Sorry for the Long silence, Wino.

I'm not getting the app etc - neither my son or I are likely to venture into this territory, a solution looking for a problem.

Is next Saturday 11th still convenient for you - pm preferred?

If so, please could you send me a private message with an address to briefly call at. I don't have satnav but do have a street atlas.

Win 10 updates still a pain.

Hi timber, Saturday is still looking good, but I've posted a question in the "Diagnostics & VCDS" subforum, and am hoping for some wisdom from there to confirm why the experiment on my car wasn't a roaring success. 

 

A few days ago I tried to re-code the instrument cluster on my Polo to make it think it had the washer fluid level sensing system (even though it isn't physically there), to then expect warnings of low level, or malfunction in the sensor, or similar.  The  instrument cluster didn't seem to accept the coding change though. It appeared to have 'gone through' but when I checked later the coding hadn't been changed.

 

So I'm hoping that someone can confirm the reason for this failure as something like "well if the instrument cluster doesn't have the hardware on it for washer fluid level monitoring, it won't accept coding for that".  If that does come, I'll feel more confident that the change we're proposing on your car can work; and your journey won't be in vain. 

 

Will PM you tomorrow when I've had a look at a spare instrument cluster circuit board and relevant wiring diagrams.  Hopefully by then some VCDS wizards may have answered my query.  

 

I think I've just figured out my mistake... Here's the cross-reference to my query in the VCDS area, I'll back-refer from there to this latest realisation: https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/466619-instrument-cluster-coding/?tab=comments#comment-5236755

 

When I look again at the screenshot on page 1 of this thread I now realise I misinterpreted what it was telling me.

 

The ??xxx followed by the various +01, +04 etc. was saying "change the first two digits of the coding (where the question marks are shown) to be the sum of the options listed, so I should have changed 01 (brake pad sensing) to 05, brake pad sensing and  washer fluid level detection, rather than add 4 to the whole 5-digit coding number (which is what I did - ineffectually).

 

I'll give this another go tomorrow, with more hope of success now that I've read it right (I think).

 

You may well have lost all confidence in me by now... but let's see what my second attempt yields tomorrow.

Thanks yet again Wino. You seem to be going to a lot of trouble on my behalf. And yes, I still have confidence in you!

 

I'm not in the least qualified to comment on the whys & wherefores of VCDS codes; let's hope your further trial - or words of wisdom from other gurus on the forum - will bear fruit.

Great success!

Changed coding to 05441 this morning, and after cycling the ignition was greeted with a little beep and this symbol in the middle of the cluster, which I've never seen before.

Changed it back to 01441 on arrival, and off it went again.

 

Confidence is now pretty high that your warning beep/light can be solved in seconds on Saturday.

 

 

Well, I can confirm that that symbol is "low washer fluid" (at least on an Octy Elegance with headlight washers as well as front and rear washers).

Thanks Ken; it's one of the less cryptic ones.

Technojock, good to know that you are keeping a watch on my (minor) problem.

 

I served my apprenticeship at G & J Weir, Cathcart, in the year dot. Rejected a car near Dumbarton a few year ago, but later bought one in Stirling - not Skodas. Now firmly confined to Suffolk by age, infirmity and a mis-spent youth.