Voltage surges

[Gillzy]

Hiya all,

So a few nights ago I noticed what I believed to be frequent voltage surges when driving with the lights on. At idle you will see the lights flickering and around the OBD screen and ODO you will see the cluster lighting flicker ever so slightly. There has been on the odd chance on a unusually bigger flicker the RDC200 will stop what ever its doing for a second (but stay on) and then continue as normal, though it doesn't turn off nor does the HU or cabin illumination lighting flicker. Has me stumped.

Could this be the voltage regulator? Are they attached to the alternater like a Scirocco?

Its really bugging me! Car is idling fine, battery terminals are secure.




Aiden

[Gillzy]

This morning on the way to Uni, the radio cut right out and restarted in 'learning mode'. Any ideas?

[SuperChimps]

I'm not going to be a lot of help here.. But I've seen as few threads around re the earth wires from the battery or something along those lines. These corroding and causing similar sounding problems.
A bit of searching should turn something up

[ZantetsukenJ]

Definitely bad earth's, trace them from the battery and clean the surfaces which they are attached to

[Paazuzu]

+1 to it being an earth problem.

Clean all the earth points with a wire brush and put some electrical grease on them before tightening them up. Fixed the issue on my car.

[Gillzy]

+1 to it being an earth problem.

Clean all the earth points with a wire brush and put some electrical grease on them before tightening them up. Fixed the issue on my car.

Not to be spoon fed, but as dumb as I sound the only earth I can find is the one from the negitive terminal from the battery. Used to working on Mitsubishi's and BMWs rather than VWs (especially a newish one haha).

Today instead if the ESC and ABS playing up for a second, it was the power steering conked out until once for a second, the other time until I restarted the car. My VW mechanic is booked til the 20th and the dealer I bought it from is 2 hrs away fml, so willing if within arms reach to try sort these earths out myself

[h100vw]

Not to be spoon fed, but as dumb as I sound the only earth I can find is the one from the negitive terminal from the battery. Used to working on Mitsubishi's and BMWs rather than VWs (especially a newish one haha).

Today instead if the ESC and ABS playing up for a second, it was the power steering conked out until once for a second, the other time until I restarted the car. My VW mechanic is booked til the 20th and the dealer I bought it from is 2 hrs away fml, so willing if within arms reach to try sort these earths out myself

When I bought my Polo the PS was dead. The fuse is one of the big ones under the plastic covers on top of the battery. These fuses have known to fracture in the past and be intermittent.

Too hard basket to check the wiring diagram now but could be the same fuse is involved?

Gavin

[Blue9N3]

Check resistance across the fuses, my ABS one was just partly broken and caused all kinds of issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gillzy]

When I bought my Polo the PS was dead. The fuse is one of the big ones under the plastic covers on top of the battery. These fuses have known to fracture in the past and be intermittent.

Too hard basket to check the wiring diagram now but could be the same fuse is involved?

Gavin

Not too hard, like I said I had already checked the fuses while cross referencing with the wiring diagram and didn't find anything out of the norm.

Ill give it another crack after work today in a decent light this time incase Ive missed anything. Just wanted to ask where the earths are in the bay apart from the battery chassis earth as its a tight bay and can't see much.

[blis]

I had a similar problem on my Mk2, there was a HEX bolt on the steering column that came loose and it was part of the ground for the dash. So this very much seems to be a grounding issue. You might be able to isolate it by using a continuity test from chassis and testing the column, and chassis areas that are affected.

Good luck.

[Paazuzu]

Ok there are more earth points underneath the battery tray and another one which is visible when you are underneath the car looking up past the power steering control unit - this one bolts directly to the chassis. You'll find another one on the other side of the engine bay near the intercooler hose. Undo them, clean them up with a wire brush and put electrical grease on the before tightening them up again.

To more than likely solve the power steering issue, clean up the connectors that attach to it - both are accessible from underneath the car. You'll need some electrical spray/cleaner - let it dry - and then reconnect them. That 100% solved a similar problem on my car.

[Gillzy]

I had a similar problem on my Mk2, there was a HEX bolt on the steering column that came loose and it was part of the ground for the dash. So this very much seems to be a grounding issue. You might be able to isolate it by using a continuity test from chassis and testing the column, and chassis areas that are affected.

Good luck.

thanks mate, i'll look into it!

Ok there are more earth points underneath the battery tray and another one which is visible when you are underneath the car looking up past the power steering control unit - this one bolts directly to the chassis. You'll find another one on the other side of the engine bay near the intercooler hose. Undo them, clean them up with a wire brush and put electrical grease on the before tightening them up again.

To more than likely solve the power steering issue, clean up the connectors that attach to it - both are accessible from underneath the car. You'll need some electrical spray/cleaner - let it dry - and then reconnect them. That 100% solved a similar problem on my car.

Sweet, exactly what I am chasing! If I can go round to my mates and use the hoist ill give it a crack hopefully in the next few days.

Cheers Paazuzu


This is now a permanent issue haha, least the PS is still kicking for now while I sort it haha

[Barnz]

i was just about to post somthink similar but now ill go over the other earths i wasnt sure where they were either, cheers

[Barnz]

just had a convo with a guy on fbook, i was saying how i was having starting probs with my car. he then went on to describe every odd thing my car has done since i owned it (1.3 years) & said his was doing the same & vw replaced his earth cable on battery. after that all was fine & has been since. his car & my car are both 2007 model gti's for what its worth. id read the earth cable was suss but that was hilarious, i was like have u been in my car buddy???

[Gillzy]

Alrighty, so went through and cleaned up all the connectors to the steering rack and pump as I got my little OBDII scanner out which read steering assistance signal to high along with a high voltage code.

Since then perfection!

Paazuzu, thanks again!