Westfalia towbar - High Beam Assist fault appeared

[Smeghead]

Hi all,

 

I recently had a tow bar fitted to my Jan 14 VRS, TDI, DSG Kombi Octavia.  It was done by a reputable local garage with a Westfalia removable towbar bought from PF Jones and the car had towbar prep installed so there has been no interference with fuse box or wiring other than to plug in the control module.

 

Shortly after installation I noticed that the high beam assist now shows a fault and does not automatically dip when a car comes the other way.  The headlamps go through their normal sweep when switching them on so the towbar doesn't appear to be the cause, however, my dealer says they have seen another Octavia with a Westfalia towbar which was causing other electrical woes in the workshop recently.

 

Has anyone one on here with a similar spec Octy and a Westfalia towbar had an similar issues?  I have searched but nt got any results hence the new question.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Rick

[Garnett]

Hi - I have a Westphalia Towbar and Control Box fitted to my car. I diod the towbar myself and the garage put in the electronics and coded the car (and checked my instalation). I have no issues with light assist at all. When a lightboard in plugged in, the automatic speed sign recognition does the neccesary corrections for the country i am in and the car shows the trailer on the Maxidot. There is a green repeater when the igntion is on on the dash. If anyone needs one, I do have a brand new Westphalia Control box (I am a Freedom Member). I bought it from France on ebay with everything but the vcable that goes from the box to the trailer socket. Westphalia did not have any to sell me so I ended up buying a second complete kit. That means i have a spare if anyone needs it!

[silver1011]

Given that Westfalia is one of the recommended tow bars by Skoda UK, assuming it has been fitted in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines and the fact that your dealer has seen the issue before I'd be dropping the car off at the dealer and asking them to give you a call when its fixed.

[andyvee]

Sounds like it hasn't been coded correctly to me

[Smeghead]

Thanks lads,

 

Yeah it went back in today.  I'll speak to them again in the morning.  They siad the coding was incorrect, changed it, the fault came back and the coding had reset to pre-towbar.  Very odd. I doubt it's the towbar but thought I'd ask... just in case. 

 

Glad I have a 5 year warranty as it ran past 3 years old last week.

[Smeghead]

BTW, the fault code comes up without a trailer plugged in.  I had the towbar fitted in anticipation of buying a trailer, but haven't got that far with that plan as yet.

[Smeghead]

Update.

 

Local Skoda dealer had the car in the other day and ended up having to pull the fuses on the towbar electrics to make the high beam assist work without showing an error.  They showed me it working with fuses out and bringing up the fault with them back in in.  I am now convinced that the Westfalia kit is causing this issue (how, I do not know, but it is)

 

PF Jones state that the electrics/towbar are OE and tested with the Octy in all its guises so won't cause the fault. They offered to inspect the control module but to do that I need to spend another £100 or so having it pulled out and with no guarantee that (a) it will be found to be faulty or (b) that I will be recompensed for the cost.

 

Me, I'm piggy in the middle with no one taking responsibility for the problem.

 

As of this morning I am awaiting a response from PF Jones after a call with my dealer and Skoda UK.  Meanwhile I have spent just shy of £600 buying and installing a towbar which I can't use. I'm now wishing I'd never bought the damn thing :(

 

 

[themanwithnoaim]

My dealership only charged £600 to fit a towbar and do the coding, why did you go elsewhere ?

[Smeghead]

They quoted quite a bit more than that unfortunately.  Buy cheap buy twice!

 

Car's being traded for a Volvo so it almost doesn't matter now, apart from not getting what I paid for, of course.  I won't make the same mistake this time so the new one's already booked in for a 'bar to be fitted at an official dealer.

[Garnett]

Interesting. I have the same set up as you and mine decided to though a wobbly tonight. First I lost the ACC then warnings for all the tow bar lights came on one by one. It has been a very damp day down here. My car shows a tow-bar connected on the screen when there is nothing connected. I drove it after three years and all was back to normal. Stopped started again and off it all went again with ACC disabled and ten all the lights. I have an 8 pin converter. I took this off in case it was damp but it didn't help.

 

I have a spare new Westphalia Box which I just swapped over. It solved the problem and the tow-bar electrics work with lights plugged in. I thought I had solved it, unplugged the tow board and the problem then started with the new box. No ACC then one by one all the light warnings come on.

 

It has been fine for 6 months and was coded with the Westphalia Machine and an authorised centre. I will be putting it back into them next week, but with so many faults I am going to quickly check the Earth first. It is the only thing that I can think of that would give so many faults.

 

I would like my ACC back. Does anyone know what fuse number the tow-bar kit is on?

 

Thanks

 

Garnett

[gregoir]

I've recently had a Wesfalia towbar and the proper TSP wiring loom installed. Going to try it out today with a decent Thule cycle rack. Will  write it up later.

[Smeghead]

12 hours ago, Garnett said:

Interesting. I have the same set up as you and mine decided to though a wobbly tonight. First I lost the ACC then warnings for all the tow bar lights came on one by one. It has been a very damp day down here. My car shows a tow-bar connected on the screen when there is nothing connected. I drove it after three years and all was back to normal. Stopped started again and off it all went again with ACC disabled and ten all the lights. I have an 8 pin converter. I took this off in case it was damp but it didn't help.

 

I have a spare new Westphalia Box which I just swapped over. It solved the problem and the tow-bar electrics work with lights plugged in. I thought I had solved it, unplugged the tow board and the problem then started with the new box. No ACC then one by one all the light warnings come on.

 

It has been fine for 6 months and was coded with the Westphalia Machine and an authorised centre. I will be putting it back into them next week, but with so many faults I am going to quickly check the Earth first. It is the only thing that I can think of that would give so many faults.

 

I would like my ACC back. Does anyone know what fuse number the tow-bar kit is on?

 

Thanks

 

Garnett

 

Sounds like a different fault to mine but hopefully will get sorted.  My dealer pulled 3 fuses but I can't find the piece of paper I wrote the numbers down on now :(  2 x 20A and 1 x 30A

[gregoir]

No faults noted with mine. A few differences once the system was running. No ECO mode, reverse parking sensors were disabled (as expected) and the picture of the front end of a caravan appears in lieu and an additional flashing indicator light err flashes.

[Garnett]

I found mine in the daylight. Somehow the socket lead had been scuffed leaving three wires exposed but not broken. Soldered and taped and all well!

 

Garnett

[Smeghead]

Octavia has gone and XC90 sitting in drive.  I'll miss some things about it but not everything.  Let's hope the Volvo turns out to be relaible too.

 

Lesson learned.  If you want extras on these very over-complicated beasts, get the dealer to fit them and then you have no arguments when they don't work!

[HeBeGeeBee]

It doesn't really matter to the OP now as his Octy has moved on but this info might be useful, as others have suggested it's down to it not being coded correctly.

I fitted, wired & coded in a Westphalia towbar kit to my parent's Golf mk7 and they've had no issues with HBA or ACC.

[Smeghead]

I think coding was part of the issue.  Skoda wouldn't accept that Westfalia was OE although PF Jones said it was.  As, in their eyes, it was after-market they just washed their hands of it.

 

FWIW, I sold the Octy minus towbar and adjusted the price accordingly.

[GaSelle]

I had a Westfalia fitted to my Superb 3V, and got the dealer to code it. I read somewhere that it's complicated to do the correct coding with VCDS, and faults on the ACC are very common on 'DIY' installations. I haven't had any faults with my kit. 

[jbyrnes82]

I had this issue when having my towbar attached, had to turn to a kind member with VCDS as read somewhere on here that it was possibly that the front camera needed coding so that it knew a trailer control module was fitted, from memory once the box was ticked the error went and its worked as should do since e.g. deactivates park sensors when reversing, no dash warnings etc.