Desperate help needed - orange warning light

[msra9ct5]

Hi - my car has had an orange warning triangle light that appears every time I switch the car on, with the computer flagging a “light failure”.

It has been this way for the past three years, but despite this Seat have continued to pass the MOT (and marking as an advisory issue only) despite never giving me proper guidance as to the issue itself.

I recently had a mobile mechanic run a diagnostic on the car, which initially showed as an issue with the registration light LEDs, whichhe temporarily replaced with bulbs to rectify though the fault then passed to the “central electronics”. When the mechanic tried to click into the central electronics fault, an error message would appear such that it wouldn’t tell him what was wrong, but it would then clear the light from the car altogether - until the car was switched off and on again and it would return (we did this about 20x and the same thing happened).

The mechanic said he thinks it’s an issue with the software and the vehicle needs a software update. When I called Seat they said that’s unlikely and that they would need the car on their own diagnostics with a master electrician to look at it - cost unknown.

Apologies in advance for the long post here but I’m desperate for some help as trying to sell the car and can’t seem to find any guidance or get any clarity on this light - grateful to anyone that can share any thoughts or similar experiences?

 

[ZK_FR150]

Do you have the car serviced by seat as well and get the free breakdown cover, if so call them out to have a look otherwise as they are pretty good or find a good VW indy garage and take it to them.

Or bite the bullet and take it to a seat dealer, think it cost either £90 or £120 for a diagnosis before the fixing fault cost.

 

[msra9ct5]

Thanks - I do not get breakdown cover on the insurance unfortunately. I guess my hesitation with taking it to an independent garage or official seat dealer is that I recently had a mechanic out who ran the diagnostics and couldn’t actually get rid of the light (only temporarily as said), and an official Seat dealer has had my car for MOT and service for the last three years but never been able to tell me what is wrong. I’m nervous that I’ll give the car over and end up having to pay £2/3/4-00 for someone to look at the car and potentially not fix it.

Could it potentially be a software update or has anyone come across this issue before and knows otherwise?

 

[andrew warwick]

Thanks - I do not get breakdown cover on the insurance unfortunately. I guess my hesitation with taking it to an independent garage or official seat dealer is that I recently had a mechanic out who ran the diagnostics and couldn’t actually get rid of the light (only temporarily as said), and an official Seat dealer has had my car for MOT and service for the last three years but never been able to tell me what is wrong. I’m nervous that I’ll give the car over and end up having to pay £2/3/4-00 for someone to look at the car and potentially not fix it.

Could it potentially be a software update or has anyone come across this issue before and knows otherwise?

Hi . I had the same issue shortly after using Carista. My 2018 ( facelift) 1.4 FR was about 6 months old. I had chosen just about all the available features on the Beta set up. Shortly afterwards the yellow light came on saying i had a number plate light out ( factory LED fitted). No light failures were found. As it was under warranty, I went to Seat . They suspected a wiring problem and said to book it in for a longer examination. I was in the middle of moving house, so I booked it into my new local Seat dealer a couple of months later.
They did sort it out. I was told that "someone" had put the wrong software on the car, Something from the Leon Cupra was found when it was run up on the Seat system.
It cost me £90, as I recall, to "reset" the software at the Seat dealer. I was happy enough to pay as the orange light was driving me mad. I put it down to the "Beta" software from Carista. I assumed the extra features I installed came from Carista's hybrid software were they used Cupra features ?

I did worry I would lose ( with the Seat reset) all the extra features I had installed using the Carista, but the only one I lost was the "one touch" folding mirrors when locking. I just went back to holding the lock button on the fob, as it was when it arrived from the factory.

All this is of no help if you have not used Carista Beta, but my symptoms were the same.
I am wary of using Carista again, at least Beta, just in case. To be fair I have all the features I need from Carista and can live without the one touch locking.

 

[Walone]

I had the orange triangle light come on recently and a message showed up in the infotainment to check the reverse light but whenever i looked it was working, i then got someone to look while the message was on the dash and the bulb was flashing rapidly (LED bulb) fitted standard bulb back and all is well.

 

[black_sheep]

I had the orange triangle light come on recently and a message showed up in the infotainment to check the reverse light but whenever i looked it was working, i then got someone to look while the message was on the dash and the bulb was flashing rapidly (LED bulb) fitted standard bulb back and all is well.

Are you referring to Standard LED bulbs (all FRs and above were fitted with these, including pre-FL) or Aftermarket LED bulbs in the standard
bulb fitting.

There is a setting in coding/adaptations to toggle between bulb and LED. Also, the brightness settings for LEDs is c.127% vs 100% for filament bulb.

If the coded correctly for LEDs then your filament bulb will be too bright - this additional heat will cause the bulb to fail prematurely.

Also, the rear registration plate bulbs are quite susceptible to water ingress and corrosion on both male and female plug connections.

 

[Walone]

Are you referring to Standard LED bulbs (all FRs and above were fitted with these, including pre-FL) or Aftermarket LED bulbs in the standard
bulb fitting.
There is a setting in coding/adaptations to toggle between bulb and LED. Also, the brightness settings for LEDs is c.127% vs 100% for filament bulb.
If the coded correctly for LEDs then your filament bulb will be too bright - this additional heat will cause the bulb to fail prematurely.
Also, the rear registration plate bulbs are quite susceptible to water ingress and corrosion on both male and female plug connections.

It was a retrofitted LED bulb that I fitted to replace the standard (non LED) bulb, it worked fine with no errors for a least 3 years.
PS I believe all standard reverse bulbs are non LED.

 

[black_sheep]

It was a retrofitted LED bulb that I fitted to replace the standard (non LED) bulb, it worked fine with no errors for a least 3 years.
PS I believe all standard reverse bulbs are non LED.

Apologies - misread that it was the reversing bulb. OP mentioned the rear plate bulbs.

I’ve replaced the reversing bulbs with LEDs on both Pre-FL and FL Leons with canbus error free bulbs and they’ve been fine. Had the occasional W5W led bulb fail on other VAG cars previously, and the flickering was the first indication that the bulb was failing.

 

[Mr Pig]

When I called Seat they said that’s unlikely and that they would need the car on their own diagnostics with a master electrician to look at it - cost unknown.

Let me translate that for you:

The Wombles that we employ couldn't find their own arse with both hands so we'll need to bring in an actual mechanic but charge you brain surgeon rates so we can make a good profit off you.