Battery Went Flat And Now All Hell Breaking Out..

[bilko]

I did not use my 3yr old t6 Caravelle for two weeks and when I went to start it there was not even enough battery to open the doors. I charged the battery overnight with an AGM charge setting. The van will start now but doors will not open on remote so only driver door opens with key, lights on auto will not work, headlights on full beam only, inside dash lights won’t adjust or work at times...I have disconnected the battery and reconnected, . I did what the manual says on page 346 ie drove for a while at 10mph.. still no change ..any idea please. It’s the same battery so does it need dealer reset??

 

[Johnod17]

It may be worth doing a reset by removing the + & - and shorting the cables together,I had funny things on my T5.1 and asked the forum for help and was told to do this ( capacitive discharge)
Check back on my questions and you can see
This helped me

hope this helps

 

[bilko]

Sorry Johnod I should have said, when I disconnected the battery I did the short out the leads trick but the issues it were still the same when I put the battery back on.

 

[Pete C]

Can you measure the voltage of the battery, and are you sure it’s fully connected.

Pete

 

[bilko]

Hi Pete. When it went initially flat the charger dohicky said it was only 7v , and it took almost 24hrs to fully charge the battery back to over 12v. I have no idea about the amps but I have started the van at least 6 times and it starts first turn every turn so guess the volts and amps must be ok..

 

[bilko]

Forgot.apart from doing the short drive at 10mph , I als0 left the van running for 15minutes in idle. .best bilko

 

[Pete C]

Sometimes these things sort themselves out if they are left for a while.
Can you check it in the morning ?

Pete

 

[bilko]

Hi Pete I left the battery off all night in the hope that would help somehow. Today I shall put battery back on and leave it alone ..before I. Took the battery off last night I tried the computer and that’s stuck on ave mpg which I suspect was th3 last thing on the screen before the battery went flat. Thanks bilko

 

[bilko]

Hi Pete I had the battery on all day and to my grief it’s still the same. Guess it’s time to phone the dealer ..typical that it’s two months out of warranty...hopefully the brain department will only need a reset to get all things working again..

 

[Pete C]

I think that’s your best option. No-one else here seems to have any other ideas.

Pete

 

[bilko]

I have one or more more trick to try, before spending millions at th main agent.. It’s called phoning my car breakdown company and tell them I’ve broken down because I can’t open the doors or use the headlights...yes i know it’s a slim chance of him being able to rest the computer but worth a try..I might also ask my local battery supply shop if they can reset it, because they must do this if it happens occasionally when they change batteries..seen this on a few websites that many computers including VW ones have to be matched with a new battery...ta anyway Pete..

 

[bilko]

Hi Pete et all. I called my breakdown service, Britannia , who sent a man with a pickup truck . He had zero tools at all and offered to take my van to a garage. I pointed out all garages are shut until Monday. He scratched his head and left.
I called them again and they also offered to take my van to a dealer because apparently the tow truck driver HAD diagnosed it needs a ECU reset..He diagnosed diddly squat, it was me who said it might need one. Anyway they are sending someone else within two hours, who may have or may not have any tools...I’ll shut up this time and just tell him the fault. point here is if you want to be taken to a garage , Britannia are ok, but not if you need any roadside repairs..I think Nationwide bank account will be closed and I’ll spend the money on major breakdown player like RAC or AA etc.Plan A failing so far..

 

[Nigel W]

Your not having much luck are you - I feel for you and thanks for the updates

 

[Tim Sparkes]

What about an OBD scanner? Maybe reset any faults that appear. If you have one.

 

[bilko]

No Tim I don’t have any scanners mores the pity, however 2nd man who came yesterday after I insisted on an engineer and not a tow truck had a small box that he said couldn’t find any error codes. His wisdom was take it to a main dealer for a reset..wow that was new. Anyway I took the van for a drive today of only a few miles and found that the rear wiper isn’t working in the rain, luckily the front ones did, but not the rain sensor on the windscreen, and the heater fan isn’t working so it steamed up a bit..I gave up and went home..just tried to book an appointment on line for this week at the dealers but bloody VW web site gave an error message at the end after spending time entering all the issues..I hate VW vans and web sites... I got the other doors opening by mechanically lifting the passenger side knob, however only one will work electronically from the switches on the dash..Mind you the lock button for the sliding door works..!,I suspect all the software is screwed...anyone know where the Control, Alt , Delete is?.

 

[bilko]

Hi ..
The van went into dealers last Friday for diagnosis. I returned late in the day to find all the dashboard out where they were looking for a pinched wire. The battery was out looking for blown fuses..I did question their methods and said no one fuse blown would stop so many items not working (eg the heater only worked if you had either side on, it didn’t matter what side but the fan wouldn’t run if both sides were on. The rear wiper didn’t work, but water jet did. The el citric windows or seats didn’t work, none of the steering wheel buttons worked , central locking , lights and more etc etc . Well today they decided it needs BCM...I googled what a BCM does and low and behold all those things are controlled by it. I am still amazed they were looking for a fuse or cable fault. Surely a BCM should have been first port of call with all these obvious items not working to a trained mechanic..Perhaps because so far I have 3 hrs labour to pay makes me sceptical...Oh well I’ll check with service manager later (service rep didn’t help ) . VW will not assist on cost because its two months out of warranty, so part and labour near to £800..dealer won’t help on costs because he has me by the short and cur-lies. That’s after 10 years of warranty , service and Mot, and out of warranty work on T5 and now T6 Caravelle. and service work. ( plus a non fault £10k crash work on T5) . To add insult VW Uk and Germany do not have any part, so waiting time is 2 to 4 weeks...Dealer can’t offer any courtesy vehicle even for a few days until 27th March because they have cut their courtesy vans down from 12 to 4..I said I need the vehicle back at least I can use it during the day (lights don’t work). They wanted more money to put it back together so I could drive it away, instead of left on their forecourt with no lock or alarm for maybe a month..my insurance would have loved that..also surrounded by commercial white vans for a month.. . I think my eyes and face made them change their mind and I get it back tomorrow in a state to drive ...I do need to look for a new dealer but now it’s out of warranty a local,guy I can trust.

 

[Aron]

Hi ..
The van went into dealers last Friday for diagnosis. I returned late in the day to find all the dashboard out where they were looking for a pinched wire. The battery was out looking for blown fuses..I did question their methods and said no one fuse blown would stop so many items not working (eg the heater only worked if you had either side on, it didn’t matter what side but the fan wouldn’t run if both sides were on. The rear wiper didn’t work, but water jet did. The el citric windows or seats didn’t work, none of the steering wheel buttons worked , central locking , lights and more etc etc . Well today they decided it needs BCM...I googled what a BCM does and low and behold all those things are controlled by it. I am still amazed they were looking for a fuse or cable fault. Surely a BCM should have been first port of call with all these obvious items not working to a trained mechanic..Perhaps because so far I have 3 hrs labour to pay makes me sceptical...Oh well I’ll check with service manager later (service rep didn’t help ) . VW will not assist on cost because its two months out of warranty, so part and labour near to £800..dealer won’t help on costs because he has me by the short and cur-lies. That’s after 10 years of warranty , service and Mot, and out of warranty work on T5 and now T6 Caravelle. and service work. ( plus a non fault £10k crash work on T5) . To add insult VW Uk and Germany do not have any part, so waiting time is 2 to 4 weeks...Dealer can’t offer any courtesy vehicle even for a few days until 27th March because they have cut their courtesy vans down from 12 to 4..I said I need the vehicle back at least I can use it during the day (lights don’t work). They wanted more money to put it back together so I could drive it away, instead of left on their forecourt with no lock or alarm for maybe a month..my insurance would have loved that..also surrounded by commercial white vans for a month.. . I think my eyes and face made them change their mind and I get it back tomorrow in a state to drive ...I do need to look for a new dealer but now it’s out of warranty a local,guy I can trust.

Did you ever get to the bottom of this?

 

[Niknak]

Be techs have to follow test plan and will d it’s installed into them

 

[bilko]

Sorry guys I thought I did update this..VW Germany eventually sent a BCM and I had it fitted. The dealer did me a bit of a deal because I moaned at their diagnostic methods ..it was still over £700 ....next visit is to get the famous EGR cleans because engine light is on. A new EGR is again over £700....
It appears it’s a very common problem, and VW are cleaning many under warranty, but mine will be the first the dealer twill be doing out of warranty so no price yet there is even some talk of the recent software changes to add more addblue due to yet another VW lie about emissions..of course VW deny this, they would wouldn’t they...