TCS Error won't start.

[very452001]

13 minutes ago, nige8021 said:

They are all Electonic Control Units, the OP seems to be under the impression there is one "master ECU" that controls everything and as I stated a failure of one of the other units connected via the CANbus could potentially shut the whole system down

 

It's still hard to believe for example that a faulty DDM Driver door module that controls electric windows, electric door mirrors etc. can cause a car not to start at all.

 

I heard from a post on these forums that if a traction control module or a ABS module becomes faulty then the car still becomes driveable except ABS braking or traction just won't work while driving but still car starts and drives right?

 

Hence why I say it's hard to believe that 1 module or control unit whatever you wanna call it can bring the whole car system down turning a car into a giant paper weight.

[nige8021]

FFS I'm not saying a door module will shut the system down, just that you need to get a scan done with a VAG based reader and then we can possibly help you, you have been told to do this by at least three of the most knowledgeble members on here but you for some reason resist having this done

[very452001]

1 hour ago, nige8021 said:

FFS I'm not saying a door module will shut the system down, just that you need to get a scan done with a VAG based reader and then we can possibly help you, you have been told to do this by at least three of the most knowledgeble members on here but you for some reason resist having this done

 

Ok mate cheers for your help. I was just trying to make sense of it all. Don't have access to VCDS/VAG or let alone start the car to drive to one who has. Plus it is expensive to buy for £300 just for a CD and USB wire for a laptop. 

 

If anyone likes to borrow me their VCDS then please feel free to post it or come visit. Starts stopwatch 😥

[nige8021]

There is a whole section of the forum devoted to helpful owners of VCDS https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/262215-list-of-vcds-owners-previously-known-as-vag-com-vcp-owners/

from this you can see if there is anyone close to you and then send them a PM and see if they will come to you (might be for a few beer tokens) 

[Guckster]

Update for Posterity......................

 

Car let me down bad last week...bad, i.e It wouldn't start for about 40 mins. It usually goes after like 5 attempts but not this time. It did eventually start, but I have lost confidence in it. It's currently parked at local Skoda dealer. They have already run diagnostic and reckon it may be ECU. They are to check relays etc today. They reckon ECU will cost approx €900.00 + labour. My heart is broke, I probably should get rid of it, but not an option at the moment, so there is your update.

 

Diagnostic was run on OBD Eleven, which is VW based & to be honest I trust it dearly.

 

Any advise welcome, maybe I could buy second hand ECU ?.

 

Regards,

 

G.

[J.R.]

99.999% certain it will not be an ECU fault.

 

99.999% of garages will say its an ECU fault when they really mean "we dont know what is wrong"

 

In the early days there were a few vehicles with known ECU faults often when they had manifold pressure sensors integrated and it was simply mechanically blocked with carbon, ECU exchanges are a great earner for the so called "reconditioners"

 

I rebuilt a burnt out 95 Galaxy, the ECU looked like it had been removed from a bonfire the morning after, the connector was just a tangled mess of fused plastic and wires devoid of insulation, I managed to surgically cut it apart and connect it to a new loom, it worked perfectly and my pal in the ford dealership put it through the advanced test procedure and loaded the latest software, it was working perfectly and had survived an incineration.

 

Others have survived being at the bottom of a river for 3 days.

 

There are no end of dodgy electronics to go wrong on an Octavia before the ECU should be under question.

[Guckster]

J.R,

 

Thank you taking the time to post. I agree wit has you that it's not the ECU. In fairness nice mechanic, met him this evening and he said he is trying to eliminate everything else first. Car now "throwing" up fault at the moment !!!This might take a while...

 

P.S: When car is in "won't start" mode...with TCS error displayed, the power steering is also active. Its electrically pumped I guess. This should not be the case with ignition turned on. Again, I want to post all this to possibly help someone, down the road....

 

 

[pikpilot]

15 hours ago, Guckster said:

the power steering is also active. Its electrically pumped I guess.

 

 

The power steering is totally electric without a pumped hydraulic system. The power steering uses a torque sensor to measure how much effort is required to turn the steering and then adds an additional helping torque from an electric motor working under torque control (not speed control).

Power steering only becomes active when the engine is started.

[stevenc]

I have posted elsewhere about problems with my car randomly not starting and I was interested in Guckster's comment about the power steering being active.  I have checked my car on the occasions when my car will not start and I have the same behaviour i.e. I have the ignition turned on with the engine not running and the power steering is active. 

 

[Guckster]

Yes Stevenc, and no one has commented in relation to my diagnostic report on the fact that I have no communication with brakes control unit. I bet Stevenc is likely to have communication problems there also. Can anyone comment on how this can be resolved which may in turn explain the TCS error as mentioned at the start of this post. Car back from dealership today not fixed. To bring back next week for egr repair but still no explanation on TCS not starting error. In fairness I don't think the mechanic is convinced it's ECU and is quite helpful. If I don't get replies here I'll open separate post regarding diagnostic communications or lack of it !!!!

Edited 30 May, 2019 by Guckster
Typo

[Guckster]

2 hours ago, stevenc said:

I have posted elsewhere about problems with my car randomly not starting and I was interested in Guckster's comment about the power steering being active.  I have checked my car on the occasions when my car will not start and I have the same behaviour i.e. I have the ignition turned on with the engine not running and the power steering is active. 

 

Stevenc can you let me know model year engine etc. Just for my info please.

[langers2k]

38 minutes ago, Guckster said:

Yes Stevenc, and no one has commented in relation to my diagnostic report on the fact that I have no communication with brakes control unit

 

Erm, apart from when I did in the very next post?

 

On 02/05/2019 at 16:38, langers2k said:

That points at either ECU wiring (power, ground, CAN bus) or a faulty ECU. If the ECU can't communicate it would be getting the signal to get it to start.

 

Other than that, you also have an EGR fault code, if you had the EA189 emissions fix in the last 2 years, you might be able to get Skoda to fix the EGR for you.

 

There are multiple modules complaining about intermittent communications with the engine ECU.

 

Check all the appropriate wiring and if it's good, get the ECU checked and replaced if needed...

 

@stevenc - you should get a diagnostic scan done to give some clues. If the ignition is on, I'd expect the power steering to work so I'm pretty sure that's normal and unrelated to your issue.

[Guckster]

Langers2k, noted and perhaps I'm not familiar with some details and jargon and pardon if I'm adding confusion but 2 things.

 

1. Powersteering should not be active when ignition on ---- when all is good. I'm after going out to car to check. If anyone wants to correct me fine, but on a 2.0 tdi 2011 that's what I have.

 

2. Can anyone tell me which module handles the TCS?. If this module has a fault, perhaps it is not the ECU.

 

I would like to thank you for your comments about EA 189....you are right and I will get back to this later...next week when car goes back to Skoda! 

[stevenc]

On 30/05/2019 at 23:20, Guckster said:

1. Powersteering should not be active when ignition on ---- when all is good. I'm after going out to car to check. If anyone wants to correct me fine, but on a 2.0 tdi 2011 that's what I have.

 

I have double checked this on my car and it behaves exactly like yours - active when car won't start, inactive when it does. My car is a 2011 1.8TSi with DSG.  It would be good to know what mechanism switches the power steering on for a correctly working car.

[langers2k]

At a guess it's a fail safe when the power steering can't communicate with the engine ECU to know if the engine is running.

[Guckster]

Stevenc,  another tip.....mine wouldn't start.....can't remember anyway in the last 48hrs or so. So......I thought I'd plug in my diagnostic equipment and run while traction error light was displayed. I fumbled for my phone my connector to diagnostic port etc etc basically I left it sitting there with ignition on for a couple of mins....Guess what...up popped msg to depress clutch and it started normally. OK big deal but my point is this.... bear in mind this is based only on this happening once...but if left sitting with ignition turned on, it can rectify itself although not ideal at least I'm not going to be stranded... Normally I turn off and on and off hoping each time it will work. Maybe patience is an option here. I'll update whenever won't start occurs and if leaving it sitting there "ignition on" serves as a temporary remedy.

 

It's not something you would naturally do when in this situation, I.e. just wait for it to remedy itself. 

 

Need clarification on powersteering. Langers2k sounds good and I think your on to something, but need to be sure. Does powersteering communicate with ECU or is this communication via brake unit. Is it the brake unit that tells the powersteering how heavy or light it should be. If it's a fail safe, it's quite possible that it's instruction to active is coming from ECU because brake unit is not communicating with ECU. Anyone ....anyone... 

Edited 1 June, 2019 by Guckster

[langers2k]

@Guckster - there will be communication between all the control modules on the drive CAN-bus including ABS, engine ECU and power steering.

 

Looking over your scan, there isn't any evidence that the ABS module is misbehaving, nor do any other modules mention there are missing communications with the ABS module.

 

Instead, lets go back the to the "Error: TCS" that's shown on the cluster warning. The traction control system (TCS) probably works as follows. The ABS module is connected to all four wheel speed sensors and is responsible for detecting wheel slip/spin. When it does detect slip/spin, it'll need to send a message to the engine ECU to back off the power until traction is restored. If the engine ECU stops communicating (as suggested by many control modules), it would make sense that the ABS module will warn that TCS isn't working as it can't tell the engine ECU what to do...

 

At this point, at least remove the engine ECU and check the connector is in good condition with no corrosion. In my mind everything you're describing and the scan is showing point at the engine ECU or it's wiring.

[Guckster]

Thank you. Getting EGR fixed in dealership at the moment as this has definate error. Will update and scan as soon as I'm back on the road. I will keep you posted. P.S appreciate the time you took to post.

[Guckster]

Would anyone be able to post a picture of what the "auto" lights switch should look like. The guy I bought car from did mention he changed it for car test. I have noticed it is not original and not an auto type switch. Can anyone tell me how auto lights function when working normally.  Are the fog lights day time running....is there a light sensor in my 2011 ?.

 

Long shot but maybe just maybe this could be causing some errors also.

 

Thank you.

[pikpilot]

This video shows the normal and auto light switches side by side a few seconds in. Ignore the rest of the video.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HZcMT1gDuiw

 

The light sensor is combined with the rain sensor in the grey area behind the rear view mirror.

 

In a 2011 car you should have combined fog and DRL light units, but it also depends on trim level. Look at the fog lights - can you see another light alongside?

 

It would be useful if you could tell us exactly what model you have - engine fuel and power or engine code, trim level or car type, for example Ambient, Elegance or VRS.

[2011scott]

i have the same issues did you get it fixed? if so what was the problem cheers

[Jake110491]

Was this resolved I have the same issue 

[111zah111]

On 06/07/2022 at 09:56, Jake110491 said:

Was this resolved I have the same issue 

i had same issue, turned out to be the can bus gateway module,

[cembauskis]

Had this error - problem was the fuse box was filled with liquid and everything shorted out