Faulty Electrics (immobiliser issue)

[the_fbi]

Did you disconect the battery when you removed the cluster?

Yip, but perhaps not for long enough before I took the cables off the dash.

Looks like Vagtacho will be the easiest solution....

 

[the_fbi]

Vag-com has a fault with the instrument cluster, which won't clear.

I can't connect to the instrument cluster to use vag-com to re-pair the key, as the instrument cluster can't be seen.

Yet the instruments are all working fine, apart from the flashing and beeping due to the immobiliser issue.

Not quite sure what I can do, apart from getting it towed into Seat, which is a great way to lose a few hundred quid

Wiring to the instruments is definately on OK and I didn't do any soldering earlier so nothing has changed, apart from battery/dash off/on.

 

[the_fbi]

Wiring to the instruments is definately on OK

OK, perhaps it wasn't

Checked the connector again, and the top definately went in further!

Car now starts OK, only issue being the airbag warning, but I presume vag-com will reset that.

Going to quit whilst I'm level!

 

[Bondiblu]

Sorry to hear you had so much fun. Mine did the trick and sorted all my woes. I never had an airbag warning light or any thing else. Just worked. I wish I had access to VAG-COM. Besides the airbag light, did you solve any of the problems you were having?

 

[the_fbi]

Sorry to hear you had so much fun. Mine did the trick and sorted all my woes. I never had an airbag warning light or any thing else. Just worked. I wish I had access to VAG-COM. Besides the airbag light, did you solve any of the problems you were having?

It really was one of those jobs which just kept getting worse!

When I actually had it out, I could only reach half of the pins/pads without taking the speedo off totally, and on inspection none of them looked dry. So I put it all back in as was.

After clearing fault codes from pretty much all areas in vag-com (so many which have no need to go via the instruments apparently do), and the first time I started it I'd even manage to lose volts, oil temp, water temp and fuel. So made things even worse!

2nd start they'd all come back. tbh thats happened before, but not as often as the fuel gauge, not even close.

But, I do have fresh hope that perhaps the real cause is the green multiway onto the rear of the clocks, as I'm sure it was on 99% of the way when the immobiliser had its issue, so perhaps the pins there aren't making 100% contact after a few jolts.

Its normally a fast left hander off a round-a-about which knocks the fuel off, which would make sense thats its g-forces on the connector.

If anybody has the connector pin-outs I'd be interested to know what the top few rows of pins are for.

I'll take it for a drive tomorrow, I'm sure its no worse than it was before. What scares me is that this immobiliser stuff can totally kill you and I'm without a spare key, so I'll get one cut/programmed ASAP, I've got one just never got it done. Wouldn't have fixed this issue, but a gentle reminder that I need one.

Vag-com is pretty cool, even the free one can do some quite cool stuff, for the sake of a £10 cable its worth one just to check maf/glowplugs/etc are doing what they should.

I am however going to put the sport cat back onto the focus tomorrow, and get it MOT'd as I didn't like the feeling of being car-less this afternoon.

 

[damo m8]

Well, ive been a very quiet on this forum since I joined, the main reason was I actually joined was because I purchased my car with this problem over a year and a half ago, the sealer obviously had no idea and charged me for the privilege too, but I was prepared to take a look myself at the fault but it had been so infrequent there was no way of debugging it, but after having no failures for over 8 months, it finally came good and started failing for me.

The last couple of weeks have been a nightmare for the bezza, with it failing more and more frequently, being sat of a petrol forecourt for half an hour is no fun! So as the fault was now loud and proud I decided to take a look, and hey presto yes have fixed it!

The immobiliser is made up of the pickup coil on the key barrel and the clocks on the dash, not as I had first thought when I got the car in the ECU, this made things a whole lot easier, the pickup coil has a twisted pair of wires black and a green/black, which join the loom that goes into the right hand connector of the dash cluster, as the bottom steering column cover cannot be removed without taking the steering wheel off (well done seat) I could only assume the connections were ok there. I then took the green 32way connector housing off and checked the pins, they seemed to be ok but I tweaked them all the same, I also noticed that the wires were not twisted all the way to the contact pins so took them out and made them do so, I also checked the resistance of the coils with my meter which read about 23ohms fiddled about with the loom and It also seemed good.

I then ventured to my work bench and took the cluster apart, the pickup coil wires go to pins 1 and 17 of the connector, this is really good as they are the top two which are the most accessible without removing gauge pointers. Measuring the resistance between the connector pins and components on the board one of the pins was a little iffy, the joints looked ok maybe a little bit dry but as my meter had told me otherwise I re-made them, and sure enough one of the pins sucked the solder up and away from the board before re-flowing, putting the whole lot back together hey presto all is good, cleared the faults with vadge-com and went for a pint.


i have a couple of pics but cant attach them

 

[damo m8]

If anybody has the connector pin-outs I'd be interested to know what the top few rows of pins are for.

When i had the connector appart the first row 1 and 17 were for the immob coil then there were a few spare maybe two or three.

 

[the_fbi]

When i had the connector appart the first row 1 and 17 were for the immob coil then there were a few spare maybe two or three.

Makes sense. When mine wasn't working it wasn't quite plugged in correctly at the top, even though the latch/clip was fully home.

If only I could fix the fuel gauge/temperature issue

 

[damo m8]

the temperature gauge is a bit iffy on mine to but i can live with that, anyone have a full set of circuit diagrams?

 

[damo m8]

here is a bit more information:

32-pin connector, green

1 - Reading coil for electronic immobiliser.....17 - Reading coil for electronic immobiliser
2 - Warning lamp for main beam..................18 - Rear fog lamp warning light
3 - Warning lamp for dip beam.....................19 - Front fog lamp warning light
4 - Oil level gauge sender............................20 - Seat belt warning system warning lamp
5 - Speed signal, output...............................21 - Hand brake switch
6 - Speed signal, input.................................22 - Brake system warning lamp
7 - CAN L (motor).......................................23 - Oil pressure switch
8 - CAN H (motor)......................................24 - CAN Activation mode
9 - CAN L (comfort)....................................25 - CAN (motor), insulating shield
10 - CAN H (comfort)..................................26 - CAN (comfort), insulating shield
11 - Multi-functional indicator.......................27 - Multi-function indicator - Reset
12 - Multi-functional indicator.......................28 - Free
13 - Brake system fault indicator light...........29 - Warning lamp for tail lights
14 - Free....................................................30 - Windscreen washer fluid level sender
15 - Fuel level gauge sender........................31 - Exterior temperature sensor
16 - Coolant level warning sender................32 - Terminal 31




so for fuel and temp gauges its the bottom rows i.e. the ones you cant get to without taking the pointers of the dials!!!

 

[chris4500uk]

Me been crap with solder, do you just heat up the existing joint till it melts and then it should set fine, or do you plop a bit more on?

 

[damo m8]

it really depends, usually you add a bit more, flux is the key!

 

[the_fbi]

Thanks for the table damo, typical the ones I need you can't get to

 

[chris4500uk]

does anybody happen to have a picture of this connection?

 

[the_fbi]

does anybody happen to have a picture of this connection?

I don't, but if you take off your fuse box cover you can see the connector going into the rear of the cluster.

If you know where you're feeling, then through driver side coin "glovebox" hole you can disconnect/reseat/wiggle the connector too.

 

[damo m8]

does anybody happen to have a picture of this connection?

i have a pic but havent posted enough to be able to put them up yet

 

[damo m8]

Thanks for the table damo, typical the ones I need you can't get to

tell me about it, i didnt think about my duff temp gauge i was more interested in gettin the immob sorted, but am slightly tempted to have another go

 

[ivegotpost]

Right mine has been doing this for a while and as i intend to get shut i need to sort this out (along with other issues) so i will be stripping the whole lot down tonight. i will take pictures of the lot as i do it and will post my results and pics up later

 

[ivegotpost]

SUCCESS!!!

figured out how to do it WITHOUT removing the needles and stripping down to the bare board too, all u need is a needle nosed iron and some soldering skill NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WITH POOR SOLDERING SKILLS OR UNSTEADY HANDS!!!

managed to do all the pins so no more flashing oil light, water light or none existent fuel gauge car started first time and everytime since, gonna take it for a run as sometimes it would work then go off after 10 mins or so

i will write up a howto with pics and post it shortly (car is still in bits atm)

 

[semajfaith]

SUCCESS!!!

figured out how to do it WITHOUT removing the needles and stripping down to the bare board too, all u need is a needle nosed iron and some soldering skill NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WITH POOR SOLDERING SKILLS OR UNSTEADY HANDS!!!

managed to do all the pins so no more flashing oil light, water light or none existent fuel gauge car started first time and everytime since, gonna take it for a run as sometimes it would work then go off after 10 mins or so

i will write up a howto with pics and post it shortly (car is still in bits atm)

have you posted a howto or any pictures of this being done. have the same problem with my car and plan on doing the same at some stage.