Pitch]

[Makefish]

................... failing that, a drive to the south coast might be your best option ......................... although you better get yer skates on before the forums techie genius vanishes for a few months :P