As the title says really. After a long journey this morning my glow plug light started flashing. I checked the brake lights and all 3 came on. Any ideas on what it might be?

Also would it be better to take it to a mechanic to get the fault code read or should I just buy the cable myself?

Smee

I'm not a mechanic, but to me a flashing glow plug light suggests something other than faulty brake lights? :wonder:

I believe it's the generic Skoda fault light. Google "vrs glow plug light flashing" and you'll get directed back to loads of threads here saying that you see this when the brake pedal switch is faulty. Just wondering if there's any way to know for sure without taking the car to a mechanic. I've only had the beast a week :/

Punch the switch on the pedel........ work for a guy at work

Punch the switch on the pedel........ work for a guy at work

I'm just going to go ahead and say: what?

He had to go to northstaffs, got half way there, his engine management light came on, and his glow plug light started flashing....... phoned me at the office asked me to check briskie...... told him it was the switch, he went mental with his fist and the pedel box/under the dash and it went out!

This is the guy who has a chinup bar as a rear brace bar in the boot!

He had to go to northstaffs, got half way there, his engine management light came on, and his glow plug light started flashing....... phoned me at the office asked me to check briskie...... told him it was the switch, he went mental with his fist and the pedel box/under the dash and it went out!

This is the guy who has a chinup bar as a rear brace bar in the boot!

Awesome, I'm going to try that right now...

the Chin-up bar?

just pop the dash down, find the switch and give the plug a wiggle. may be a loose connection

The brake light switches do stick in occasionally, but then the lights would not come on and yours are, so it shouldn't be the switch.

You really need to get the car scanned for fault codes as it can be a number of things causing it (the brake light switch is the most common though)

mine did the same the other day and having to drive the car whilst it was flashing i drove back to my home and after a fair bit of milage it just switched its self off so just forgeting about it for a couple of days may be an option if everything works fine then if it persists after a few days take it to skoda

Could I find out the fault code myself? I've seen those VAG-COM 409.1 cables on eBay that you can just hook right up to a laptop. Are they any good?

Smee

I had the same issue in my Mk4 ibiza, was itermittent and I just grew to ignore it. If you want it sorting though see if there is anyone close you with VaG COM

Or alternately perhaps drop in at the Yorkshire meet and I imagine someone will have a copy.

Well,

I broke and took it to my local mechanic (got a day off work and figured I'd use it to get this sorted) - who read the code as being a faulty brake switch - strange since i'd tested the brakelights as working, but he tested them and they were only working intermittently. So I went to Skoda and paid £9 for the part. Took it home, got the dash off, took the old part out and fitted the new one as the old one was. Tested after refitting the dash (pain in the neck, or more accurately, a pain in the knee) and it didn't work. Not only was the light still flashing but the brake lights wouldn't work at all. Came back to read on what I might have done wrong and I encountered this link from a thread on here:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1158315

This link is very useful, It should be read first by anyone who is going to do this job themselves. I thought about it and the replacement I had used hadn't clicked properly, and hadn't set itself. So what I did was I took the dash off again, took it out, pulled the plunger back and fitted it as the guide says. Long story short it works fine now all round and the glow plug light is off.

Remember if you are fitting yourself, after taking the old switch out, hold the new one in position and hold the brake pedal down, then click into place and release the pedal. Then reattach the connector. Doing it any other way will screw it up.

Smee

Edited 29 June, 201016 yr by smee

you removed the dash??

the brake light switch is under the brake pedal?

you can do it in 5 mins??

you removed the dash??

the brake light switch is under the brake pedal?

you can do it in 5 mins??

Yes.

No, its mounted onto the pedal arm.

Yes provided you do it right. Getting the very top of the dash unclipped and clipped back in is a bugger though

How do you get to the pedal box? I have the same problem and apparently need to get the bottom part of the dash out.. It won't move. Help!

I had this problem when I replaced my broken brake light switch with a non-original one. The switch worked fine, but it always threw a fault code which came back when it was cleared. I had to go to a Skoda dealer and bought an original part which solved the problem.