Electrical problems

[Elly Swanson]

We have some electrical problems at the moment. Has anyone experienced these problems before? Or have any comments suggestions?

Problem 1/ Sitting in the van with all doors closed, but none locked, noone touching any of the keys - the doors lock by themselves (deadlock) and can only be opened using a key. If we don't unlock them after a while the alarm goes off. This also happens if we're outside the van and all doors are closed but unlocked. After a short while the van deadlocks on its own. Took it in to Liverpool to be checked but there was nothing to show when they did a dignostic and it didn't happen when they looked at it. We have 2 keys with us all the time. They've suggested getting another key to see if this will sort the problem (which we didn't mind because we wanted spare anyway) but aren't hopeful that this will solve the problem. Key is in, at the garage so we need to arrange a trip up to Liverpool and get it calibrated soon. I now have a video of it happening so at least they can’t look at us as if we’re imagining it!

Problem 2/ The driver's door knob stopped central locking all other doors (it used to work fine). Took it to get sorted and it was fixed, but only days after it doesn't work again. When we put the driver's door button down it only locks that door, none of the others. It used to activate central locking for all doors.

Problem 3/ When we first noticed the "deadlocking for no reason" problem, on one occasion I put my key down on the worktop in the van and both cab windows lowered of their own accord to around 20 cm. Again Liverpool looked into but nothing on the diagnostic and it wouldn't replicate. This weekend whilst at a festival I centrally locked (not deadlocked) the van at night with the key. Both cab windows were fully up. In the morning both windows were fully down (of their own accord). An obvious security risk but also the heavy rain through the night had soaked the inside of the doors and the seats in the cab.

None of this should be happening and I'm looking to get it resolved. Any ideas, solutions, suggestions, comments besides "always carry a key with you" or "have one attached to the van" would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Stu@rt]

Probably stating the obvious / what you already know, but a press and hold of the unlock button will lower the windows normally. So could it be a faulty key that has sticky buttons / a button that is making contact constantly? Could the dealer be correct? Have you managed to rule this out?

 

[Sad]

I agree, convenience open and close of the windows should be able to be turned off in the options. That should help in the short-term, but you definitely have a faulty key. Maybe try taking the battery out of one of them?

 

[andyinluton]

If it is a faulty key, & it does sound likely, its only going to be one of them. You could confirm it is the key by taking one of them away from the van so its out of range & see if it still happens. If it does try again with the other. So its easy & no cost to confirm.

 

[Elly Swanson]

If it is a faulty key, & it does sound likely, its only going to be one of them. You could confirm it is the key by taking one of them away from the van so its out of range & see if it still happens. If it does try again with the other. So its easy & no cost to confirm.

Hi Andy. Have tried both keys separately with the other nowhere near and it happens with both. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[Elly Swanson]

Probably stating the obvious / what you already know, but a press and hold of the unlock button will lower the windows normally. So could it be a faulty key that has sticky buttons / a button that is making contact constantly? Could the dealer be correct? Have you managed to rule this out?

Thanks, Stuart, after Posting my message I found out about the press and hold opening the windows, but didn’t think about the keys being sticky.

I’m going to see if the dealer can switch it off for us.

 

[Elly Swanson]

I agree, convenience open and close of the windows should be able to be turned off in the options. That should help in the short-term, but you definitely have a faulty key. Maybe try taking the battery out of one of them?

Hi Sad. Do you mean taking the battery out and replacing with a new one or taking it out and putting it back in again? Am going to see if the dealership can turn off the window opening feature when we go up to see them.

 

[andyinluton]

If it does it with each key in turn away from the van, I would think it highly unlikely that both keys have simultaneously develop the same fault.
I would be thinking of wiring problems within the drivers door.

 

[Alan Andrews]

I have also found that one of my keys was more sensitive than the other. Having keys in my hand or in my pocket I found that the doors were often locking or unlocking repeatedly. I even came down one morning to find that the front door windows were fully down.

I then used my vwcs diagnostics tool to activate the audible door locking signal. Now I get a double audio signal from the van when unlocking and a single audio signal when locking. Whilst the original key sensitivity issue has not gone away, I can hear when the doors are activated and take corrective actions. It also means that I can easily confirm that the doors are all locked when slightly away from the van....car park, drive etc.

I now have solar fitted to keep the batteries topped up. Before this I found that strange things happened when the engine battery level was low e.g. not being able to unlock the doors. Have you checked your engine battery? If just to eliminate this.

 

[Sad]

Hi Sad. Do you mean taking the battery out and replacing with a new one or taking it out and putting it back in again? Am going to see if the dealership can turn off the window opening feature when we go up to see them.

Take the battery out and keep it out, will stop it locking/unlocking the van.
Or maybe try one of those RFiD box things?
It's not the fact the window opening function is active, it is that the key keeps activating it...

 

[andyinluton]

Take the battery out and keep it out, will stop it locking/unlocking the van.
Or maybe try one of those RFiD box things?
It's not the fact the window opening function is active, it is that the key keeps activating it...

I could understand one key being faulty, but for both to go bad simultaniously sounds unlikely.

 

[Stu@rt]

I could understand one key being faulty, but for both to go bad simultaniously sounds unlikely.

OP said they have both keys with them all the time. Could just be a case of identifying which one is faulty and replacing it with the new one that has been ordered?

 

[andyinluton]

OP said they have both keys with them all the time. Could just be a case of identifying which one is faulty and replacing it with the new one that has been ordered?

In post #5 OP confirmed that it still happened with either key out of range ie it didn’t matter which key was near the vehicle.

 

[Stu@rt]

My bad. Apologies

 

[Elly Swanson]

OP said they have both keys with them all the time. Could just be a case of identifying which one is faulty and replacing it with the new one that has been ordered?

Since we’ve been home I’ve tried it with only 1 key and the other being out of range, alternating keys.

 

[Elly Swanson]

My bad. Apologies

No worries, Stuart. This is all so confusing I’m actually keeping a written log now.

 

[Elly Swanson]

Not worried about the windows lowering now as I think in the frustration of trying to fathom the locking/unlocking I may have held the unlock button for too long, not realising it dropped the windows.

 

[jts46]

Had a similar problem on my Cali turned out to be faulty passenger door lock

 

[Perfectos]

Hi Elly,

as with all intermittent faults, I would approach the issue from a least cost point of view first: the following is not exhaustive but intended as suggestions :

1) Disconnect the starter battery fully. Leave the battery disconnected for min 30 minutes+ (flow good procedure for disconnection procedure)
when both terminals are discounted fully from the battery place a plastic bag over the Live terminal to insulate it.
touch the Earth connector terminal onto a permanent earth / ground point such as a bolt to a body part etc, to ensure the circuit is fully discharged. This will effectively reset the electronic systems back to factory state and could potentially remove any potential fault loop Created in the pre programmed logic. Note this will reset everything, window stops, clock etc etc which will need to be reset later. (Easy to do)

reconnect the starter battery :

2) pair the key(s)* to the vehicle,
(I had similar on my T5.1 van, locking / unlocking/ windows dropping whilst I thought the vehicle was locked etc, disconnecting starter battery, replacing fob battery and re paring key fob resolved the issue).
There is a sequence for Re- pairing the keys with the vehicle,
have a look at internet for re pairing sequence, but from memory it was something like :
lock the van,
unlock the van via the the door lock,
place key in ignition
turn key until lights on dash come up (do not start)
remove key from ignition
lock van using Fob,
unlock van using key

the above may not be 100% accurate, but I’m sure you will find some helpful person has posted the correct sequence On tinternet.
you will need to do this for all keys associated with the van. Do one at at time.*

*I would suggest you simplify the issue by removing one of the sets of keys totally from the equation. (Remove the battery from one of the key fobs) whilst trying to work through the issue with the remaining “working set”

2a) *it would be prudent to replace all key fob batteries with quality new batteries, to discount that potential issue.

3) Internal door locking button / mirror control module (the one on the drivers door / mirror control etc) .
does this module work as it should do ? Lock / unlock etc, try various configurations using a combination of key fob lock with unlock via the internal door module.
try removing the module from the door card ( contains the mirror controls ) disconnect The module wiring (removing it will isolate that circuit and potentially prove / disprove the possibility of a faulty door control switch and wiring in that circuit) , try to emulate the fault, pair and re pair keys etc. (Item 2)

4) potential BCM fault : I would doubt very much that the VW “Diagnostic“ methods carried out via the OBD would show a fault code with the BCM, particularly as VW have some predetermined locking activity programmed into the system which would be considered normal (as we know from many being locked out of their vans) similarly windows dropping is a pre programmed feature that will occur in certain instances (factory program)
the BCM controls (registers) the coding of key fobs, the BCM is basically an electronic module, designed to receive and interpret electrical signals and functions relating to various equipment specific to the vehicle and carry out pre determined actions (pre programmed for your individual Vehicle build, i.e unique to your vehicle VIN)

if the dealer is unable to fix the problem, re pairing the keys, replacing batteries and the door switch, still does not resolve the issue, you can send the BCM away to specialist company to investigate/ rectify. They will be able to interrogate the BCM via extensive electronic testing to confirm it is / is not working as it should.
NB removing the BCM will disable your vehicle for the duration it is out of the vehicle .
I would suggest that VW would not be able to diagnose a fault with the BCM, simply because it is not within there skill set as dealers, if they suspect the intermittent fault is caused by a faulty BCM they would not be able to diagnose it, they would simply fit a new BCM & charge you for a new BCM accordingly (££££££££££).

5) potential wiring issue!!!

Call / email a specialist such as : Satnav solutions (Chertsey) contact Hamid or Adam, who will help if they are able (which I would be surprised if they can’t) there are other companies, such as Hazzy days etc. Who will also have a good understanding of potential issues, you should be able to talk through your issue and obtain their advice, although without having the van at their disposal they will be limited to offering practical advice that you can carry out yourself.

I hope that gives you a starting point for your own investigations

 

[Elly Swanson]

Hi Elly,

as with all intermittent faults, I would approach the issue from a least cost point of view first: the following is not exhaustive but intended as suggestions :

1) Disconnect the starter battery fully. Leave the battery disconnected for min 30 minutes+ (flow good procedure for disconnection procedure)
when both terminals are discounted fully from the battery place a plastic bag over the Live terminal to insulate it.
touch the Earth connector terminal onto a permanent earth / ground point such as a bolt to a body part etc, to ensure the circuit is fully discharged. This will effectively reset the electronic systems back to factory state and could potentially remove any potential fault loop Created in the pre programmed logic. Note this will reset everything, window stops, clock etc etc which will need to be reset later. (Easy to do)

reconnect the starter battery :

2) pair the key(s)* to the vehicle,
(I had similar on my T5.1 van, locking / unlocking/ windows dropping whilst I thought the vehicle was locked etc, disconnecting starter battery, replacing fob battery and re paring key fob resolved the issue).
There is a sequence for Re- pairing the keys with the vehicle,
have a look at internet for re pairing sequence, but from memory it was something like :
lock the van,
unlock the van via the the door lock,
place key in ignition
turn key until lights on dash come up (do not start)
remove key from ignition
lock van using Fob,
unlock van using key

the above may not be 100% accurate, but I’m sure you will find some helpful person has posted the correct sequence On tinternet.
you will need to do this for all keys associated with the van. Do one at at time.*

*I would suggest you simplify the issue by removing one of the sets of keys totally from the equation. (Remove the battery from one of the key fobs) whilst trying to work through the issue with the remaining “working set”

2a) *it would be prudent to replace all key fob batteries with quality new batteries, to discount that potential issue.

3) Internal door locking button / mirror control module (the one on the drivers door / mirror control etc) .
does this module work as it should do ? Lock / unlock etc, try various configurations using a combination of key fob lock with unlock via the internal door module.
try removing the module from the door card ( contains the mirror controls ) disconnect The module wiring (removing it will isolate that circuit and potentially prove / disprove the possibility of a faulty door control switch and wiring in that circuit) , try to emulate the fault, pair and re pair keys etc. (Item 2)

4) potential BCM fault : I would doubt very much that the VW “Diagnostic“ methods carried out via the OBD would show a fault code with the BCM, particularly as VW have some predetermined locking activity programmed into the system which would be considered normal (as we know from many being locked out of their vans) similarly windows dropping is a pre programmed feature that will occur in certain instances (factory program)
the BCM controls (registers) the coding of key fobs, the BCM is basically an electronic module, designed to receive and interpret electrical signals and functions relating to various equipment specific to the vehicle and carry out pre determined actions (pre programmed for your individual Vehicle build, i.e unique to your vehicle VIN)

if the dealer is unable to fix the problem, re pairing the keys, replacing batteries and the door switch, still does not resolve the issue, you can send the BCM away to specialist company to investigate/ rectify. They will be able to interrogate the BCM via extensive electronic testing to confirm it is / is not working as it should.
NB removing the BCM will disable your vehicle for the duration it is out of the vehicle .
I would suggest that VW would not be able to diagnose a fault with the BCM, simply because it is not within there skill set as dealers, if they suspect the intermittent fault is caused by a faulty BCM they would not be able to diagnose it, they would simply fit a new BCM & charge you for a new BCM accordingly (££££££££££).

5) potential wiring issue!!!

Call / email a specialist such as : Satnav solutions (Chertsey) contact Hamid or Adam, who will help if they are able (which I would be surprised if they can’t) there are other companies, such as Hazzy days etc. Who will also have a good understanding of potential issues, you should be able to talk through your issue and obtain their advice, although without having the van at their disposal they will be limited to offering practical advice that you can carry out yourself.

I hope that gives you a starting point for your own investigations

Cheers, Perfectos. Dumb question maybe but what does BCM stand for?

 

[Perfectos]

Cheers, Perfectos. Dumb question maybe but what does BCM stand for?

look at my strap line !

BCM = Body control Module, this should be the last option though,

there is some evidence based on T5 that the control module wiring under the drivers seat may be an issue due to corrosion of a interconnecting pair of wire, although I would doubt it on a T6 already.