My idiot cousin called the other day. I think its true that God looks out for drunks and fools.
At least my cousin does not drink.
I try to buy top equipment, if used, I examine it carefully, find out its history, do serious research before I buy it.
He will go down and buy a used car because it looks neat.
Somehow, he almost never gets burned.
About 8 months ago, he bought a 1999 VW Golf. 2.0 liter engine, auto. tranny.
And, of course, everything works on it and it runs great.
Until Monday.
He said that it was running fine, until he pulled into a drive through to get coffee. Then the power windows would not roll down.
He got his coffee and continued on to work.
When he went out to crank it that afternoon, it would not even grunt.
Plenty of power in the battery, all dash lights came on when he turned on the key, no sound from the starter.
Tuesday he called me.
Now that I think about it, this is how he gets away with all the junk he buys. He has me to back him up, and I can fix darn near anything.
I swung by there Tuesday, and got my meter out .
Battery is good, connections are good. Motor has good ground.
When you turn the key to start, no sound from the starter. Headlights stay bright, and I hear the fuel pump kick in, so at least some part of the ignition switch is working.
I tried it in park and neutral. Held it in start and wiggled the heck out of the shifter.
No click, nothing.
He has a Haynes on it. I started looking at the schematic.
If it can be believed, its a fairly simple start circuit.
I don't see a starter disconnect for the alarm system. But there might be one.
It shows a straight line from the ignition switch through something called the starter inhibit relay to the starter solenoid.
NOTE: The starter inhibit relay is there for the automatic transmission. A manual gearbox car does not have one, so its unlikely to be for the security system.
The inhibit relay and the fuses for the windows are on a board called a fuse and relay board which is hidden behind a panel under the dash.
We did not have the tools to take the panel off Tuesday, and I had to be somewhere else Wed.
I told him to bring his Torx set to work Wed. pull the panel off and look for a main connector to that board.
I figure something has come loose and killed the windows and starter inhibit relay.
Wed., he got the panel off and saw the board, but it started storming, so he left it alone.
I cannot be there today either, but he send me an E-mail this morning in something of a panic.
He went to some jackleg help forum, and this is what they sent back.
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<most liekly you have a central control module that failed and that would disable all window operation and the starter too .
4/27/11 8:23 PM
the module is about $270.00 and labor for the diagnosis and replacement is about $270.00 to verify the cause but very certain that the cental control module is bad>
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I don't think that VW used a central control module in 1999. There is not one in the Haynes, and I still suspect that relay board.
Problem is, I am not familiar enough with that breed of cat to know for sure if they had one of those modules in that year.
I wrote back and told him to do what I said and check the main connector for that board first, and if that did not fix it, see if he could find that inhibit relay. If so, he probably could swap another relay like it long enough to see if the starter would fire.
The car is so low to the ground, its not likely I will be crawling under anytime soon.
The starter is fairly high up on that engine, but to get to it from above, the battery box will have to come out.
That is the next step in my plan if the relay board idea does not work out.
Then I can at least see if the solenoid is getting power when the key is turned.
It could very easily be a bad solenoid.
Anybody here know about a control module?
At least my cousin does not drink.
I try to buy top equipment, if used, I examine it carefully, find out its history, do serious research before I buy it.
He will go down and buy a used car because it looks neat.
Somehow, he almost never gets burned.
About 8 months ago, he bought a 1999 VW Golf. 2.0 liter engine, auto. tranny.
And, of course, everything works on it and it runs great.
Until Monday.
He said that it was running fine, until he pulled into a drive through to get coffee. Then the power windows would not roll down.
He got his coffee and continued on to work.
When he went out to crank it that afternoon, it would not even grunt.
Plenty of power in the battery, all dash lights came on when he turned on the key, no sound from the starter.
Tuesday he called me.
Now that I think about it, this is how he gets away with all the junk he buys. He has me to back him up, and I can fix darn near anything.
I swung by there Tuesday, and got my meter out .
Battery is good, connections are good. Motor has good ground.
When you turn the key to start, no sound from the starter. Headlights stay bright, and I hear the fuel pump kick in, so at least some part of the ignition switch is working.
I tried it in park and neutral. Held it in start and wiggled the heck out of the shifter.
No click, nothing.
He has a Haynes on it. I started looking at the schematic.
If it can be believed, its a fairly simple start circuit.
I don't see a starter disconnect for the alarm system. But there might be one.
It shows a straight line from the ignition switch through something called the starter inhibit relay to the starter solenoid.
NOTE: The starter inhibit relay is there for the automatic transmission. A manual gearbox car does not have one, so its unlikely to be for the security system.
The inhibit relay and the fuses for the windows are on a board called a fuse and relay board which is hidden behind a panel under the dash.
We did not have the tools to take the panel off Tuesday, and I had to be somewhere else Wed.
I told him to bring his Torx set to work Wed. pull the panel off and look for a main connector to that board.
I figure something has come loose and killed the windows and starter inhibit relay.
Wed., he got the panel off and saw the board, but it started storming, so he left it alone.
I cannot be there today either, but he send me an E-mail this morning in something of a panic.
He went to some jackleg help forum, and this is what they sent back.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<most liekly you have a central control module that failed and that would disable all window operation and the starter too .
4/27/11 8:23 PM
the module is about $270.00 and labor for the diagnosis and replacement is about $270.00 to verify the cause but very certain that the cental control module is bad>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't think that VW used a central control module in 1999. There is not one in the Haynes, and I still suspect that relay board.
Problem is, I am not familiar enough with that breed of cat to know for sure if they had one of those modules in that year.
I wrote back and told him to do what I said and check the main connector for that board first, and if that did not fix it, see if he could find that inhibit relay. If so, he probably could swap another relay like it long enough to see if the starter would fire.
The car is so low to the ground, its not likely I will be crawling under anytime soon.
The starter is fairly high up on that engine, but to get to it from above, the battery box will have to come out.
That is the next step in my plan if the relay board idea does not work out.
Then I can at least see if the solenoid is getting power when the key is turned.
It could very easily be a bad solenoid.
Anybody here know about a control module?
