Factory Prep Towbar Electrics

[GaSelle]

Cheap!!! You have to be kidding. Not many people have the experience and expertise to tackle this job themselves. Even taking the rear bumper off is not something I'd choose to do myself on a brand new car with the fear of buggering up my new pride and joy.

Cost of the parts listed on the website you mention is very similar to that in the UK. However we have further electrics to install in the UK for a split charging function and to power a caravan fridge etc (assuming you are towing a caravan). The extra electrics from Skoda are £168 on top of the £240 for the basic kit. That's £408 before it's even on the car. Add in fitting and a Skoda dealer would possibly charge over £200 as it'll take them all day 'cos they have no expertise with towbars and then another god-knows-how-much for the recoding work that they'll possibly get wrong and you end up with a huge bill. I've seen some quotes on here of >£650 and it's not hard to see how they're derived.

As for the non-OEM thing it is not a worry at all since the advent of EC type approval for towbars fitted to cars registered after 01 Aug 1998 which means that all towbars have to be manufactured to the same specification as the manufacturers original equipment and be thoroughly tested. Any item approved after passing a 2 million cycle fatigue test as witnessed by the UK Dept. for Transport is ok by me.

At £450 it wasn't cheap but I think I have the value solution!

I think it´s cheap, and it´s OEM. Maybe someone in here has their hands mounted in the right way, so they could fit it for you. You don´t need any extra electrics to get a constant powersupply in the towbar plug - it´s just a wire with a fuse on. I got mine fitted by a helpful member on a danish club for 1000 DKK (£120-ish), it took 3½ hours. So the price for fitting and the price for the original towbar from Skodateile ended up in £350-ish, which (at least here in Denmark) less than a third of what a Skoda dealer wants for the same job. If you are able to DIY the price is way lower. And it really is not that big a deal to do it - or to remove the bumper.

I can´t descide for you, but in my opinion I would´nt buy non-OEM towbars (which is the same price) just to find problems with coding, electronics and poor looks (on some of them).

[Claymore]

Jim, it sounds like they made a mess of coding the car when they installed the electrics. The system won't know the difference between a trailer, caravan or bike rack. IIRC then the car, through the canbus system, sends a small current down the wires to the plug at the back of the car, if it then gets that current coming back to it then it knows that something is attached to the back of the car and changes the settings accordingly.

Ian

Thanks Ian.

Jim

[Claymore]

Update on mine...sparing you the rowlocks I got from my dealer's service manager, and after two 30 mile round trips...a 'manual' update was applied to the car ie one prepared by Skoda UK rather then thestandard historic coding for tow bars, and it finally works correctly in all respects.

Couldn't get an explanation from the dealer or Skoda why this car needed special treatment but suspect as the coding was wired back to the dealer within 2 hours of Skoda getting the diagnostics downlaod that this coding was not writen specially for my car.

Who knows - and apart from the time I had to expend on getting the bog stamdard (even used the Skoda wiring from factory fit pre electrics to tow bar) Skoda fixed - eight hours of my time - who cares?

Jim

[trakhat]

This thread has answered my questions about my Superb Elegance Sept 2009 and towing my caravan. I had been thinking that I had an electrical fault with the Towbar as I do not get Leisure battery charging or fridge charging. Also The habitation relay in the caravan should DISABLE 'domestic' 12v services - interior lighting and water pumps etc when travelling and ENABLE fridge and battery only - and this does not happen.

I DO get an indication on my Columbus that the trailer is attached and I do not get annoying 'beeps' with the indicators when towing.

Basically all the lighting systems and ECU changes to parking sensor control operate as they should.

So reading this thread my car obviously falls into the group which did not have the wiring installed from the front of the car to supply the 12v live and the 'ignition enabled' 12v.

 

So my question now for one of the very knowledgeable contributors here is How do I get this fixed please?

 

Thansk.

[andrehj]

Add the missing wires? (As in: Buy a new 13p socket and a few meters of the right cable, connect these two watertight, route the new cable to the inside of your car, and make all the connections in the boot of you car)

[chimaera]

On 04/08/2018 at 01:56, trakhat said:

This thread has answered my questions about my Superb Elegance Sept 2009 and towing my caravan. I had been thinking that I had an electrical fault with the Towbar as I do not get Leisure battery charging or fridge charging. Also The habitation relay in the caravan should DISABLE 'domestic' 12v services - interior lighting and water pumps etc when travelling and ENABLE fridge and battery only - and this does not happen.

I DO get an indication on my Columbus that the trailer is attached and I do not get annoying 'beeps' with the indicators when towing.

Basically all the lighting systems and ECU changes to parking sensor control operate as they should.

So reading this thread my car obviously falls into the group which did not have the wiring installed from the front of the car to supply the 12v live and the 'ignition enabled' 12v.

 

So my question now for one of the very knowledgeable contributors here is How do I get this fixed please?

 

Thansk.

 

The fact that integration with other vehicle systems at least points towards this being a proper OE style setup rather than a bypass relay bodge.

 

After that it depends on what electrical kit was installed in the car. Does it have a 7-pin or 13-pin connector for starters? If it's a 13-pin, are all the pins present in the socket?

 

On the fuse panel, fuses 43, 44 & 45 should be populated if it's set up for sending power to the caravan if it's a Skoda kit or one of the better third party kits: are these present?

 

If you have access to VCDS or similar, check if you can connect to control module 69: this is the address used for the towing controller. If it's present, go into coding and see if it's coded for the trailer power outputs to be switched on.

 

This is about as much as you can do without dismantling the car's interior. The control module is located behind the boot trim on the left hand side of the car: removing this panel is a pain in the arse, requiring the rear seat to be removed on that side followed by the D-pillar upper trim, the top part of the boot liner, the boot lip trims and finally the inside panel. The hardest part is removing the side bolster of the rear seat without breaking the clips holding it in.

[HughGabriel]

18 hours ago, chimaera said:

 

The fact that integration with other vehicle systems at least points towards this being a proper OE style setup rather than a bypass relay bodge.

 

After that it depends on what electrical kit was installed in the car. Does it have a 7-pin or 13-pin connector for starters? If it's a 13-pin, are all the pins present in the socket?

 

On the fuse panel, fuses 43, 44 & 45 should be populated if it's set up for sending power to the caravan if it's a Skoda kit or one of the better third party kits: are these present?

 

If you have access to VCDS or similar, check if you can connect to control module 69: this is the address used for the towing controller. If it's present, go into coding and see if it's coded for the trailer power outputs to be switched on.

 

This is about as much as you can do without dismantling the car's interior. The control module is located behind the boot trim on the left hand side of the car: removing this panel is a pain in the arse, requiring the rear seat to be removed on that side followed by the D-pillar upper trim, the top part of the boot liner, the boot lip trims and finally the inside panel. The hardest part is removing the side bolster of the rear seat without breaking the clips holding it in.

 

I have just installed a Westfalia kit into mine, it came with 2 parts, the 13pin CANBUS towbar wiring exc. the charging function (part number 321600300153), and the Optional charging cable (called extension kit part number 300028300113).

 

The 13pin towbar wiring (ie exc. the charging) has fuses in 4, 43, 44, 45.  So the fuses are not definite identifier.

 

I have not installed the extension kit for 2 reasons:

- it runs down the near side of the car so is a second lot of trim to remove.

- the relay control wire crimps to a switch (ignition) 12v.  I dont like crimp connectors and haven't investigated if there is a spare spade terminal on a suitable point of the fuse box to use instead.  The main feed connects to the m6 battery feed distributor so that isn't a worry.

 

[chimaera]

That's weird that the Westfalia kit doesn't use the same setup as the OE one. On the Skoda kit I installed (p/n EEA 800 103 EL) everything was plug and play, though swapping the pins for the brake pedal signal on the BCM connector was a bit fiddly. Fuses 8 & 9 supply power to the control module and the trailer lights; fuses 43, 44, 45 handle the power to the caravan (one of these runs directly to the pin on the trailer socket but I can't recall which offhand). Everything runs down the driver's side of the car and plugs into the BCM or the driver's side fuse panel under the dash.

[trakhat]

5 hours ago, HughGabriel said:

 

I have just installed a Westfalia kit into mine, it came with 2 parts, the 13pin CANBUS towbar wiring exc. the charging function (part number 321600300153), and the Optional charging cable (called extension kit part number 300028300113).

 

The 13pin towbar wiring (ie exc. the charging) has fuses in 4, 43, 44, 45.  So the fuses are not definite identifier.

 

I have not installed the extension kit for 2 reasons:

- it runs down the near side of the car so is a second lot of trim to remove.

- the relay control wire crimps to a switch (ignition) 12v.  I dont like crimp connectors and haven't investigated if there is a spare spade terminal on a suitable point of the fuse box to use instead.  The main feed connects to the m6 battery feed distributor so that isn't a worry.

 

This is all very good information and hopefully will point me in the right direction.. i do have a fully populated 13 pin socket on the car although I have not accessed the cable side to see if all the wires are there.. (bit awkward for an old geezer with dodgy knees etc).. I will certainly check for the presence of fuses 4,43,44 and 45. I appreciate that this is not necessarily a definitive answer it will certainly narrow the possibilities somewhat. Of course - back in the day I would simply have run a cable (via a fuse) from the battery to a changeover relay and a cable from an ign only live to the relay actuator connection so that I have a fixed live to the socket, which is disconnected when IGN is on and diverts via the relay to the appropriate pin in the socket. But I've no doubt that would start creating havoc somewhere in the management system, and, with all that sophisticated technology already installed it would be good to make the addition complimentary.

However - I am towing my caravn for the first time in anger (not a dummy run) this coming weekend and I am resigned to reliance on 240v for the fridge and battery charging.

Regards towing the caravn which weighs in at just over 1000kg tare and 1200kg MAM - it tows like a dream. Steady as a rock with Alko coupling stabiliser fitted. After a mile or two it's almost as if it wasn't there it is so comfortable. Unlike some outfits I have had in years gone by. The Superb just takes it all in it's stride. great car.

[HughGabriel]

2 hours ago, chimaera said:

That's weird that the Westfalia kit doesn't use the same setup as the OE one. On the Skoda kit I installed (p/n EEA 800 103 EL) everything was plug and play, though swapping the pins for the brake pedal signal on the BCM connector was a bit fiddly. Fuses 8 & 9 supply power to the control module and the trailer lights; fuses 43, 44, 45 handle the power to the caravan (one of these runs directly to the pin on the trailer socket but I can't recall which offhand). Everything runs down the driver's side of the car and plugs into the BCM or the driver's side fuse panel under the dash.

 

I assumed that as Westfalia is OEM for the B7 Passat it would be the same for these. I was very frustrated to find they aren’t. 

 

On on the plus side, the boot trim and sill trims are much easier to remove without breaking on this than the Passat! 

[HughGabriel]

@trakhat that’s good to know. Finished the wiring last night, and coding this evening on mine. Away this weekend then towing the car trailer and friend’s kit car across Kent next weekend. 

 

The relay setup you describe is exactly what the Westfalia kit has between the battery distributor post and the control box behind the NS boot trim. What the control box does with it, or if it just passes through unused I do not know. 

[chimaera]

11 hours ago, HughGabriel said:

 

I assumed that as Westfalia is OEM for the B7 Passat it would be the same for these. I was very frustrated to find they aren’t. 

 

On on the plus side, the boot trim and sill trims are much easier to remove without breaking on this than the Passat! 

The OEM kit for the Superb is made by Hella. The controller is used on several other models based on PQ35/PQ46 architecture.

[trakhat]

I have checked the presence of the fuses 43,44 and 45 and 8 which is listed as towing stability etc, as are the others mentioned. I'm not going to pursue this any further as the amount of work involved and having access to VCDS is prohibitive, as I can't do it myself these days.

I can live with not having the battery on charge whilst driving and as long as the fridge is cold I can stuff it with ice-packs and for most journeys (that I would undertake) that would be sufficient until I can access 240v again.

 

Thank you all esp Hugh Gabriel abd Chimaera for sharing your knowledge and experiences.