Multiple Electrical Gremlins

2009 JSW 130k miles
All at once today:
Door locks intermittently re-lock themselves while driving. And the light on the button goes out.
Tire pressure idiot light on the speedo goes on and off. Tires are new and filled to 35 psi cold.
Sunroof will only close halfway.
Windows auto up/down only works about 1 out of every three tries.
Parked outside in heavy rain last day or so, but I didn't leave the windows down or roof open. Most of these issues occurred late in the drier part of the day.
Never seen anything like this before. Ideas?
Thanks,
Ryan

Check the battery terminals. It also might be time to start pricing new batteries.

I'd want to scan the relevant modules for any DTCs, that may give a clue anyways.

But low voltage can cause all sorts of strangeness.

The battery is fairly new, 2 years or less. But it's tasked with a lot of things on these cars. I'll mention it to the dealer. Otherwise I'm afraid that they won't be able to reproduce any of this.

Thanks,
R

What brand of battery? I've never seen a poll, but my impression is that OEM is recommended by most of the gurus here (IMO).

Update

Culprit is an electronic gizmo known as the steering wheel module. $1,000 parts and labor on that. Something referred to as the comfort module could also be bad for another potential $600.
Steering wheel module has been ordered. At least another two days in the rented Altima.

The frequency and the expense of repairs keep escalating 6 years in. New car for me in 2015.

Did the dealership give you the results of their scan? This sounds rather odd to me. I think that a failing ignition switch could cause the troubles.

My car has had steering wheel error codes since the first day I drove it off of the lot. It has a failing ignition switch. At this point it hasn't caused any trouble but when the time comes I'll replace the $38 component and be done with it.

If you were given any trouble codes post them up.

People need to stop going to the dealer for auto work. All they want to do is throw parts at the car and charge you $$$.

Yep.

People should also buy reliable cars.

turbocharged798 said:

People need to stop going to the dealer for auto work. All they want to do is throw parts at the car and charge you $$$.

Click to expand...

Yep, and I've told him before to come see me, he won't. Can lead a horse to water, can't make him drink. Oh well, I have plenty of work to do here, two cars here right now are dealer screwups.

Shame, but I can't save them all. Just sucks when there is one in my back yard that all I can do is read the same old Story of the Failtrain on the web.

Ok. If it turns out that the $1,000 module doesn't fix everything, it's all yours, oilhammer.

But I still think that having a car that continually needs one-off repairs is silly, regardless of who does the work. Had a 99 VR6 Jetta new. Made it 7 eventful years. Rolled the dice 10 years later on this car. Same ownership experience. Like the car, but I hate being an example of the extraordinarily stupid. One needs an overly large rainy day fund and comprehensive roadside assistance to coexist with VWs.

Or a good trusted mechanic who can actually trouble shoot the issue and fix it properly the first time around. Plus keep the car maintained properly in the first place.

Yeah, I have a bunch of them, I'm not too worried about getting to where I need to go. My Golf rolled 470,000 miles this week.

Nothing's perfect. We had a 2009 RAV4 in here this week, didn't even make it 100k miles, and its water pump went.... $700 job.

2006 Lincoln Zephyr (poor old sorta-rich person version of a Ford Fusion) getting nearly $2000 worth of repairs... and it has already had its engine replaced in the past.

I'm pretty sure the 2008 PT Cruiser that was towed in yesterday needs an engine.

Come hang around an independent shop for a day, you'll see all kinds of stuff breaks. If you Volkswagen experience isn't good, there is no need to fret over it... just part ways with it. Life is too short to deal with that.

At least this dealer admitted they have yet to isolate the problem. With enough parts and a deep wallet, I'm sure they'll figure it out.

Let me point out first that I have scrupulously followed the recommended maintenance schedule. I am hard on this car. 22k miles a year, at least 75 a day in stop n go highway driving. I take scheduled maintenance seriously, particularly oil, tires, and brakes. I cross state lines to insure that I avoid bio diesel.
My frustration is with the endless string of failures of ancillary components like this electronics module.
Would an independent have found a way to save the part? Maybe, but it took a call to VW to troubleshoot and verify. I'm on a first name basis with the service managers and half the technicians. They all have TDIs themselves. It's entirely possible that they reach for a new part more often than trying to fix an old one, but I think this shop is straight with their customers and more knowledgeable than average on TDIs. Otherwise they wouldn't have successfully lobbied VW on my behalf to cover some past repairs.
In this case I think a fried piece of electronics would have cost me about the same regardless of who did the fix.
Next repair is oilhammer's. Certainly cant cost me any more. Then I'm selling and moving on. This TDI has cost me significantly more than a generic driving appliance gasoline engine car would have. The less hassle in life the better.

Rac I dont want to sound hateful but the point being made is you likely would have spent less and saved time taking to a pro like Oilhammer. Maybe im wrong and your stealership is an exception to the norm. For example I had my DMF replaced by a guy that knows what hes doing for $300 in labor. What would the dealership have charged? Also this guy did have to drop the subframe and realign like the dealer says you do. I replaced a door module that was acting up...two actually. Well the dealer wanted double what I paid for the part and it came in the same box plus no telling what they wanted in labor to replace it. No thanks. Im not arguiing that some of these cars were nightmarish on things like DMF's and cams but with the right person working on it its not that bad. Id beware of saying the dealer does all your great service and is spot on. Most dealers use the 5-30 cam killing oil. My car has every service record and it will need a cam. Also the dealer did all the service but never once tried to sell the pervious owner a DSG fluid and filter change. They didnt think it was really needed. Do you think VW would have warrantied that tranny should it have went out during warranty and the service had not been done? Just beware man thats all. Best of luck.

I get the argument for independent service shops, and in general I agree that a specialized independent pro can save the owner money in the long run. I don't happen to live within 30 minutes of one.

Generally, dealership service departments deserve the derision heaped upon them in these pages. VW didn't have a serious North American strategy until the Chattanooga plant was conceived and built. The lack of focus has saddled the company with a patchwork of mostly second tier dealerships. The TDIs are a niche vehicle with a relatively tiny sales volume. No wonder it's hard to find competent service at a dealership or otherwise.

Absolutes rarely apply to anything. Not all dealership service departments are horrible, just as not every independent wrench is an altruistic genius.

It's my experience that VWs are temperamental, glitchy, and prone to frequent repairs. I suspect the frequency is independent of what type of shop does the work.

At this point, I don't care who fixes my car, just as long as it gets fixed. $1,000 and 3 days later, my door locks still click every couple of minutes while driving, the TPMS light flickers on and off, and the windows are balky.

So this time I'll seek out an independent VW specialist. Things can't get any worse. I'm just throwing good money after bad at this point, but I can't sell it this way.

So basically you paid them $1K to throw parts an a issue that it didn't fix the problem. Typical dealer BS.

How far are you from St. Louis? If you are within reasonable distance, oilhammer is one of the best VW mechanics in the country...

Looks that way, feels that way.

Service guy did warn me that the steering wheel module was definitely bad and potentially the comfort module too. Story was that they're wired in series, so you have to fix the steering wheel first.

Let's remember that anybody selling you anything is lying at least a little.

Oilhammer is 45 minutes away plus rental car hassle. If he can save me anything off the $600 quote for phase 2 it'll be a win.

Honda first quarter next year, I don't care how cool it's not.

45min is pretty close, you would be crazy not to bring it to oilhammer. Call/email him and see what he says.

I'm calling oilhammer's shop tomorrow to get this sorted out. Check Engine light came on today too. Great additional problem to come home from vacation and find.

Crummy car regardless of who does the repair.

turbocharged798 said:

People need to stop going to the dealer for auto work. All they want to do is throw parts at the car and charge you $$$.

Click to expand...

Dealer Service writer: "We have no idea what is wrong with your car so we are going to replace everything one part at a time forward of the firewall. If that doesn't fix the problem, we will start replacing parts aft of the firewall. Hopefully, we won't destroy your car in the process".

The thing is that as a rule, dealers don't understand the systems or do much diagnosis. Your problem could be something as simple as a loose/corroded ground, but what the dealers usually do is read the codes and start replacing parts based on what components are described in the text of the code.

Unless you are hell bent on depleting your bank account, get your car out of there and take it to someone that is competent.

Just thought I'd post in this thread since the car is in my care currently, and some folks would like to know what is going on.

The car originally had more modules WITH faults than without. VCDS' Gateway installation list was almost all red

Most of the faults were communication error related, or low voltage related. And in some cases, it was the same fault listed more than once, and in more than one module. Upon clearing all of them, after taking a mental note of what was there and not knowing what Awfulberg did or didn't do, I checked what came back. Initially, just a Digital Radio fault, control module defective, which is common and may be just a coding or equipment compatibility issue, not really important nor relevant to the situation. Test drove the car, within about two minutes the door locks all unlocked and locked themselves, erratic and sometimes two or three times in rapid succession. Usually when this happens, the low tire warning lamp will flash in the cluster... a normal timed type of flash, not a flicker or anything. The same frequency it would flash if there was a fault in the TPMS. In some cases, it seemed like the light would flash without any door lock shennanigans, but I cannot say for certain.

Upon rechecking for DTCs, I found:

CAN Gateway:

00470 Combination comfort data bus in single wire,
012 electrical fault in circuit
011 open circuit

Engine:

049682 Steering Column Control Module
u0212-000 no communication

Central Electronics:

01336 Data for Comfort Module
014 defective
01321 SRS Control Module
008 implausible signal

Also, both front doors (but not the rears) have:

01330 Comfort System
004 no signal/communication

Nothing in the CCM itself, nothing in the TPMS (which is integrated in the physical sense with the CCM), nothing in the Instruments, nothing in the TCM.

I'll note too that most of the DTCs occured at the exact same mileage stamp in the freeze frame. I'm thinking I have a twisted CAN pair somewhere that has a poor connection.

Also, by turning off the auto lock/unlock nonsense in the CCM's long coding, the locks no longer act up, but that just stopped a symptom, not the actual root cause.

^Wow, sounds like a mess oilhammer. Looks like OP is in good hands though... Having a knowledgeable "Tech" in your area is priceless.

GL!

Oilhammer has a few more thoughts on the root cause, but of course it requires more time and money to sort out. Losing the auto lock is no big deal. Gives the car a unique quirk.

Can't say enough good things about Oilhammer and his shop. I'm moving to MO soon, so it was worth the experience to find a home for future service needs.

I'm still planning on selling the car end of first quarter next year. It feels like I'm waiting for something major to break. This would be true of any car, but this car has become an enormous hassle regardless of who fixes it.

All I was able to do was rule out the CCM as the culprit, and verify the concern, then I was able to "hide" the two obvious symptoms of what it is doing, by turning off the auto lock/unlock stuff and putting the TPMS back to passive mode via the ABS controller instead of active mode through the CCM.

I'm leaning towards a CAN Gateway problem at this stage.