Scirocco Central

I have a peristent fault that my VW dealer is unable to resolve. When driving at moderate speeds the car will brake slightly and the handling changes (suspension?). At the same time all of the warning lights come on for about 2 seconds. After they extinguish, the steering warning light remains on for about a minute longer. My dealer has examined the car thoroughly and they've used it for a few days to try to understand what the cause may be. So far they have updated software etc but it's made no difference. Any ideas/sugestions greatfully received.

Steve

Ouch thats not good steve, i'm very surprised they couldn't find an error code from examining it that might have lead them down a path to at least further investgate something.
Is it possessed?
I presume it happens randomly rather than on a particular piece of road..?

Hi Trix

The problem occured more than 20 times over the weekend. I took the car into the dealer on Monday and they still can't trace the source of the problem. However, they have got VW UK to agree to swap out the steering rack as this may be the root of the problem; we;ll see.

Steve

Similar effects can be reproduced by turning off the ignition for a couple of seconds while you are driving along. Faulty ignition switches have been found to be blame for a few other problems. Put it to the dealer.

Thanks ZephyR

I think you're on to something. The dealer had the car back and replaced the steering rack and checked everything out. On my way home from the dealer the problem occured again.

Steve

Are dealers rubbish at finding faults, or are they really good at screwing VW for lots of warranty work with un-necessary fixes that don't remedy the original fault?

I've had lots of replacement parts under warranty on previous VWs, and i'd say 70% of what was done didn't remedy the fault it was in for, worst case was a replacement cylinder head for DPF issues (170TDI PD), then a software fault was fixed after the fault recurred.

My dealer has previously replaced the steering rack and last week replaced the ABS controller. VW say they now have other reports of the same issue and the ABS controller was found to be at fault. I'll let them know.............

It's now about 6 weeks since the ABS controller was changed and the car has behaved impeccably. Looks like it was an ABS problem all along.

Possibly linked to hill start function???

I hate the hill start mode - totally un-necessary for those that know how to use their hand brake in tandem with their clutch and brakes pedals and cause of stalling on gentle move-offs from a stop position.

Interesting about replacing the steering rack - I thought VW had solved the steering rack issues they had with all variants of the MK5 Golf platform (Leons, Octavias and A3s included). I had 3 replacement racks between 2 MK5 Golfs.

Not had mine arrive yet so can't comment on what hill start is like. Was meant to be delivered tomorrow but the dealer has let me down and is now saying tuesday.

Only suggested hill start as I recall Bosch stating that it holds brakes for 2 seconds which is same time as him saying dash lights staying on.