Flashing lights

[Moley]

I drive a 14 year old Seat Alhambra people carrier with 160k miles on the clock, which I've had for just over 8 years.

I was almost home yesterday teatime when the glowplug pre-heat indicator started flashing. It's never done that before.

Checked the owner's manual and it said that "if this light starts flashing while you're driving, a fault has been found in the Diesel Engine Management system" and to take my car to a Seat main dealer to get it checked out ASAP.

My first thought was "oh ****, I've heard about engine management systems and this could be expensive!"

Checked an online archive, which said words to the effect of "your brake pedal switch is most probably knackered, if you can do it yourself you might have change out of £15."

Got the trim panels off but couldn't remove the switch, thought I'd throw it at my tame mechanic, I would probably still have change out of £25.

I check my brake lights regularly. If I'm stationary at traffic lights I will often dab the brake pedal and watch the reflections in the headlamps of the car behind. I know they were both working last week and didn't think I could have lost both at the same time. Before I took the car to the garage I thought I may as well check the bulbs anyway, replaced one, and it lit. Warning light stopped flashing. Scrounged another bulb today from my tame mechanic.

How much would a Seat main dealer charge for a diagnostic check?

What would they charge for replacing two stop/tail bulbs?

How pissed off would you be to find out it was a 5 minute job which should only have set you back a couple of quid?

Why can't owners' manuals tell you the easy options first? :twisted:

Anyone else narrowly avoided main dealer highway robbery?

 

[PD]

Yep a service warning buzzer sounds on my Passat when its service period is due garages charge £15 to re set it. My mechanic showed me how to reset by holding and pushing the spindles on the trip meter in a certain order time to do 3 seconds.

 

[The Goatreich]

Service lights come on for a reason! However my regular garage always fail to reset the service indicator so I've learned how to do it myself after making sure it's serviced.

 

[artyb]

my audi a6 did the engine management light thing , :evil:
a quick google [audi forum]
revealed a faulty switch,
took it off stripped it down cleaned and polished the contacts...job done .. :party:

luckily the germans made the switch in such a way that it can be opend up and put back with out it breaking... :thumb:

 

[Springer]

Why can't owners' manuals tell you the easy options first? :twisted:

Now you know the answer to that don't you M,. :lol:
"Engine management system" by baby Merc one went tits up and my nice man said £1350 plus etc, be he had a tame man with a soldering iron, £250.................. :hmm: ................ hope it wasn't the bulbs :lol: No I trust my nice man.
S
P.S. I have a friend who paid £2 on ebay for info on resetting the service light, then I, I mean he, found the info in the owners manual. :lol:

 

[joe1002]

I have a b6 passat and a common fault is the electronic parking break switch fails. VW charge around £150 to change a £15 switch which is a 5 min job. :evil:

 

[lovelldr]

I was driving back home couple years ago, when I lost power to my diesel car. Carried on driving it to home, as was only a mile or so away. Noticed the glow plugs indicator, and proceeded to call dealer. Bring it in, we'll diagnose. By the time I went work following morning, full power was restored, and no glow plug. But, worried what'd happened I took it in. Now, this car was about 2 weeks outside of its 3 yr warranty...

Get phone call from garage, and apparently my turbo is knackered. Gonna cost £1100 to repair! Mentioned about the warranty, and get told that they'll do it for £800. Anyway, bit of reading on the web, and found a few symptoms just like mine. Basically, it's because I hadn't been working it hard enough, and all the soot was clogging the injection. Fix, thrash the f00ker going uphill to clear the soot out. A further 3 years down the line, and she's had no further problems (touch wood)...

Still, they charged me just over £50 for the diagnostics check,robbing buggers, lol

 

[Duncs]

The exact same thing happened on my 2004 Seat Ibiza, first time it happened, I took it to a SEAT garage and they charged me £350. It happened again a couple of years ago and found that it was the brake light switch under the brake peddle, the local garage changed it for £30.

SEAT also tried to charge me £80 for a new battery in the key fob. They tried to tell me that it was a special type of battery! a quick look on ebay and I replaced the battery for £1 and still have 9 other batteries left in case I need them.

 

[oldstout]

We are onto our 2nd Alhambra, had to replace both turbo's in both cars around the 70K mark - would NEVER go to the main dealer for ANY work though. They are rip off merchants IMO :evil:
Bought the turbo online from a Turbo dealer (new not reconditioned) and got a mate to fit on both occasions :thumb:

We also have plenty of excellent back street garages around here who have very low overheads

Remember, go to a main dealers and you are paying towards the cost of those spotlights pointing down on the brand new cars in that flashy looking showroom


:

 

[screamlead]

Had a BMW before coming to Turkey and the Aircon went on it - BMW quoted 650 quid for replacement module. :shock:
Replaced a resitor in the module from Maplins - cost - 19p!!!! :thumb:

 

[Kevin Wood]

Whilst the brake light switch might be a common problem, I wouldn't say it's a certainty. Engine management systems these days store fault codes to indicate what the system perceives to be the problem and the light is just an indication that one or more have been stored.

Any garage worth his salt will have a code reader that will tell you what the engine management system is complaining about and I'd say getting that done should be your first course of action to avoid changing parts that might well be perfectly OK. It shouldn't cost much to have a small independent garage read the codes. Make sure he jots down and gives you all the codes reported, though. I'd say it's very rare for an engine management system itself to fail. It'll normally be a relatively inexpensive component.

You can even get a reader pretty cheaply on Ebay, etc. although I'm not familiar with this car and what readers would be compatible with it.

 

[Moley]

The exact same thing happened on my 2004 Seat Ibiza, first time it happened, I took it to a SEAT garage and they charged me £350

Ouch! :shock:

It happened again a couple of years ago and found that it was the brake light switch under the brake pedal, the local garage changed it for £30.

I think that underlines my point quite nicely.

Whilst the brake light switch might be a common problem, I wouldn't say it's a certainty. Engine management systems these days store fault codes to indicate what the system perceives to be the problem and the light is just an indication that one or more have been stored.

Thanks Kevin. I have no idea what other faults that particular flashing light might indicate, but everything I've read online suggests that for one reason or another (switch or both bulbs) you've got no brake lights, so why can't the manual say "check your brake lamps THEN take it to the garage if the fault persists" ?

As it happens, my tame mechanic (who knows what he's doing, always does a good job for a realistic price and has never tried to rip me off) can run a plug-in diagnostic for £30, so taking it to a main dealer was never going to be an option.

 

[oldstout]

As it happens, my tame mechanic............

:wha:

Where in the wild did he originate before he was tamed :wha:

:?

:

 

[bobsbeer]

The Dealership Jungle. :rofl:

 

[oldstout]

The Dealership Jungle. :rofl:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

:thumb:

 

[tigerpaws]

My supervisor at work had a similar problem a with the engine trouble light on his Astra estate. Odb2 reader and 5mins online reported the cruisecontrol brake monitor switch not found.

Had a look at the brake light switch it has both normally open and normally closed switches wired even if you don't have cruisecontrol the normally closed switch had failed. fixed with a 1inch length of wire and a spade terminal to bridge the non used switch out.

Problem sorted

Total cost free. (parts from my electronics bin at work)

Cost at a vauxhall garage quoted at £250

Robbing bastards

 

[Andyhull]

I removed the wrong fuse from the fuse box after a bulb in our meriva blew (took out the rear whiper too) and now the engine management light is on.

rang main dealer and told them what had happened, they said take it in and they'll put it on their diagnostics to find out what the problem is.

I reponded, i've told you what the problem is "i removed the wrong fuse" sorry sir we have to put it on the diag to see whats wrong "i removed the wrong fuse" still have to put it on the diag.

how much will that cost me £80. HOW MUCH, then £60 an hour for the work to be done afterwards and a minimum charge of 1 1/2 hours.

The light is still on!

Modern day highway men. :evil:

 

[PD]

and the governments regulating these garages, under the Good Garage Scheme. So we KNOW they are not robbing us don't we.

 

[Moley]

As it happens, my tame mechanic............

:wha:

Where in the wild did he originate before he was tamed :wha:

You know what I mean, if you've got a good one, look after it.

I can nip round and chat without actually taking him any business, and I've done him a couple of favours too.

£80 (for a diagnostic), then £60 an hour for the work to be done afterwards and a minimum charge of 1 1/2 hours.

Modern day highway men. :evil :

So £170 for openers, plus parts, for what could well be a 10 minute job :shock:

Robin b'Stards :evil:

 

[Andyhull]

I know there's no problem, it just needs resetting!

I will never go to a main dealer to have any work done "ever" not for an MOT, nothing.

They are as has been previousely stated charging us to illuminate the new cars and pay for the flash showrooms that keep popping up all over.