Computer problems after light recall repair?

Not sure if they are related, but I had the light recall repair done last friday,and since I have had problems with my car. It took 4 hours for the dealership to repair the car, the fact that the car was bumped in the front did not helped. Lights were ok before and after.
Then, saturday afternoon the car died while driving while braking (message "check brakes" appeared in the screen, checked rpm: zero (engine dead), car still rolled 100 ft, steering was fine, car brakes were fine for braking once. I restarted the car, parked in a gas station and tried to hear any weird noise from engine bay, nothing unusual.
Today(sunday) morning car did not start (locks opened but did not close with the remote, car said no remote in range when sitting inside, light in remote working). I shut off my cel phone because sometimes the cell phone signal interferes with the remote). The car started. Turned on the phone and shut the car, won't restart. Restored to factory the phone settings (cleared all phones, mine, wife's daughter's). Then the car starts with no problem, with my phone on. However, I cannot open the trunk (not with the door switch, or the remote).

I'll take the car to the dealership tomorrow monday, to check (if it starts ;-))

Anybody has had this kind of problems before? Any recommendation?

PD: the system has had problems synchronizing cell phones for a while (I needed to re-sync 2-3 times my cell phone)

Cell phone should not affect remote, they aren't even close in frequency. That is a mere coincidence.


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The light recall also involved some work in the B fuse box under the hood. Your symptoms sound like a poor or loose main battery or fuse box connection. I'd check all those out first. Check out the tightness of all these studs on the left side.


Check the battery post clamps as well. If you find a loose connection, time to find a new mechanic/dealer to work on your car in the future.

LokiWolf said:

Cell phone should not affect remote, they aren't even close in frequency. That is a mere coincidence.


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Depending on the phone and the carrier, his phone could be on / close to a harmonic of the remote frequency which can definitely cause interference.

315MHz x 2 = 730, which would fit somewhere in line with Verizon LTE frequencies now that they're using the 700MHz band.

The trunk lock/valet button didn't get hit inside the glove box did it? The other problems are quite interesting!

LokiWolf, if I have my phone (ATT Iphone4) and the remote in the same pocket the car will tell me "No remote in range" (Also locks won't open when touching the handles if I'm holding both in the same hand. But when this happened remote was in the console, and phone in the passenger's seat). gforce1108, thank you, if happened was accidental, let me check, I'll keep you updated.

Still, having the car shutting donw by itself when braking was unsettling (it kind of jolt and died, car kept rolling).

Update: yes the trunk lock-valet button was on, I don't remember hitting it, thanks. The car still did not start when I opened it a moment ago, the car image with the door open was in the dashboard, but the courtesy lights didn't go on, and the remote opened the locks, but could not close them. The otside lights did not go on. Then I opened the hood, and moved the cables in the fuse box. They felt well bolted. After that I could start the car. I pressed off the valet button, let's see if the failure set it on. I noticed the dashboard lights went to the dimmest setting each time the car did not want to start, maybe it is setting the valet switch too. Thanks vw_norm, I'll be calling the dealership now, and let them confirm if it the fuse box and fix it... then I'll decide if I move forward or not. Something like that can would leave an error message in the computer? There is no warning in the dash (besides the first one with the brakes, and that only happened once)

What about the battery posts? You mention the fuse box terminals, but not the battery. If there are power issues, the BCM as well as other modules will have a load of power management faults showing that things were turned off in order to conserve battery power.

I too had a problem after my car went through the headlight recall fix. Drove to work the following morning and parked in my usual spot. At lunchtime I went out to start the car and deadsville, nothing, the lights flashed but the doors wouldn't even open (I had to use the KEY like some commoner!). Had the car towed to the dealer using roadside assistance and it turned out to be loose/disconnected grounds on the fuse box that was removed/put back as part of the recall. So my money is on a loose wire too.

vw_norm: checked yesterday the battery terminals, looked and felt ok.

For all: Update: yesterday driving home the car suddenly hesitated, steering yellow light came on. Car kept going (I was 60 MPH at the time). Tested accelerator, it worked, engine was running. Yellow light went off after 20 secs. (That means battery was disconnected, does it?). Arrived home with no more incidents.
Car started this morning, then I drove it to the dealership, let's see what happens.

Ok, fixed in the dealership, problems wih one of the connections in the fuse box. Thank you very much vw_norm for your answer (and taking the time for including the picture), I was not expecting that replacing the light sockets involved so much work inside the car; and thanks to everybody else (gforce1108, for the reminder on the Valet switch). Now, people: be aware that whenever you go to have your headlamp sockets recall work done, there might be trouble if the job is not properly done. Take care!

Did it take care of your remote and phone issue?

LokiWolf, as gforce1108 said, the Valet Switch in the glovebox was on. After I switched it off I had no more trouble. I already programmed back my cel phone, everything is fine.

And to wrap up this post, here is the report from the dealership: (you nailed it vw_norm!)

"found power distribution block retaining bolt loose in fuse panel, caused multiple power loss concerns and faults stored. cleared systems faults through odis session - uploaded to data base"

c-wagen said:

Ok, fixed in the dealership, problems wih one of the connections in the fuse box. Thank you very much vw_norm for your answer (and taking the time for including the picture), I was not expecting that replacing the light sockets involved so much work inside the car; and thanks to everybody else (gforce1108, for the reminder on the Valet switch). Now, people: be aware that whenever you go to have your headlamp sockets recall work done, there might be trouble if the job is not properly done. Take care!

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The fusebox had it's own recall--not related to the headlights.

Palouse: if you read all messages you will find that the headlight recall requires some work in the fuse box. In my car's case, the work was notproperly done, so the problems. This is not related with the 2013(?) fuse box recall (my car is 2012)

The headlight relates fusebox work is adding some washers to avoid a wire chafe issue. The fusebox recall relates to a deformed moulding of the box.

That's the way i understand it at least.

Yours
Vern

VernK said:

The headlight relates fusebox work is adding some washers to avoid a wire chafe issue. The fusebox recall relates to a deformed moulding of the box.

That's the way i understand it at least.

Yours
Vern

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Yup, that is how I read it, and how it was done to my '12 SE. NOT related to the headlights, but done at the same time!

VernK said:

The headlight relates fusebox work is adding some washers to avoid a wire chafe issue. The fusebox recall relates to a deformed moulding of the box.

That's the way i understand it at least.

Yours
Vern

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Ummm. My car was not listed for the headlight recall, but did receive the washer install. Two separate items in the VW system.

c-wagen said:

LokiWolf, as gforce1108 said, the Valet Switch in the glovebox was on. After I switched it off I had no more trouble. I already programmed back my cel phone, everything is fine.

And to wrap up this post, here is the report from the dealership: (you nailed it vw_norm!)

"found power distribution block retaining bolt loose in fuse panel, caused multiple power loss concerns and faults stored. cleared systems faults through odis session - uploaded to data base"

Click to expand...

So I was correct, not an RF issue.

Just for clarity, Verizon's footprint in the 700Mhz range is 746-757. Only LTE will use that range. They sold their other lower block to T-Mobile, which is also used by AT&T. But as you mentioned, you are using an iPhone 4, that can't even use that range.

In addition a higher harmonic interfering with a lower is tough, especially since the transmit power on a cell is typically less than a Watt.


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I can also confirm that the Kessy remote will either provide significantly lower range or not work at all if it's in the same pocket as my Verizon LTE iPhone 5.

Harmonics CAN interfere with lower frequencies, especially when you're dealing with another low power transmitter - the VW remotes come nowhere near 1W.

Then something else is going on. Like I said above. Verizon does not use 730, but even that is wrong, because the VW remote runs at 315, the harmonic would be 630. The interference could be because of general rf but not harmonics unless the phone is bleeding over A LOT. The more simple explanation is that the additional metal In your pocket is affecting the ability of the signal to get out.

I am well aware of harmonics and what can interfere with what. Harmonics can be an issue, but mostly only come into affect when the interfering transmitter has much more power than what it is interfering with.