A few niggles I need to ask about :D

[Baffled Spoon]

Well I was going to post a few pics of my new car, but I need to make over 15 posts first apparentley. Never mind, i'm sure you all know what a black Toledo looks like

I've been enjoying the car this past week since I got it, but there are however a few niggles I need to ask you guys about

First, the radio reception is terrible. The sat nav seems to work fine (although it is a bit slow to update the map on the screen), but the radio seems to struggle to keep a good signal (mainly manifests itself as the volume going up and down as I drive along).

Second thing is, when I use the remote to unlock the car, only the drivers' door unlocks and I have to unlock the other doors by either pressing the internal unlock button on the drivers door or by using the key in the door. All the doors lock fine when using the remote key though

Any help insight would be very much appreciated.

 

[Slimy]

The radio reception is boosted by an amplifier, its possible that its faulty. Mine can pick up radio Cymru from Birmingham, so you should have it better than it is. However, a weak station doesn't usually affect the volume of FM broadcasts, they tend to break up rather than go quiet.

One thing you could check is the 'gala' volume control, basically it makes things louder the faster you drive. Unfortunately its not the best or fastest reacting, and you can end up with a very surreal audio experience if its too high! In the volume controls, set the gala setting to far left, and see if that gets rid of your volume changes.

For the central locking, something I picked up off this forum this morning was a central locking setting in the control unit. Normally, one push unlocks all doors, but there is a setting done via VAG-COM that allows the first push to be the drivers door, and a second to be everything else. Its pretty easy to test this, simply press the button again. If it turns out to be this but its unwanted, have a look at the help guides at the 'VAG-COM' guide, there's instructions on how to turn it on and off. The fact that they lock off the remote, and unlock via the button suggests there's nothing wrong with any of the locks or the remote.

 

[Baffled Spoon]

Thanks slimy. I turned the gala control right down but am still losing reception. How can I check it's the amplifier that is faulty? I'm just hoping there isn't anything wrong with the antenna as I can imagine having to take the roof lining down could be expensive.

As for the central locking, I have tried double pressing the unlock button etc but the passenger doors still remain locked. Is there any way to reset the central locking system? Would removing the central locking fuse for half and hour reset it or could that lead to more complcations? Thanks.

 

[Slimy]

Apparently the amplifier is in the aerial unit, and yes you have to drop the roof lining. Elsawin talks about fault codes coming from the radio, but I'm not sure if it would register a poor signal, only a complete disconnection.

And as far as I know the settings are in the ECU, removing the central locking fuse will just stop the motors running rather than reset anything? And I'm not even sure disconnecting the battery would change the settings back to default?

The other thing that might be worth looking at is the child lock button on the drivers seat? I don't actually know what its supposed to do!

 

[Baffled Spoon]

Thanks again Slimy. It was suggested to me on PH that VAG cars can have certain features programmed into the keys and one member in particular said his key was only ever programmed to open the driver's door, so it looks like I'll be paying the local Seat dealer a visit tommorow to ask them about this.

As for the poor radiio reception, I think I can live with it for now but may go and get an auto electrician to have a poke about at some point.

 

[Slimy]

Brace yourself for the big bill, getting a key programmed at the dealer is done on a full hours labour, even though it can only be five minutes work. I was quoted £120-£150 to have a new key cut and programmed to the car, around £50-£80 of that was the key itself.

I think I'm going to be saving that money and using it to buy a VAG-COM lead!!

There must be some way of measuring the signal strength coming into the back of the head unit, but if its intermittent I can virtually guarantee you'll have perfect signal everytime you take it to the sparkies!!