FR TDi - TCS Warning Light on

[Slippery_Stu]

Hi all,

I picked up a 54 plate Ibiza FR last week so am new to this forum, I have noticed that my TCS warning light appears occassionaly then stays on until I turn the ignition off and then back on, at which point it seems to reset back to normal.....for a while anyway!

I am waiting for my warranty pack to come through before taking it to SEAT for a checkup but was wondering if there are any obvious checks that I can do in advance?

As it resets itself with the ignition could this possibly be a speed sensor issue? Or could it be failing TCS, ABS sensor or even the ECU (I hope not!)

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Regards
Stuart

 

[sfalcus]

you sure you havent pressed the button?

 

[Slippery_Stu]

I wish it and I were that simple

It's definitely not the TCS button, after ignition off and on the TCS button works correctly and turns the warning light on then off.

When the problem appears the TCS button does not have any effect.

 

[Slippery_Stu]

Morning,

Still getting the TCS light appearing after 10 minutes of the ignition being on, I finally got round to taking it to the stealers today to put it on the computer.

After a pleasant 30 minute wait the service mechanic returned and told me that the ABS Control Unit (part no. 6Q0907375AB) needs replacing.

Total cost:- £836.68 (all inclusive)
£424.07 - Parts
£288 - Labour (4 hours!!)

It leaves me questioning the urgency of getting this sorted!

Anyone out there got any reasonable suggestions/cheaper solutions/spares?!

Regards
Stuart
'54 Plate Ibiza FR TDi (130)

 

[Crafoo]

Total cost:- £836.68 (all inclusive)
£424.07 - Parts
£288 - Labour (4 hours!!)

It leaves me questioning the urgency of getting this sorted!

Anyone out there got any reasonable suggestions/cheaper solutions/spares?!

Regards
Stuart
'54 Plate Ibiza FR TDi (130)

I wish I got paid £288 for 4 hours work, that is a huge amount of money. As far as the cheaper option goes, scrap yard and fit it yourself if you know what your doing, or get it done at a local garage that uses genuine Seat parts I'm sure they would be loads cheaper than that.

 

[jonjay]

Go to a specialist mate, you will probably find it is a lot cheaper.

 

[Slippery_Stu]

Surely the part is going to be fairly much the same wherever? I wouldn't imagine that a motor factors would supply the unit?

Also, the stealers indicated that it needs configuring after fitting which may make it difficult to achieve elsewhere?

Although my local mechanic would be much cheaper if a possible solution......I will check with him.

Any more thoughts or details of a specialist......I'm in the North West Kent area?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ChrisGTL]

I had this with mine when I bought it, but my TCS and ABS units needed replacing, something to do with they couldnt get a TCS to work with the old ABS unit so had to buy them as a matched pair.

Luckily I'd just bought mine so was under warranty. No problems since.

 

[Slippery_Stu]

Chris,

Out of interest was your TCS light on all the time?

Mine works fine for 10 minutes, swithcable with the button and the TCS kicks in when necessary then develops the fault and stays on.......kinda hoping I don't need both units replaced!

 

[oldman]

does that warranty thing your bought not useable from post #1?

 

[Slippery_Stu]

Don't get me started on the warranty......in short it doesn't cover it!

It wasn't one that I selected, instead it was an AA 3*, packaged as standard with the vehicle. The salesman indicated at the time that the level of cover can be increased at a later point.

I then contacted that AA to see if the level of cover can be increased and they said no, this would have needed to be completed at the point of purchase!

Therefore I am stuck with this AA 3* (very) limited warranty, which from what I can see isn't even worth the paper it is written on.

When I called them in reference to this issue, they were keen for me to visit one of their AA mechanics, the guy was overly honest and said that this was due to reduced labour costs in comparison with a stealer........he then went on to mention that my nearest location is approximately 20 miles away.

I advised that I would like to wait whilst the diagnostics take place due to the distance and lack of travel options or courtesy car. He then checked with the 'local' garage before confirming that they would need it for the whole day!! I wasn't even certain that they would have VAG and the diagnostic tool my mechanic used didn't return much!

So I blew out the AA option as it was ok to take it to a specialist of my choice, hence took it to my very local Seat dealer. Even though diagnostic checks are not included in the warranty or fairly much anything else

Therefore I will need to dip into the pocket to resolve this!

BTW - I wouldn't recommend the AA warranties to ANYONE!! Apparently the RAC Gold service is about as good as it gets!

 

[DIFT]

You sure the dealer isnt having you one?

If there is a problem with the ABS unit the light should be on all the time. I had the same problem a few years back (light came on after exactly 10mins) and was due to a faulty connection from the alternator.

Have a search for it... a few others have had the same problem. Its caused by corrosion of the connector.

 

[DIFT]

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=162855&highlight=esp+light

 

[ChrisGTL]

Chris,

Out of interest was your TCS light on all the time?

Mine works fine for 10 minutes, swithcable with the button and the TCS kicks in when necessary then develops the fault and stays on.......kinda hoping I don't need both units replaced!

My light would come on after 10-15 mins of driving, only way to turn it off was to turn car off and restart. Then it might go another 40mins before it came on again, had to restart everytime though to get the light to go off.

 

[dholdi]

Slightly off topic, is this lamp just a warning light or would it come on when fraction control is operating ?

 

[Slippery_Stu]

You sure the dealer isnt having you one?

If there is a problem with the ABS unit the light should be on all the time. I had the same problem a few years back (light came on after exactly 10mins) and was due to a faulty connection from the alternator.

Have a search for it... a few others have had the same problem. Its caused by corrosion of the connector.

Thanks DIFT,

I'm not sure whether the dealers are trying to pull a fast one, I kind of agree with you on the fact that you would expect the warning light (ABS one) to illuminate all the time if the problem was there.

I questioned the dealer and said are you 100% sure that this will rectify the problem in one go and he was adamant.......but then I suppose he would be!

Haven't taken the underside cover off yet but think I need to get under there and check this possible suspect connection.

I have read the thread that you added too......very useful!

Was it straight forward on yours? Finding and spotting the faulty connection that is?

Regards
Stuart

 

[Slippery_Stu]

Slightly off topic, is this lamp just a warning light or would it come on when fraction control is operating ?

Hi there,

The light should generally remain off unless there is an error when it stays on or alternative when the traction control is engaged through heavy driving in which case the light flashes.

Regards
Stuart

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

this happened to mine , turned out to be the speed sensor on the front wheel , but my abs light came on aswell as the tcs

 

[cordoba lad]

The TCS like the abs uses the wheel speed sensors my old cordoba had an intermitant fault with a sensor which caused the light to come on and have no ABS. I would have thought that this is a TCS only problem which would rule out the cheaper parts (the sensors).

How long have you had the car from the sound of it not long. How trustworthy is the dealer is it possible that the dealer has deleted the fault codes prior to you purchasing the car for it to look normal.

 

[Slippery_Stu]

Right, I finally got under the car and removed the undertray......without to much trouble I spotted what I hope to be the offending broken wire at the connector block on the front of the gearbox.

I have now bypassed the connector block and have joined the wire back together, car is now all in one piece and I am hoping to test shortly.......

I'll update later but this could've saved me £840 odd quid.......here's hopin'