I didn't earth under the plastic bolt shroud - i earthed to the top of it and since clearing the codes i've had no return of them and no other problems.
LCR .. twin fans
- Thread starter supercuprar
- Start date
Hmm,
Interesting. No VAG-com yet but I am considering. I used the earth point towards the right hand side under the battery (had a plastic circular cable guide round it).
Are there any cables relating to the TCS / ESP in the same area that could have been dislodged.
It seems odd that the light comes on after about 5 mins of driving but if you switch off the ignition it turns off and stays off for the rest of the journey?!?!
I was so happy when the fans span up......
Interesting. No VAG-com yet but I am considering. I used the earth point towards the right hand side under the battery (had a plastic circular cable guide round it).
Are there any cables relating to the TCS / ESP in the same area that could have been dislodged.
It seems odd that the light comes on after about 5 mins of driving but if you switch off the ignition it turns off and stays off for the rest of the journey?!?!
I was so happy when the fans span up......
It's possible there is some interference i guess - i've still not seen any return of the errors i had though and i've had the aircon on permanently since fitting the box.
Those of us with dervs have experienced odd warnings from the glow plugs - although as I said, once the fault was cleared it hasn't come back.
Ditto
Now having to consider actually replacing the fans.
Shame really. It seems to work a treat on the golfs and other models. I wander if its due to having the full ESP Setup rather than just TCS etc?? Not sure what the cupras and Tdi's have as standard.
Now having to consider actually replacing the fans.
Shame really. It seems to work a treat on the golfs and other models. I wander if its due to having the full ESP Setup rather than just TCS etc?? Not sure what the cupras and Tdi's have as standard.
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My warning lamp came on again this morning, after a slight splutter on starting up the engine. As it's been a week since the vagcom reset, and taken that long for the light to come back on, I'm wondering 'is it really glowplugs?' or 'is it something to do with the nime box?'
I'm not mechanically skilled so if I take it back to my independent VAG specialist I havn't a clue whether they can tell if the glowplugs are really screwed or whether it'd be a 'change them and see' exercise. Not sure how pricey it is to sort glowplugs either, so I could sink a lot more cash that turns out to be wasted. Then again I also know the pricetag for fans...
Fester - have you had a recurrence of the glowplug related error/warning light?
I'm not mechanically skilled so if I take it back to my independent VAG specialist I havn't a clue whether they can tell if the glowplugs are really screwed or whether it'd be a 'change them and see' exercise. Not sure how pricey it is to sort glowplugs either, so I could sink a lot more cash that turns out to be wasted. Then again I also know the pricetag for fans...
Fester - have you had a recurrence of the glowplug related error/warning light?
Yes - it came back this morning. However unlike Mat and Skahigh i won't be removing the box simply because of the price involved in replacing the fans. The ECU can report all kinds of hokey errors and this is just one more on top of a whole host of other things that can appear without rhyme or reason.
I am also thinking of cutting the low speed fan wire, if the resistor has indeed blown then I wonder if something is 'bleeding' back down the wire and causing a resistance change elsewhere on the loom which the ECU is misreporting as a glowplug fault.
Either way the box fixes a problem for 85 quid that would cost 400+ from a dealer and which WILL break again - if the cost of that is an occasional fault code scan / reset using vagcom ( which i already have) then i'm prepared to live with it. It's replaced the occasional EGR warning that used to appear which has now mysteriously gone.
I am also thinking of cutting the low speed fan wire, if the resistor has indeed blown then I wonder if something is 'bleeding' back down the wire and causing a resistance change elsewhere on the loom which the ECU is misreporting as a glowplug fault.
Either way the box fixes a problem for 85 quid that would cost 400+ from a dealer and which WILL break again - if the cost of that is an occasional fault code scan / reset using vagcom ( which i already have) then i'm prepared to live with it. It's replaced the occasional EGR warning that used to appear which has now mysteriously gone.
I can see your point Fester, my problem however is that with the nime box fitted my abs actually wasnt working, my mechanic brake tested it at relatively low speed and got the wheels locking up with lots of smoke.
I havn't tested the abs thoroughly since I removed the box because I am still bedding in my brake pads but I did some lighter tests and the abs did appear to be working.
From a personal point of view at this point I would rather have a known problem that I know how to fix and how much it will cost than have an accident because my abs doesnt work. Besides, the fans cost less to replace than the abs control module does.
The additional errors I was getting to do with the engine control module were also more than a little worrying.
I can see your point Fester, my problem however is that with the nime box fitted my abs actually wasnt working, my mechanic brake tested it at relatively low speed and got the wheels locking up with lots of smoke.
I havn't tested the abs thoroughly since I removed the box because I am still bedding in my brake pads but I did some lighter tests and the abs did appear to be working.
From a personal point of view at this point I would rather have a known problem that I know how to fix and how much it will cost than have an accident because my abs doesnt work. Besides, the fans cost less to replace than the abs control module does.
The additional errors I was getting to do with the engine control module were also more than a little worrying.
I just checked with vagcom and it was the exact same error, intermittent fault with glowplug 02 circuit. It doesn't seem to impede starting and no other errors come up. Do you get a CEL when your abs wasn't working? I may go back and test the ABS circuit if you did.
Not a CEL, its the TCS light that comes on oddly enough, you'd have thought it would be the abs one but no.
I suspect that since the nime box is earthed to the body of the car it may be sending small variations in current through to all the other electrical components and some components are more susceptible to this than others.
That is a complete guess however as I don't really know how the box works.
I suspect that since the nime box is earthed to the body of the car it may be sending small variations in current through to all the other electrical components and some components are more susceptible to this than others.
That is a complete guess however as I don't really know how the box works.
That was my concern too - i'm still not sure how bothered i am about it, have you mentioned it to Nime yet?
I know I've posted this before, most recently in skahigh's other thread, but maybe not in this thread.
The Nime Box looked at in isolation, is an elegant motor speed control solution, consumes less power (so doesn't get hot) and is tested and proven to work outside the car.
Once you put it under the bonnet, it has to coexist with all the other electronics in the car.
The way the Nime box works is to reduce the power (for the low-speed setting) by switching the power on and off twenty thousand times a second. It feeds this pulsed power to the fans through the power wiring, which is expecting to see a 12Volt DC level, not 20KHz 12V square waves of 6 Amps. When the full speed relay closes, this pulsed signal is applied to the 12V lines all over the car, although there will be almost no current drawn so the size of the signal is very small.
The 12V power wiring is not screened in any way, expecting to see a constant 12 Volts. Applying any signal to it, even a small one, gets that all over the car.
It seems to work well in Mk.IV Golfs, the designer says there are quite a few running about and no big problems have been reported.
The original MkIV forum thread on fan failure first inspired the resistor mod, replacing the resistors that have burned out in the fans with external resistors on a heatsink.
Resistors are passive components. and you will just be fixing the broken bit rather than replacing the whole unit with a little broken bit stuck inside it.
MkIV forum thread
Fan autopsy
Resistor replacement (Golf, but process is similar for all MkIV derived cars)
I think VW have produced an electronic control solution, similar to the Nime box, on newer cars, however they have the resources to engineer a complete solution and test it in the car to ensure there are no side issues with other systems. My guess would be that the controller is close to the fans, and delivers its pulse-width modulated power over short wires paired with earth returns.
The Nime Box looked at in isolation, is an elegant motor speed control solution, consumes less power (so doesn't get hot) and is tested and proven to work outside the car.
Once you put it under the bonnet, it has to coexist with all the other electronics in the car.
The way the Nime box works is to reduce the power (for the low-speed setting) by switching the power on and off twenty thousand times a second. It feeds this pulsed power to the fans through the power wiring, which is expecting to see a 12Volt DC level, not 20KHz 12V square waves of 6 Amps. When the full speed relay closes, this pulsed signal is applied to the 12V lines all over the car, although there will be almost no current drawn so the size of the signal is very small.
The 12V power wiring is not screened in any way, expecting to see a constant 12 Volts. Applying any signal to it, even a small one, gets that all over the car.
It seems to work well in Mk.IV Golfs, the designer says there are quite a few running about and no big problems have been reported.
The original MkIV forum thread on fan failure first inspired the resistor mod, replacing the resistors that have burned out in the fans with external resistors on a heatsink.
Resistors are passive components. and you will just be fixing the broken bit rather than replacing the whole unit with a little broken bit stuck inside it.
MkIV forum thread
Fan autopsy
Resistor replacement (Golf, but process is similar for all MkIV derived cars)
I think VW have produced an electronic control solution, similar to the Nime box, on newer cars, however they have the resources to engineer a complete solution and test it in the car to ensure there are no side issues with other systems. My guess would be that the controller is close to the fans, and delivers its pulse-width modulated power over short wires paired with earth returns.
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i wonder how many are running the nime without problems?
and also what engine they have (not sure that will make a diff?)
and also what engine they have (not sure that will make a diff?)
That is a fantastic explanation of the Nime box, well done that man, just what I needed to know.
![[B)]](/forums/styles/seatcupra/oldforumsmileys/shades.gif "Cool [B)]")
Anyway, its getting a bit silly all this cross posting, it would be easier to keep this all in one thread. I realise thats partly my fault btw.
As said above, i don't see the occasional error code as a huge problem - maybe there should be diodes installed in the nime box wiring and also in the fan wiring to prevent signals from going where they shouldn't however, an occasional error code appearing on the ECU for glowplugs is not something i'm going to worry about.
Edit: could we ask the admins to merge the two threads and adjust the title accordingly?
Edit: could we ask the admins to merge the two threads and adjust the title accordingly?
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