dealership cost to diagnose/repair wheel speed sensor

So my dash lights up like a Christmas tree and after searching and reading I conclude that I probably have a bad wheel speed sensor. I don't have a special cable to actually read the output at each wheel so I am left with the decision of buying one, taking it to the dealer to get it fixed or sell it back to VW. I am leaning on letting VW buy it back, my wife wants to keep it til she runs the wheels off of it. Knowing how much it could cost might help us make up our mind.

The dash lights up like a Christmas tree is pretty vague. What lights actually light up? Something as simple as a flaky ground could be the problem, and without knowing what DTC's (fault codes) are set it would be impossible to make any kind of credible cost estimate.

If you are out of warranty, do not take it to the dealers. Most dealers do not troubleshoot, what many do is pull the codes and start shotgunning parts based on the components named in the text of those codes. People have spent thousands of $ at dealers on replacing parts that were just fine and never having the actual problem fixed.

Holding on to a 2009 through 2014 until you "run the wheels off of it" is a very bad idea that could could get stupid expensive because of the lame engineering that was designed into the emission system, fuel system and induction system of those cars.

Sensors made by ATE can be had for as little as $20 for the rear and $40 for the front from ECS.
Takes about 15 minutes to change each including time to take the wheel off.

Yes, they can go bad if a pebble gets jammed between the trigger wheel and the sensor.

DSIre said:

Sensors made by ATE can be had for as little as $20 for the rear and $40 for the front from ECS.
Takes about 15 minutes to change each including time to take the wheel off.

Yes, they can go bad if a pebble gets jammed between the trigger wheel and the sensor.

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I agree, it's easy and cheap to do a wheel sensor. Save yourself the time hopefully and do it in an evening rather than waste part of a day getting to the dealer.

It hadn't thrown any fault codes that my code reader could read.



I don't know of anyone except the dealer within a 100 miles that can do any better than I can.


I know that taking it to the dealer is a bad idea, but my wife doesn't read the forums. I guess the people who have taken their car in for this problem haven't either. Does anyone think there is much chance that a good dealership would diagnose the correct sensor and replace it say $100 to check codes, $80 for the part and $100 labor or is that wishful thinking?


I have been reading the discussion on keeping this model without "the fix" and its extended warranty and I can see the merit but we can save that debate for that thread.

You still need to know which one to replace or if it is even the ABS speed sensors. If you read codes with a generic reader, it will not show ABS codes or measuring blocks, just OBD2 (emission codes and measuring blocks.). VCDS or equivalent is what you need.

So ya, take it to the dealer, they will read the codes and then just start shotgunning parts based on the text in the codes they find. They might replace a whole wheel barrow of parts until they actually fix the problem because dealers do not troubleshoot (diagnose) for the most part.

You should not allow your wife to make decisions about technical matters she has no clue about. I looked at a motorcycle at a yard sale once that the guys wife swore up and down it ran, and the fact that it would not kick over because it may have been seized up was irrelevant to her...................

1plant4u said:

Does anyone think there is much chance that a good dealership would diagnose the correct sensor and replace it say $100 to check codes, $80 for the part and $100 labor or is that wishful thinking?

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What's a "good dealership"? (AFAIK, they are all money sucking businesses)

I thought I would give an update. We managed to get our paperwork in at the last minute for the buy back. We are waiting for the acceptance letter now. However the car appears to have fixed the speed sensor itself. We drove it locally for a couple of weeks with eventually the red brake light coming on then one day only one or two lights came on now all is back to normal. I wonder how many of these are replaced that only need cleaning?

VCDS by Ross Tech will tell you exactly which wheel or sensor that has failed. Then the Ross-Tech Wiki will tell you the likely causes. Stealership will charge you $75 to $105 just to tell you which wheel it is.