Houston, we have a problem!

[Stiggy]

Driving my car today and something abit worrying happened.  Stopped at the traffic lights, decided to put the car into full manual mode.  About 10 secs later, MFD was flashing, icons on the display flashing, all of a sudden a message comes up saying something about the oil pressure and that the car had decided to switch itself off, while in D +\- mode.  All was abit quick.  I switched the engine on again - started like normal but the message "airbag fault" came on the MFD and the icon for the airbag, traction control, power steering and another one (can't remember which) came on; all in yellow.  So stearing was slightly compromised (i.e. was heavier) when i set off.  After a while, checked the oil - fine.  Checked for any oil leaks - none that i could see.  Eventually all lights except the airbag one went off and steering was back to normal.  What do you guys think - is it a major problem?  Or is it an ECU glitch?  Will take it to the stealers on tuesday but just abit worried as to why the car had to go through all that just to say there's something wrong with the airbags.  Did feel abit like i was on the apollo 13!

[DaveN]

Check the battery connections, I recently disconnected the battery and upon first start the esp, steering and tyre pressure monitor went on. You might have a loose or bad connection.

Dave N

[Cass]

Take it to the dealer asap and get some diagnostics done. May be a faulty ECU - see if any fault codes come up.

Cass

[Stiggy]

Thanks for the replies guys   Battery connections seem fine.  Tried a small(ish) drive yesturday again and all seems fine (apart from the error message) - just can't help driving it !!!  Will take it to the dealers on tues to get a diagnostic test done.

[Stiggy]

Took the car for a diagnostic test on Thurs.  Took quite a long time to "fix" but when asked what exactly was wrong, they didn't know!!  That was slightly worrying, but they did say they tightened the connections, and it seemed as though all was well (lights were all off, semi-auto mode was working fine etc).  However, was driving it about half an hour ago, and hesitantly decided to switch to semi-auto mode while on the move and....bleep bleep....flash flash...exactly the same thing happened again!   "Airbag fault" message appears on the MFD display whenever i start up the car (again).  The mechanic at VW said if the message came up again, he'd replace the ECU.  But will that effect the way the car drives in anyway (as i thought the ECU adapts to each person's driving style)?  Also, can i check for any fault codes myself or is that done only by the dealers?  Just getting abit worried now - hope its not a big problem (eg. gearbox - can't see this being the problem though).  Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[bonkers-gti]

Hi Mate,

I had a similar problem where mine would not start at all sometimes in the morning (it would take either 4/5 tries of the ignition and it would work, or wouldn't start at all - left the car to stand, went back to it and it was ok) - after more tries of the ignition the oil pressure warning would appears on the MFD.

It was traced it down (after 2/3 visits) to one or two of the fuse plugs (the large ones/ solenoid) in the fuse box under the bonnet. When pressed in, you would hear the noise under the bonnet (element getting/ heating fuel ready for firing the engine?) and then the car would start ok. They replaced these 2 solenoid/ fuse plugs and now all ok.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Rob

[Cass]

New ECU should fix it no probs and will adapt to your driving style same as current one.

VAGCom tool needed to interrogate diagnostics and read fault code. You can buy these yourself and there is plenty of information on the internet but best left to dealer to sort.

One of many forum links here:

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=34420.0

Cass

[Stiggy]

Thanks for the replies really appreciated.  I have booked it in with the dealers and i'll see what they do.  Have made a note of what you guys have said.  Getting abit frustrating cause i enjoy using the paddles and am apprehensive about using them incase something else goes wrong.

[TeddyKGB]

I didnt know the car could adapt.. what's that all about then?

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Dash panel insert is also a known suspect too.  It was quite endemic on the Audi TT, and Volkswagen Assist mentioned there may be these issues starting to develop on the Mk5 Golf.

Fortunately, my own problems were down to a shagged battery caused by a faulty alarm ECU.