Indicators Puzzle

wildebus said:
.... Super-Easy to remove the airbag! (make sure no power to vehicle when doing this. Disconnect the battery first and don't connect again before airbag refitted or you will get the warning light on).
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Oh, and after you remove the Airbag, treat it like a UXB - as that is what it is with its self-contained detonator and explosive charge!
(can you tell airbags scare me? :) )
 
Have you recently changed any bulbs with LED's? as this would cause an error with the CANBUS system.
 
Normally switches fail because they dont MAKE a contact due to dirt or corrosion etc, your symptoms suggest that a connection is being made when it shouldn't be ie you've got a short somewhere so to me it seems an odd fault to occur at the control stick? but then again those sticks are packed with connections so maybe perhaps??
I remember a similar perplexing fault that a friend had many years ago and that was caused by the 2 filaments in his stop and tail light touching inside the bulb envelope. Maybe worth taking a look if you've got dual bulbs.
I agree with most, it sounds like a bad earth fault. As Steve has suggested you really need to check the earths under load, the easiest way of doing this is rather than measuring resistance/continuity between points with an ohms setting you ,measure for volts between the same 2 points under load. Clip one multimeter lead to a good earth/chassis point and then check all the other points that should be earthed with the other lead with the meter set on low DC volts (2V) while you try all of the different lights. You should only read quite low voltages depending on the length of vehicle earth wiring and would typically be in the millivolt range, if the meter goes higher or 'over range' ie more than 2v then certainly investigate.
 
After having a similar problem on my work van I discovered that the connection block to the rear light group was slightly corroded causing a poor connection via the earth connection. Have also experienced this problem on a previous van where the connector block attached to the circuit board within the light cluster gave a poor earth connection. A quick rub with light abrasive followed by some spray silicone fixed it each time!
 
After earthing problems I’d check continuity (of desired wire back to relay or switch) and isolation (from others sharing the switch, plugs etc). I had water ingress into a pillar which saturated a connector and over time (probably years) corrosion caused all sorts of weird behaviour.
As for expensive parts, it may be worth checking out the used parts market. I might be out of date as it was over 10 yrs ago when I used a site (not eBay) that acted as a portal for breakers yards to flog parts. It worked very well and whilst it felt a bit dear in reality it was decent value, taking into account the lack of travelling and zero wasted time.
 
Certainly worthwhile exploring other options before disassembling too much to swap parts.

I had the "known design fault" with my heater direction control on my VW T5 (VW fitted a stranded cable instead of a solid cable and they always bent). In the process of trying to route the replacement cable I managed to just break a tiny bit of the mouding the cable end ball popped onto

heater flap lever by David, on Flickr
Fixed the flap lever - The screw replaced the broken-off bitand saved buying a new part - worked perfectly :)

But to access this little part to repair involved a minor teardown at the front ....

T5 Dash by David, on Flickr
 
merl said:
Normally switches fail because they dont MAKE a contact due to dirt or corrosion etc, your symptoms suggest that a connection is being made when it shouldn't be ie you've got a short somewhere so to me it seems an odd fault to occur at the control stick? but then again those sticks are packed with connections so maybe perhaps??
I remember a similar perplexing fault that a friend had many years ago and that was caused by the 2 filaments in his stop and tail light touching inside the bulb envelope. Maybe worth taking a look if you've got dual bulbs.
I agree with most, it sounds like a bad earth fault. As Steve has suggested you really need to check the earths under load, the easiest way of doing this is rather than measuring resistance/continuity between points with an ohms setting you ,measure for volts between the same 2 points under load. Clip one multimeter lead to a good earth/chassis point and then check all the other points that should be earthed with the other lead with the meter set on low DC volts (2V) while you try all of the different lights. You should only read quite low voltages depending on the length of vehicle earth wiring and would typically be in the millivolt range, if the meter goes higher or 'over range' ie more than 2v then certainly investigate.
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Thanks for that . have replaced the bulbs . = no change. Have run extra earth leads = no change. Will try your voltmeter suggestion just in
CleverTrevorUK said:
After having a similar problem on my work van I discovered that the connection block to the rear light group was slightly corroded causing a poor connection via the earth connection. Have also experienced this problem on a previous van where the connector block attached to the circuit board within the light cluster gave a poor earth connection. A quick rub with light abrasive followed by some spray silicone fixed it each time!
Click to expand...
Have
case.
wildebus said:
Certainly worthwhile exploring other options before disassembling too much to swap parts.

I had the "known design fault" with my heater direction control on my VW T5 (VW fitted a stranded cable instead of a solid cable and they always bent). In the process of trying to route the replacement cable I managed to just break a tiny bit of the mouding the cable end ball popped onto

heater flap lever by David, on Flickr
Fixed the flap lever - The screw replaced the broken-off bitand saved buying a new part - worked perfectly :)

But to access this little part to repair involved a minor teardown at the front ....

T5 Dash by David, on Flickr
Click to expand...
WOW!
 
Many thanks to all who have contributed so far. I am still working on it and have tried all of the suggestions. Next move is to check/remake all plug ins to the body control module if that doesn't work will be taking it to the local Auto electrician.
 
Mossystone said:
Many thanks to all who have contributed so far. I am still working on it and have tried all of the suggestions. Next move is to check/remake all plug ins to the body control module if that doesn't work will be taking it to the local Auto electrician.
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Have you plugged in an EOBD reader? That could help with the diagnosis? might need a vehicle specific one for best results but they can be quite revealing even down to individual switches.
 
wildebus said:
Have you plugged in an EOBD reader? That could help with the diagnosis? might need a vehicle specific one for best results but they can be quite revealing even down to individual switches.
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I don't have a reader but hope the local auto electrician can help with that. Time to call in the experts.
 
OBD stuff is great, but it can point you in the wrong direction, make sure you've thought the output through. You seem like this isn't completely new to you so hopefully you can put a sensible analysis on whatever any of that says. Good luck.
 
wildebus said:
Certainly worthwhile exploring other options before disassembling too much to swap parts.

I had the "known design fault" with my heater direction control on my VW T5 (VW fitted a stranded cable instead of a solid cable and they always bent). In the process of trying to route the replacement cable I managed to just break a tiny bit of the mouding the cable end ball popped onto

heater flap lever by David, on Flickr
Fixed the flap lever - The screw replaced the broken-off bitand saved buying a new part - worked perfectly :)

But to access this little part to repair involved a minor teardown at the front ....

T5 Dash by David, on Flickr
Click to expand...
This explains why changing the heater servos on my Mercedes took 4 1/2 hours, at a main dealer where they knew what they are doing. All because they changed from using levers and solid wire cables to electronic switches, microprocessors and servo geared motors. Somebody somewhere thought it would be a good salesroom gimmick.
 
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