First day of rain since buying cupra leads to alarm problems

[photomotive]

Right, bought my 51 plate Cupra about 2 weeks ago and yesterday was the first properly rainy day since then. Problem is that when I got home last night and parked up (with water in the car on the floor front and back by the passenger side doors) the alarm kept going off randomly. In the end I just de-activated it and left it like that overnight (nice safe area).

This morning it was dry and I was out working on the car (fixing the damn rear washer pipe in the tailgate), alarmed the car after that and all was fine, including the indicators flashing once. Now I've just got in after being caught in a heavy shower and the alarm seems primed (pilot light by door lock flashing) but the indicators wont flash.

Anyone got any ideas? Does anyone know where the switches that tell the car the doors/bonnet/boot are closed are, I can't find any.

Also, a bit unrelated I think, yesterday morning the turbo stopped working, a quick reboot (stopped and turned the car off completely for 30 seconds) fixed it and it seems OK since. Anyone else had similar?

Cheers all.

 

[James_LCR]

I had much the same problem, bar the turbo issue. The car had a few fault codes when i had taken it to seat, they weren't too sure what the issue was, but seem to think its due to water leaks. Touch wood it hasn't happened since...when there is some nice weather I am going to re-seal the door seals, ready for the winter.

 

[photomotive]

Thanks James, doesn't sound too promising though.

Does anyone know where the switches for the doors as mentioned in my previous post are located? On all my other cars they have been really obvious but on the Cupra I just can't see them. I'm pretty sure that the non flashing of the indicators is down to the car thinking that something is left open therefore a faulty switch. That would make sense as to why it sounded randomly too if the switch was playing up when wet and initially giving a 'closed' but then failing and giving 'open' hence the alarm sounding.

 

[LEE69]

The door switches are in the actual lock mechanism.
Yes they don't flash if a door is/sensor not reading it correctly.

 

[photomotive]

Thanks for that Lee, sounds like this is going to be a pain to track down then. Can you see them without dismantling do you know? Or should I just drown the area in a water dispersant?

 

[LEE69]

Yeah could try that there is a fix i'm trying to search lol

 

[LEE69]

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1015107

 

[LEE69]

There is another thread where you can solder the connections, but i'll be buggered if i can find it.

 

[LEE69]

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1542461

 

[photomotive]

Thanks again, I don't mind doing some DIY but doing that to 6 locks (as I don't know which one's causing the problems) seems a bit daunting.

On the subject of flooding with a water dispersant I'm a bit hesitant to do that as it will take away any necessary lubricant/grease too

 

[LEE69]

If you can vag com it, it should tell you the faulty one.

 

[photomotive]

Took the car to QST in Haywards Heath at lunch to ask about servicing and he kindly VAG com'd it for me (for free ) and it didn't show any errors at all re the doors/locks, oh well.

 

[photomotive]

So, the alarm went off last night at midnight (Neighbours must have loved that). Hadn't been raining or anything either. This morning the indicators did flash once to say it's all locked properly so I think I may have the cracked solder joints issue. I just have no way of finding out what lock it is that's causing the problem.

 

[MarkyBhoy]

Yeah, I Had the Same Problem With My Leon TDI. In Heavy Showers It Always Went off, And Sometimes Randomly During the Night, What I Did is Turned the Sensitivity down As I Recall It Was 100% to 50 Via Car Computer.

 

[photomotive]

Thanks for that, I'll get that looked at when it goes in for a service.

 

[MarkyBhoy]

Thanks for that, I'll get that looked at when it goes in for a service.

No Worries, Make Sure the Dealer Doesn't Immobolise the Alarm, You Know What Some Of them are Like!

 

[photomotive]

A quick update on this. I reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery for half an hour on Monday evening. Since then my turbo hasn't stopped working once and the alarm hasn't gone off randomly once either (not while I've been in earshot anyway).

Fingers crossed that's fixed it