Airbag light problem, it's faint but always on

[Breanoh]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums, While not new to seat ownership, having had a few mk2 and 3 ibizas and cordobas over the years, This is my first mk4.

It's a 2003 SDI 3dr. And it's having the strangest problem I've ever seen...

Basically, when I turn on the ignition, all the lights come on normally, But the airbag light goes out... yet still stays on, it is always on very dim. It's very hard to explain Basically, the light dims to be only visible at night, but never goes off, even when I have the key removed and the car locked....


The Temp gague also wavers and randomly drops to 0 and the outside temp display can display any temp at any given time... IE -14.5 when it was in fact +7 and it can randomly change in the blink of an eye...

So... the Million Euro question.... Is it a fault with the dash cluster? or is it an airbag issue...

I would really appreciate any help anyone could give me on this....

 

[747_727]

Vag-com will tell you if there is an air bag problem and will turn the lights off. But if the rest Of the dash is playing up there could be a problem with your dash but its hard to know exactly what's causing it.

 

[Breanoh]

yea, it's a pretty strange one alright.. Like.. the light turns on with the ignition, and goes off as it should at full strength, however, it is always on a very very dim light, you can't see it during the day, and it's very dim, just a bare trickle of light that you can see at night, but it's always like that, even with the ignition off, the key out and the doors locked.... you can still see a faint glimmer of light in the shape of an airbag light on the dash through the window.. I'm thinking of whipping the dash out and having a look at it, cause it looks to me like a short circuit of some description....

 

[RUM4MO]

Having read a lot of threads on VAG forums concerning dash displays misbehaving, I'd guess that your dash display panel is faulty, it has a/some cracked solder joint(s) at connector point(s). Now if you feel that you can, you should take the panel out and either send it away for testing/fixing, or go over all the solder joints, especially at/near connector with an eye glass and reflow any suspect ones. Maybe look for more info on VAG forums, but a "glowing" light does sound like a highish resistance joint to me. Having said all that, my wife's 9N Polo has started "having" a slight red glow from some of the back lights on the radio - but I can't see me doing anything about that as it does not seem to cause excess battery drain, but I can see how you might be more concerned about your dash display and the MOT tester might end up failing it as the SRS might now come under MOT requirements.

 

[Breanoh]

Airbag light being on is an NCT Failure here in Ireland, however, once I do the test during daylight hours, they won't be able to see the light, it's not a worry for me in that regard,
I'm just one of those people who likes everything in the car to be perfect, and as well as that, I plan on driving this machine on the continent this summer, from Cherbourg up to Cologne and a good blast across Germany to Switzerland, so I'd like to have this (the only problem I have with the car) sorted by then,

I'll whip out the dash and have a look at it when I've more time, but I am considering swapping it anyway, as we switched to KM here in 2005, so having the dual display with miles on top is really annoying... I might pick up a new clock set when I'm in Germany if this one is bad...

 

[RUM4MO]

Swopping dash panels over, better find out exactly what all you need to do coding wise and imobiliser wise before starting to do this.

 

[Breanoh]

yes, I need to look into that, although my dad's good friend does programming... and I may be able to get that done if I need to without much trouble...
However... on the good news front, I took the car for a spin to the shops earlier (first drive in the dark all day) and there was no airbag shaped shadow on my dials... I've gone out a few times tonight and checked through the window, and there's no sign of it either, And any time I've started it, it seems to have disappeared...

I'm half thinking it could be to do with the car having been a bit damp when I got it, the last owners rarely used it over the last year, and it was stored outside all the time, when it was used it was for a 3 mile round trip, so it never warmed up....

it has gotten dimmer and dimmer the more I've driven around... so here's hoping it may have been a random fault caused by moisture...?

 

[RUM4MO]

Ah well, maybe you are in luck, I tend to garage my cars, but I'd not convinced that doing that is better for them as if they are left outside, the wind will tend to blow them dry. Its just a lot easier in winter when we can just jump into the cars and drive away without lots of scraping and snow clearing - though some times the driveway needs dug out!!