VW forum recommendation please

[Julian]

Right, this bloody Golf is driving me mad.

Over a period of many months I've searched the internet and based on various snippets of info ripped ½ the car apart ... I recon now there's more trim in the garage than there is on the car.

I've replaced door locks, rebuilt the rear wiper motor, checked wiring looms tried to disarm the siren and loads of stuff I've forgotten, all to no avail, the bloody alarm kept going off.

I then went an spent an obscene amount of money on a piece of wire and a couple of plugs called VCDS and disarmed the internal sensors and still the thing kept wailing!

I actually had it at a point where VCDS said it had no faults and you guessed it the alarm still went off. 

Now it's coming up with a fault that says there's an intermittent fault on the CAN bus.  An hour or so studying sites on the internet has left me with an extremely basic inkling of what a CAN bus does, so I thought I'd remove it and ... well, probably bang it on the ground a few times (usually works with Land Rover parts).

Internet again to find out in which inaccessible hidy-hole VW have secreted it and it's up under the dashboard by the clutch pedal.  Good because that part of the dashboard trim is still sitting in the garage.

Guess what ... it's not there!

So I thought I'd try asking some people who know what they're talking about ... hence please recommend a VW forum which will tolerate a muppet with no clue of what he's doing.

[RichardP]

Try http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/

[Julian]

Thanks Richard,

Have you found them helpful in the past?

[RichardP]

They have been useful, not been on there for a while though. They do have sections for all the different models which can be useful. http://www.ukpassats.co.uk is also a good forum, more for Passats but there's guys there who've had all sorts of cars so a wealth of info.

[Tony]

I used to write interface software for the CAN bus, clever bit of kit

Does the golf suffer water ingress anywhere?  Damp carpet in the front footwells?

[Julian]

No, no water ingress that I can find ... that would be far too easy!

It was my first thought for the "Comfort module" though.  That's located immediately below the scuttle penetration for the main wiring loom, but it was fine.

Soooo ... if I ever locate this CAN bus gateway, I can send it to you to get everything in connection with the alarm system nuked from it's memory can I?

[therecklessengineer]

If none of the sensors are triggering it, then I'd be looking at power.

Normally, if power is removed from the vehicle without disarming the alarm will activate from a separate battery.

Although my experience comes from LRs and BMWs so might not apply to VW.

[Tony]

I guess you've already tried this but just in case you haven't... can you disable the internal motion sensors when locking?  On some of the VWs there's a switch on the driver's side lower B pillar to press before getting out that does this, it at least eliminates part of the alarm system.

[Julian]

Sort of tried that James, low voltage is a possible cause an it was on it's original battery, so I fitted a new one ... to no avail of course.  But I'll bear that in mind, I think I need to get the thing functioning 100% ie fix this CANbus issue first ... well, find it in the first instant!

The car is supposed to log the last four occurrences which triggered the alarm and this can be read with VCDS.  The four have remained unchanged the last three times I've checked, so I'm sort of thinking if the CANbus isn't receiving information, or is getting intermittent information then that may be causing the problem.

[Julian]

I guess you've already tried this but just in case you haven't... can you disable the internal motion sensors when locking?  On some of the VWs there's a switch on the driver's side lower B pillar to press before getting out that does this, it at least eliminates part of the alarm system.

Yup, tried that.  Disarming the internal sensors via that switch, although I haven't located it (may not be fitted to my car) only disables the sensors until the next time the car's unlocked.  With VCDS you can permanently disable the sensors which I've done.  That seemed to reduce the frequency when it was parked up but it still goes off when it's unlocked.

[Tony]

I guess you are resorting to closing the driver's door, jumping in the passenger side with that door open, hitting the internal lock switch and getting out of the passenger door to leave it locked at night with no alarm?

[Julian]

No, there's a fuse you can pull!

Down side to that is that it stops the windows, interior lights and other stuff I've forgotten, from working.

I've also muted the sounder by stuffing it with foam so as not to annoy the neighbors any more than normal.

[Bill]

I think its possessed and you need a priest!

[julesandtash]

Maybe that was VWs first attempt at dodgy software before they went full scale with their ECU emissions software but it went a bit wrong and developed a mind of its own, a bit like Number 5 from Short Circuit 

[Julian]

I think its possessed and you need a priest!

Are they good with VWs?

Maybe that was VWs first attempt at dodgy software before they went full scale with their ECU emissions software but it went a bit wrong and developed a mind of its own, a bit like Number 5 from Short Circuit 

I had to Google "Number 5 from Short Circuit"

I'm thinking of printing a "Sootmotion" or maybe a "NOXmotion" badge for the tail gate.