Autowatch Ghost immobiliser - T6 Issue

[J8mes]

Good afternoon,
My recent experience may assist some of you at a later date.
I took delivery of my brand new camper conversion 2019 T28 Highline in October 19.
As per several previous vehicles I have had I arranged for the ghost to be fitted by an accredited installer. Usual price £399.
All sorted no issues. Fast forward to December 2020 driving along I get lots of warning lights on dash, abs, steering, brakes, traction and so on. Even got a stop engine red oil can light and warnings to go to workshop due to a brake issue. Van covered 6k miles from new. Get VW assist out, they scan and reset faults. All faults show an issue with intermittent communication faults with can hi and low and lack of connection between several modules.
Told to drive van and see what happens. This then turned into a regular occurrence after driving for about 10-15 minutes.
Bit the bullet booked into VW Van Centre. They do a scan and then say that they won't do anything else until the ghost is removed and also state that if caused by the camper conversion I would be paying at £120 an hour labour.

Get ghost removed by installer (charged £100 for the privilege). Low and behold all issues disappear. This has now been the case for over 1k miles and 6 weeks.
Back to ghost installer who agree to refund me the full fitting fee and the removal fee already charged. Top customer service from them every credit

So basically the ghost was faulty and causing all of these issues, the most annoying was that if you switched off the van when the lights were on and tried to restart you couldn't input the ghost disarm sequence as the warning lights being on for some reason rendered the steering wheel buttons unresponsive.


To cut a long story short if you get some random warning lights with intermittent communication issues on the can system and have a ghost immobiliser installed it may be the ghost.

I have had several ghost immobiliser's fitted in other vehicles and had no previous issues.
The ghost installer said that there was no issue with the installation and that it seemed to be an issue with the unit. They say this is the first one to ever go wrong.

 

[JasonW]

That's really unusual... especially for it to work fine initially for 12 to 14 months with no issue.

 

[J8mes]

That's really unusual... especially for it to work fine initially for 12 to 14 months with no issue.

The installer said that too.

 

[True Romance]

Wasn't there a post about some issues on some ghost/vw combinations? Might have been a dream? I'd have put the ghost unit back on just to confirm if that was the issue.

 

[Ozi]

I spoke with an installer recently as I was looking for something for my new 6.1 when it arrives. He installs Ghost and other types and actively advised me against Ghost on a 6.1. Told me that they frequently throw up errors and believed this was due to “over the air” updates.

Is yours an early 6.1 by any chance? If so, sounds like an over the air update might have landed and have messed with the system and is now causing conflicts.

Wasn't there a post about some issues on some ghost/vw combinations? Might have been a dream? I'd have put the ghost unit back on just to confirm if that was the issue.

Probably an earlier post I made on this a couple of weeks ago. You def weren’t dreaming !

 

[J8mes]

Wasn't there a post about some issues on some ghost/vw combinations? Might have been a dream? I'd have put the ghost unit back on just to confirm if that was the issue.

Hi, I did consider this but it's £100 to have it installed or removed each time.
The other issue is that as it's a camper I'm hoping to spend a month each summer in Europe and if you have a fault with your ghost it's only the installer who knows its location and can easily remove it. Not worth the risk for me. Back to my 25 year old disklock now.

I spoke with an installer recently as I was looking for something for my new 6.1 when it arrives. He installs Ghost and other types and actively advised me against Ghost on a 6.1. Told me that they frequently throw up errors and believed this was due to “over the air” updates.

Is yours an early 6.1 by any chance? If so, sounds like an over the air update might have landed and have messed with the system and is now causing conflicts.

Mine is one of the last T6's, but my re-mapper did say it had the T6.1 ECU software on it. So could be a possibility.

 

[ThreeBridgeT6]

Yikes! Mine's also a MY19 (registered Aug 19) T30 and I was originally planning to have a Ghost installed as part of my full conversion. However, I was ultimately talked out of it by my converter, who has some knowledge and experience in the vehicle security industry and he had heard of some problems starting to crop up with Ghost. How does one establish the ECU software version? Anyone know?

 

[Ali-G]

If the installer has said that the unit was at fault, did they offer to replace it with a new one

 

[J8mes]

If the installer has said that the unit was at fault, did they offer to replace it with a new one

Yes they did. I declined as there is no guarantee that a new one wouldn't go the same way. Also when it goes faulty you are stuffed in that only your installer can sort it out.

 

[DXX]

Over air updates, is that really a necessity these days to get a box on wheels from point A to point B???
I used to suffer with automatic updates on PLCs causing major issues only to be told by some programmer that ‘we’re using your system for a beta test, is that OK?’
Muppets

 

[Ozi]

Over air updates, is that really a necessity these days to get a box on wheels from point A to point B???
I used to suffer with automatic updates on PLCs causing major issues only to be told by some programmer that ‘we’re using your system for a beta test, is that OK?’
Muppets

Whether it’s necessary I couldn’t possibly say @DXX ,but that was certainly the view of the installer on why 6.1’s experience issues with Ghost.

I know people on here with 5’s and 6’s dont seem to have an issue, so seems isolated to the 6.1. But then having read some of the posts on the differences in the 6.1 electronics, it does seem to be more complex beast electronically - and a little sensitive to being played with for mods

 

[JasonW]

Yikes! Mine's also a MY19 (registered Aug 19) T30 and I was originally planning to have a Ghost installed as part of my full conversion. However, I was ultimately talked out of it by my converter, who has some knowledge and experience in the vehicle security industry and he had heard of some problems starting to crop up with Ghost. How does one establish the ECU software version? Anyone know?

Mines a December 19 T6... Had Ghost on for 12 months now with no issue.

Think you'll need VCDS to determine ECU s/ware Rev.

 

[T6Jay]

You may be thinking of this thread (from post #14);

Ghost II installer NW?

Can anyone recommend a good mobile installer, in the NW (Chorley/Preston) for these? In light of the recent thread about problems with a T6.1 install, even better if your recommendation has done your T6.1 without issues! I wondered if fitting a T6 ghost II to a T6.1 could cause these sort of...

www.t6forum.com

I took my early 6.1 to a fitter in November, they completely botched the job, were unable to fit ghost and broke some vw wiring. A VW tech had to visit to get the van repaired & started. These problems were not related to Ghost itself, the problem was the fitter had never done a 6.1, and had his experience with T6 was no help at all.

Early in December I took it to Exploria, they did know what they were doing. I've had zero problems since then.

 

[Kevin]

I've had Ghost for approx. 3 years. Only issue is you have to press ok on the head unit when it all starts up and if you don't get it right the head unit locks off and you cant use it. The only way to get the head unit to work is restart the engine again. Its the way the head unit was set up. Its a Pioneer head unit.

 

[cgtmiles]

I have a ghost install on a MY19, although early I think and have had no issues so far (if you don’t include me putting the code in wrong, forgetting altogether to put the code in, rarer now but still happens or stalling it and panicking and having to try multiple times to get the sequence and code correct while stopping traffic!). I do get a stop start error message occasionally but I think this is limited to when one of the above accidents has occurred

 

[Jollyvan]

I have had a similar issue. My Ghost had worked well. When I wanted to use the valet mode it would not accept any changes. Eventually got it into valet mode. When the van came back went back to normal mode. The next time I wanted to uncode it would not accept any codes even the emergency code. Connected a diagnostic to OBDC and found loads of faults. Had my Ghost installer remove the Ghost and all faults gone. Currently waiting for communication from installer.

 

[T6oldgits]

If not ghost 2 then what, help

 

[Ozi]

Why are you not going for Ghost? Might help people offer you some suggestions on alternatives?

 

[jamesabell1978]

There is a new product from scorpion that is similar to the ghost that I am investigating

Scorpion.co.uk it is the scorpion track x series, I am considering it alongside the ghost 2 but not installed anything yet as still waiting for the van

Sorry scorpionx.co.uk I think

 

[T6oldgits]

Why are you not going for Ghost? Might help people offer you some suggestions on alternatives?

Just been reading about all the fault people have had with ghost on the forum (ghost issues ) and this put me off when I was going to order it tomorrow. I have a peddle lock and happy with it but when popping in to the super market it's not practical.

There is a new product from scorpion that is similar to the ghost that I am investigating

Scorpion.co.uk it is the scorpion track x series, I am considering it alongside the ghost 2 but not installed anything yet as still waiting for the van

Sorry scorpionx.co.uk I think

Thank you for that I'll have a look at scorpionx