Towbar Information

[Swallowtail]

My car does the same - permanent left hand tail light fault light. When I pulled the VW 13 pin plug apart, there's no connection to the left hand tail light circuit from the 7 pin flat. My guess is that the car sees the difference in resistance between the 2 sides and then works out which one draws the current through. My fix, if VW does nothing, will be to put a bridging link in from the LH side to connect the 7-pin tail circuit.

Bearing in mind I'm mechanical, not electrical...

OK, checked some stuff using VCDS last night, and one of the things I noticed was that the Trailer controller (69) was coded for Rest of World, not Australia. Changed it to Australia, towed today, and no warning light about bulbs out. Remains to be seen if it hasn't just disabled the bulb check functionality entirely LOL, I'll have to do some testing with removed bulbs etc, but at least it's not popping warnings at me. All the trailer lights still work as intended.

[passatpout]

I had another shot with my trailer the other night, and didn't get any error messages at all. Since I've last towed, the car's been through a panelbeater getting a column scrape sorted out, and the auto-elec disconnected the airbags for the panelbeaters. I'm wondering whether he changed the coding while reactivating the airbags..

[bradwood]

Hi folks, hope it's ok to post a question in a sticky

We have a Passat 125tdi, 2008 i think. Having just shelled out the $160 for the 13 pin round - 7 pin flat cable from the stealer in order to tow a couple of trailers of mulch, there was an issue.

Soils aint Soils trailers have LED's - no issues on the car side, all work fine. But all of the trailer lights just flashed constantly. Haven't read another report of the same thing yet.

Thoughts?

Cheers
Brad

[Swallowtail]

Fairly common problem with Euro cars and trailers with LEDs. See this thread: http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f75/...ues-31703.html

[OilBurna]

can you just buy the towbar only i.e. tongue and if so where from - really want to put a bike rack on. Saw a green TDI wagon towing a newish trailer last night no problems with brakes or indicators.

[Swallowtail]

I think if you have a towbar it has to have legal wiring... could be wrong though.

[sporran]

My contribution for what it's worth is that since 08 after purchasing my Passat i've done plenty of towing, and apart from the odd "Bulb Warning" on the display from time to time I've had no real issues. By the way OilBurna, that TDi wagon with the newish trailer you saw last night was probably me if you were traveling down Liberty Pde at around 5.00 pm. If so the car in question is silver, not green.

[tryingavw]

i have inquired and there are no aftermarket towbars for passat. hope to be corrected

[0031peterl]

Please see my newbie first post. Can't find it's link for you! Hayman Reese have a tow bar for the Passat but require VW wiring loom for fitment, from memory $411.

0031peterl

[0031peterl]

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f98/introducing-newbies-corner-18680-61.html#post509739

Hi Again,

Above is the link to my post on Passat tow bar fitment

Cheers

[apom]

i have inquired and there are no aftermarket towbars for passat. hope to be corrected

Yep, there are aftermarket towbars for the Passat. I enquired with several manufacturers about getting one with a higher download on the towball. People had after market ones but the rating was the same. The limit is imposed by the manufacturer and whilst they can engineer a stronger one you wont be able to get it rated any higher. I think in Brisbane Aranda towbars had an aftermarket for a passat

[tryingavw]

fraid not i just rang aranda and they DO NOT make a passat B6 bar. However they DO make a B5 bar.

Yep, there are aftermarket towbars for the Passat. I enquired with several manufacturers about getting one with a higher download on the towball. People had after market ones but the rating was the same. The limit is imposed by the manufacturer and whilst they can engineer a stronger one you wont be able to get it rated any higher. I think in Brisbane Aranda towbars had an aftermarket for a passat

[apom]

fraid not i just rang aranda and they DO NOT make a passat B6 bar. However they DO make a B5 bar.

hmmm interesting....if I have my "A"s mixed up it could have been Arrow, have you tried them? I rang about 5 on the same day trying to do the same thing. There was definitely someone in Brisbane that had them but they were rated to 90kg

[glenc]

I have a VW Golf 2.0 TDI Mk6 and I tow an A'Van A'Liner with it.
When I start the engine the electric brakes on the van come on for about 10 seconds.
Why does this happen? I thought I was getting a VW towbar but the dealer had it fitted by Hayman Reese.
My auto electrician tells me the fault is with the car.

[Maverick]

I have a VW Golf 2.0 TDI Mk6 and I tow an A'Van A'Liner with it.
When I start the engine the electric brakes on the van come on for about 10 seconds.
Why does this happen? I thought I was getting a VW towbar but the dealer had it fitted by Hayman Reese.
My auto electrician tells me the fault is with the car.

The car conducts a bulb out test when the car is started and to do this it puts some juice through the bulbs. The electric brakes are seeing this as brake light activity and turning on the electric brakes. You should be able to get around this using a few diodes. Of course I could be wrong but I understand that electric brakes run off the brake light circuit?