Hi,

I am having problems with my Octavia vRS (02), and was wondering if anyone could shed any light, or offer any advice...

The problems first started when I noticed that the Traction Control warning light had come on, along with the EPC light. Shortly after, I lost power & went into 'limp home' mode. After leaving the car a couple of days, it was ok, but then started to play up again intermittantly, so I booked it in with a dealer. The morning I was due to drive it to the dealer, it was in a pretty bad state, both warning lights on, eratic over-revving, minumum power, virtually no brakes. So, I had it towed to the dealer.

Dealer VAG-COM checks pointed to a battery problem, the errors saying 'unable to charge' etc. So, they replaced the battery, and all seemed fine. However, a week later, and I have seen the two warning lights come back on again, so clearly, the problem has not been resolved, and I have probably had a shiny new (and over-priced) battery un-necessarily. Hurray.

There is another noticable symptom which I'm sure is related - when I turn the ignition off, there is a disturbing 'gurgling' noise coming from somewhere under the passenger side, sort of down beneath the glovebox area. It takes 30 seconds or so to die down. It doesn't sound healthy.

The other issue I have, which may or may not be related, is with regard to the Head Unit. Since I bought the car, I have replaced the factory unit with a Pioneer DEH-P70BT. I swapped over the red / yellow wires (to allow pre-sets to be retained), and all has been working ok. However, since the above problem with the warning lights & the 'gurgling', I have noticed that when I switch the ignition off, the Pioneer remains on until I actually remove the key (I'm sure it didn't before), and when I do remove the key, it switches off, but I get 5 warning beeps from the car. So, I did some checking & switched back the red & yellow wires, and it stopped happening, ie. no warning beeps - so, only happens when the red / yellow wires are switched over. However, as I was switching between HUs, trying to do some trouble-shooting, I have now lost all power to my HU - completely dead. I don't know whether I've just pulled a wire out somewhere, or there is some more sinister problem.

I don't know whether the Head Unit issue is related to the warning lights issue, all I know is that all is not well, and I have to take it back to the dealer, who was unable to successfully diagnose the original issue last time.

If anyone has any ideas on what's going on I'd appreciate it, so I can be armed with something when I face the dealer next...

Cheers.

TC light and loss of braking ability points towards a vacuum hose failure/leak.

the gurgle is normal iirc its the fuel draining back to the tank

or maybe air con doing something

but minedoes it don't worry

as for your HU buy the auto leads converter i found it safer than fannying aroud chopping wires it was a about a tenner

There is another noticable symptom which I'm sure is related - when I turn the ignition off, there is a disturbing 'gurgling' noise coming from somewhere under the passenger side, sort of down beneath the glovebox area. It takes 30 seconds or so to die down. It doesn't sound healthy.

Thats normal, both my old vRS and mondeo did/do that. Its due to the aircon / climate control system. Nothing to worry about.

ps

My kenwood stays on until the keys are removed

The Headunit not working will be a blown fuse. The stay on till key removed is normal and is whats supposed to happen.

I would have left the wiring of the car as is and used the vw autoleads adapter. Not only does this swap the red/yellow but also disconnects a wire used by the car to send info to the headunit. Leaving this wire connected can cause all kinds of strange side effects depending on the hu involved. Its possible that you are sending 12v down a wire thats not intended to take any power at all.

Ok, thanks for all the replies - I feel a little more re-assured now...

Can someone please explain more about this autoleads adapter - what is it, & what do I do with it?

btw - I have fitted a signal booster too - will I still need that?

the adapter sits in line in your loom

you need to rewire your loom as it was and just plug in the adapter it does the rest for you eg the red/yellow thing

as for the booster i did'nt need one try it without one if it works remove it

Do you mean the thing that connects loads of coloured wires between two blocks, and you connect one end to what used to fit directly into the back of the factory HU (ie. the brown & black connectors), and the other end into the back of the new HU? - I have one that came with the Pioneer - I just swap the red/yellow wires over within this connector (ie. I haven't re-wired anything within the car) - do I need to buy a specific vw adapter?

thats correct iirc you need a specific one i'm sure someone can clarify this

like mannyo says there's a diagnostic cable to your ecu i think it needs balnking hence the proper converted adaptor does this for you

i sure somreone will correct me if i'm wrong (they usually do)

The autoleads loom is on this page

VW Golf installation

Search for part number 7607621129

You may need to plug your pioneer lead into the headunit then into this, then the car. So your wiring setup would be: Car > Autoleads > Pioneer > HU.

www.autoleads.co.uk [Aftermarket Head Unit Adaptor Lead]

try this page