Another Orange Triangle Question

[Mass. Wine Guy]

Re: 2015 Golf 6-speed manual

Yesterday the yellow triangle dash light with an exclamation point came on and stayed. The parking brake wasn’t on even slightly. No noticeable change in how it drives.

Which of the 5-million things could this mean and what’s the best way to find out?

 

[Cuzoe]

Is the yellow triangle for parking brake on a US spec dash? I thought it was just the word "PARK" in red. On my EU spec dash there's a red symbol with a P, or maybe an exclamation point.

I get the yellow triangle when something driver assist has a fault (cruise control, lane assist). Might be there when ESC/ASR is off. I think a tire pressure warning gives that triangle. It's also there on start after reconnecting the battery (along with several other warning lights). These clear by turning the steering wheel lock>lock or by driving a few yards. The yellow triangle is a generic non-severe light, so could be one of many things.

You should be able to see what caused the light by checking car status in the dash or in the infotainment vehicle menu. Of course, VCDS or OBDEleven scan will give you details. Even a generic scan tool could be of use.

 

[Mass. Wine Guy]

Just as mysteriously, the light has disappeared.

Oops! I spoke too soon. It’s still there.

 

[s_ribs]

Any text displayed in the instrument cluster? Owners manual suggests you should see additional info when that symbol is indicated.

edit: duplicate suggestion, Cuzoe already mentioned this.

 

[Mass. Wine Guy]

None on the dash. Pressing the car button on the info system, it says to check the license plate light bulbs and asks if the tires are inflated properly. They are and the plate bulbs work fine.

 

[Cuzoe]

Well then you know what the car is complaining about so one of those two things is causing your intermittent warning.

Maybe reset your TPMS. Could be an ABS (wheel speed) sensor getting flaky. There are thresholds for when the ABS module will flag wheel speed as different enough (over time) to give a warning. A reset of TPMS will tell the car that what it's been seeing is correct then you can monitor.

The bulb "checks" the car makes are based on actual vs expected resistance, as determined by the BCM (which is programmed with the bulb type for a given spot). I don't know how tight the ranges are, maybe the bulb is loose in the housing.

 

[Mass. Wine Guy]

My TPMS. Will do. What’s a TPMS?

Oh! The tire pressure monitoring system.

 

[740GLE]

if it's saying check the light bulb, i've had my mk5 give that warning a few months before the bulb actually blew.

Are these LED bulbs? they may have lost their resistor packs which confuses the BCM.

 

[Mass. Wine Guy]

Don’t believe they are LED.

 

[740GLE]

neither was the headlight bulb of my mk5, but it knew it was failing, impedance had changed i guess?