Newbie with an electrical problem......

[shedman]

Hi guys and gals......

I've been mooching around this site and done several searches, but as yet not been able to find an answer to my question(s).


Where shall i start..... ok, it's an Ibiza 1.4 Cool on an X plate (Nov 2000 if my memory serves me), only 17500k on the clock (amazing but true..!), 5 door in red.

It went in for it's MOT back in early Nov... no problems. My missus carries on using it till Nov 22nd when she had to go into hosp for an op (one of many this year.... bl**dy NHS..!). Anyway, come to give it a run around mid Dec (ok, so i went up the road on a Sat night for a chineese... ), and noticed that it wasn't heating up inside....... mmmh, very strange. Then when i got back home with said chineese, when i turned the ignition off, the instrument panel for the radio, clock, A/C etc plus all the switches around it all stayed illuminated..!

Bug*er... i thought. So had to go and search for a spanner in the dark to disconnect the battery. Tried it again next morning..... same thing. Only this time also noticed that the outside temp was like 28'C...... no way, as i was shivvering. Took it for a spin, drove with no problems at all. Got back, turned off ignition..... screen stayed on..!

Back to work on Mon, so left it till the next weekend. Went out to have a look and this time the batt was flatter than a pancake on shrove Tuesday..... well it had been cold the last week, plus what with not being used as well (although the batt was disconnected). So, it spent all of Sat being charged up with my new super charger from Halfrauds (one of their clever ones that does acid and gel types). Sunday went out, started ok, went for a spin.... lovely, no problems. Got back home, turned it off, and yep you've guessed it.... everything went off..!!!! unghhh..?

Went out again later that day. Everything went as it should. Most odd. Must have been a glitch i thought.

Used it again a few days later (just before Xmas now)..... drove lovely, got back and the gremlin had returned.....

Took it to my local garage who said they would check it over. Got it there, and it wouldn't play ball at all..... nah nah na nah nah.... Andy (the garage owner, know him for a few years now) said that unless they can see the fault it would very very hard to diagnose anything. They put it through the VAG (?) tester and cleared a few fault codes while they were at it. How much? NO CHARGE..! As it was behaving itself, we took it home.

Then...... just last week, off it goes again. Andy says bring it back leave it with us for a few days and we'll see what we can do. No problem, as all the while this is going on, my missus is recovering from her op, so not at work.

Got a phone call from him last Friday and he said he'd spoken to the local Seat dealership (Great Covert in North Baddesley), and they said that it was a common fault.... all to do with the radio..! Cost around £160 to fix and best to go direct to them to get the work done. HOWEVER..... it seems there is also a little cheat that sort of gets you by (presumably until you can afford the fix), and that is.... when you switch off, leave a cassette IN the player, and that for some reason tricks it into all switching off...!! "Cheers Andy for having a look, how much do we owe you.....?" Nah, thats ok he says, have this one on me..!! (it deffinately pays to get to know your garage..!)


So, my question(s) is/are....... if you've managed to stay with me...

1 is it all linked to the radio?
2 if so, why the odd external temp reading?
3 why wont the inside of the car blow hot air? (regardeless of setting)
4 why should leaving a cassette in the slot trick it into doing as it should?


Here's hoping that one (or more) of you can come up with an answer to my problems, and that it can be easily fixed. I do hope so.... you know what women are like..... if its not gonna be reliable, then it's gonna go..! Offers anyone......


Nick
Southampton

 

[Nath.]

I had the same sort of problem with my old mk3

the radio unit is the route of all evil

you can get a wiring mod that stops the intermittent radio illumination staying on problem, people that use the car every day don't suffer with this problem as the illumination fault takes a few days to flatten the battery

anyway this mod rewires the power to the radio so that it only works when the key is in the ignition and can't stay on and flatten the battery

this means that the time needs to be uploaded every time you start the car but it is all automatic anyway you will notice ---- when you first start up and then the RDS will receive the time

the heater temp problems can be the due to a faulty external temp sensor (in left hand door mirror) or a faulty internal temp sensor (behind Little grill in dash to the left of the steering wheel) or a faulty heater flap stepper motor


good luck !

 

[shedman]

thanks nathwar, that was very good of you to get back so quickly....


did forget to mention 1 thing re the heater....... if you pump the temp up all the way to 'high'... for whatever reason it will then blow out hot air. But, just one notch back down to 28'C and it goes back to blowing only cool air.

Ok....... just to confirm then, when we talk about the 'radio' are we talking about all of the imformation included on the screen i.e time, temp, A/C etc. etc.? because even with the radio turned off the screen still manages to stay on.


Just one more thing, i take it you didn't do the mod yourself, in which case do you mind me asking what sort of price you paid and if you think that £160 if a fair price to pay..?


Many thanks for taking the time to read and reply to my questions.


Nick

 

[Nath.]

yeah if you pump the temp to hi it will blow hot cos it overrides the control and just locks on max that is what they do if one of the temp sensors goes faulty

the radio and heater are connected and part of the heater control is in the radio too

on mine the complete display would stay on intermittently before I had the wiring mod done under warranty

BTW dealers used to do an exchange radio unit price that was a lot cheaper, also I have seen them on ebay

for your heater problem I would order both internal and external temp sensors mate

 

[Gary d]

Where can u get this wiring mod from mate? cheers