Well Tourvan has come up with a new one from its box of tricks, foibles, faults and undesirable behaviour. Its decided it will be a laugh to leave the brake lights on all night. The battery is flat. Its not going anywhere. The VW ambulance is on its way.
NOw for the very clever part.
Someone knocked on my door on saturday night about midenight to say my lights were on. Yup it was the brake lights, so I kicked the brake pedal and off they went. Hmm I think, I will have to check they are off every time I get out the car.
So last night, before I went to bed, I checked they were off. Touran is very clever, he is not just having a sticky brake light switch, he is turning the damn things on, by his self, in the middle of the night.
Now - where is that damn tree branch,
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Think yourself lucky, very, very lucky! My neighbour's Golf 2.0 FSI has only been on their driveway for about half of the last 6 months as the rest of the time it has been at the main dealers where they were/are trying to sort out why it suddenly goes into 'limp home' mode, losing all power.
They are perplexed as to why this is and have, apparently replaced so much of the operating system including the ECU etc and wiring looms that they are at a loss as to what else they can do.
Admittedly the car is now back in their driveway, again and so it might be sorted, but I wait, with baited breath, for the day when a courtesy Polo or a Golf Plus will appear in their drive again, indicating all is not well with the world of VAG.
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>>indicating all is not well with the world of VAG>>
One swallow doesn't make a summer...:-)
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well done AA, 1 hour on the button to arrive, on a cold frosty morning when they must be dealing with gazzilions of flat batteries.
YOu know? this is the first car I have had that refused to start due to a fault since my Maestro in 1983. who would think you could match VW and Austin Rover in the same breath.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Despite some faults, the VW is still a good design. The Maestro was not.
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Despite some faults, the VW is still a good design. The Maestro was not.
The Maestro was ugly however the Montego based on the same floor plan was better looking and still competitive into the early 90's.
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>> Despite some faults, the VW is still a good design. The >> Maestro was not. >>
Such a good design that the brake lights stick on? Bravo to the designer, but please lets not let that designer loose on anything safety related eh!
It just amazes me the faults owners try and make excuses for to try and justify why they bought a car that doesnt do all that it should. Any company that cannot make something simply like brakelights work properly is up there with Lada and Yugo. Sure if its a bit of new technology then sometimes you have teething problems occasionally, but brakelights hav ebeen around a very long time. Poor poor poor.
The Maestro was a terrible looking car, but in roadtests of the day, highly rated against mid-80's alternatives. Prob has brake lights that work properly aswell...
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So the Germans are copying the French! ;-)
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Xantia HDi.
Buy a Citroen and get to know the local GSF staff better...
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Sticky return spring?
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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the really annoying think is not the stuck on part, but the fact they turn on by themselves. If its just sticking on you can check if they are off every time you leave the car, but turning on by themselves means you cant rely on the damn thing at all.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Brake light switches have for many years been an issue with VW, so much so that on mine, I arranged for the trailer stop lights to be operated via a relay to relieve the poor little thing.
The trouble now is that a flat battery is a much more meaningful event due to the complexities of modern vehicles. Maybe they didn't think of that.
I wonder if the brake light switches were a present from Skoda, when the VW boot boys marched in?
659.
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In an ideal world the electrics to the brake lights and the like should be isolated when the key is removed from the ignition. It would seem however that more and more cars are now being wired up so that the brake lights can still operate with no key in the ignition.
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deep joy
every warning light light is on, the dash board looks like a xmas tree. it drives and runs ok tho.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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>>every warning light light is on, the dash board looks like a xmas tree.>>
I'd keep quiet about it otherwise everyone will want one....:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Yes they should go off when the key is removed, so sounds like a control unit problem?
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In an ideal world the electrics to the brake lights and the like should be isolated when the key is removed from the ignition. It would seem however that more and more cars are now being wired up so that the brake lights can still operate with no key in the ignition.
If this was the case then if the ignition switch / main power relay were to fail and cut the engine, you'd also have no brakelights either.
This canbus system is a disaster waiting to happen, I work in a dairy where a similar system is used to control valves etc get corrosion or water in the plugs / wiring and the whole place shuts down until the fault is rectified.
In 6 / 10 years time when these canbus cars are getting a little weary expect lots of wiring related problems
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>>. If its just sticking on you can check if they are off every time you leave the car, >> ------------------------------ TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
At the risk of stating the blooming obvious - you shouldn't have to, should you?
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The Maestro was a terrible looking car, but in roadtests of the day, highly rated against mid-80's alternatives. Prob has brake lights that work properly aswell...
I drove more than one Maestro in my time and I didn't like any of them. In fact, one of them was probably the worst car I have ever driven. The Montego was a completely different kettle of fish and the one I had on hire, at one time, was a lovely car.
I was saved from Maestro hell by being given the chance to have Peugeot 309, which was a super car to drive.
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LOL. Competitive compared to what???
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Had a Corrado in the early 90's. For a while the only way to turn the engine off was to stall it on the handbrake. Took it to the dealer who just said - they all do that - the loom rubbed against the engine due to poor design and created a few interesting shorts.
I vowed then never to own another VAG product and BR old-timers will know how catastrophically wrong I went with my Audi and its ECU nightmares.
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VAG brake lights work even when the key is removed, don't know why, they just do!
TVM, strange about your brake lights, the AA man I was talking to the other day (he blocked me in briefly) said he'd had a touran with sticky brake lights a week or so ago. Have you posted this on clubtouran to see if anybody else has had this "feature"? Sounds like the CAN bus system is playing up, especially if your cluster is also playing silly wotsits.
Touch wood my Touran behaves!
Joe
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Right
well after 10 miles the lights had all gone out one by one, so I assume it was errors logged due to low voltage.
The brake switch is a mechanical unit mounted on top of the pedal, there is about 1 inch of pedal movement before the lights come on, and three quarters inch back after the lights go out. The pedal feels strong on the return all the way to the top throught the 3/4 inch.
booking the car in as we speak.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Sorry, haven't heard of this fault before, but I'd get it checked sharpish as it sounds like a short circuit in the system somewhere.
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TVM
Why not go back to your Renaults?
You seemed to have so much luck with them - especially the last one!
:)
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">Now - where is that damn tree branch,<"
Yes! You can borrow mine until you find it.
Battery cut out switch. Can you use these on new-fangled vehicles?
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I had exactly the same problem on Friday with my Octavia - my AA man beat yours though - arrived in 20 mins (on the first really frosty morning or the winter), started it & diagnosed a sticking switch before I could boil the kettle!!
Took it straight to the dealership - "we've never seen that before today but we've got a Superb in with the same problem" - they replaced the switch and (sor far) all is well.
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Is all well now TVM - have the dealers sorted it ?
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New switch fitted. Seems to be ok.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Funny that, the other night on the motorway I followed an 06 reg passat estate.Its lights flickered constantly.
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>>Its lights flickered constantly.>>
Could be a set of blue Neon tubes...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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MK4 Golf platform has problem with brakelight switches too, usually blows both bulbs and put check engine light / flashing glowplug light on. However high level brake light continues to work. I carry a spare in the glovebox. £8.50 from VAG, two different types purple or black ;o)
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it was the rear lights and brake lights.Have also passed two other new passats broken down on the A34 last week.
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New car,Might of been daft and filled their diesel full of finest unleaded.
Thats what happened when i bought my car, spotted a polo on the back of a trailer and said to the sales chap thats not very good is it,hes only just left here.
No he says hes gone straight to the garage (tight gits only put twenty quid in) to fill up and filled it full of petrol .
Poor boy was only about twenty and looked like he was going to cry.
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Many VWs have 'spare brake bulbs',...
There are 4 x 21/5w stop tails on each side on mine.
Only the 5w filament is used on each one except the brake light where 21w also lights when brakes are on, so if a brake light blows, you have 2-3 spares already, depending on model.
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