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Couple of months ago dad noticed his passenger carpet was soaking wet and the odd electrical gremlins started about the same time, so we set about trying to sort the water problems before we tackle the electric issues.
There was no massive problems, just little annoyances mainly. We borrowed VCDS off a Crazytwofatladies and it brought up intermittent communication errors for allot of system, we assumed and still do, that this is down to the wet passenger foot well and all the electronics under there.
We checked the bulk head drain plugs and they was clean and dry. Removed them and ran a hose pipe over there to make sure water did come out and not in to the cab. That was fine.
Next was the pollen filter. This appeared to be dry and no issues but there is a littleish rubber drain tube at the bottom that fell out of the bulk head. Like it was not pushed in correctly.Ppushed that back in. We think this was the cause of the water ingress but time will tell. We the hose pipe test going, there was no signs of water.
With the prospect of the water leak being fixed we set a date to take at these electrical issues. Dad also ordered a removable towbar.
I did try and convince to order the electric folding one but he was not having any of it. This is the BMW version.
The weekends task was to remove the carpet and foam on passenger side, double check the electronics under there, fit the towbar, fit new steering wheel buttons, 12v socket (There is 4 in this car) and new stereo knob.
Under the passenger seat is a 2nd battery, some relays and some fuses, because of this the passenger seat's base is hinged. Remove the front bolts and the hole unit will tilt back. So much easier than the drivers side, that thing weighs a ton.
Sorry for the images being a bit patchy but its cause I was concentrating more on not fkn this car up over taking images.
First is to remove the centre console.
Remove all the buttons, covers, vents, trays, arm rests, holders and other cubings from the centre console.
Remove other trims that would possible stop you from removing the carpet and getting a good visual on the cables needed and shove it all in the boot. Its neater than it looks.
With the console removed, seat tilted back, its time to remove the sodden carpet and foam underlay. We was working out the best way to remove the front half of the carpet, we noticed that someone else has removed it before by slicing down the middle so they only had to remove half of the front half of the carpet, over the hole lot. Its ok, made it easier for us, the cut was not to bad but it did make us wonder why someone was poking around under there.
with the carpet up we noticed that someone did poke around with the loom, there was cut cables, bodged tape and bits not put back properly. With this in mind I set about taking the drivers side apart and check that loom over, it also made it easier to look at the Kessy unit and wire in the towbar loom.
On a plus note we found about £3 in change under the drivers seat, this should cover all the broken clips by the last club fisted guy that took this apart.
I did get a bit carried away though, which is fine, cause I got a towbar to wire up.
With both seats up and out of the way we spotted that someone at some point must have had issues with air bag lights cause the cut the cable from air bag plug under the seat and joined the cables.
We'll be ordering new plugs and repair cables and get it back properly.
There was 3 joints found on the Red/Yellow cable where the water got in and corroded the cable on the passenger. It was stripped back and repaired.
Passenger side all loomed back together and ready for the foam and carpet thats been drying in the wet room for the last 24 hours.
Battery tray, relays and fuses under the passenger seat.
Nothing wrong was found on drivers side, all cables was clean and under tampered with, I did find 2 joins but they was clean, I did resolder them just to make sure, sealed put back in the loom.
With the passenger side being rebuilt I set about fitting the towbar cables in to the fuse box and running it down the car towards the boot.
On to the tow bar section of this very long post. Thank you for reading this far.
As a reward here is a random picture of me putting the car back together.
Right, tow bar. We was looking at going genuine VAG and almost bought one but read some good reviews about PF Jones and westfalia towbars. After a bit of reading we've decided to go for one with complete loom to 13pin and 13 to 7 pin converter.
We wanted vag cause it was just plug 'n play 'n walk away. Did not like the idea of cutting in to the back of lights or any thing but the Westfalia towbar came with a loom that integrated with cars loom, just as well as the VAG one. We went for it and was very happy with it.
First is 3 power cables fitted in to the fuse box.
The cable followed the same routing as the cars own loom.
Pictures. This one should be more images and less reading.
Take one Touareg and remove rear lights, mud flaps and and screws thats needed for removal of the rear bumper.
Remove bumper and wonder where the F&*K is the rear bumper bar.
Have a cup of coffee and put the new towbar one on.
Test fitting of removable tow hitch
With bumper off you notice a hole has been cut and think it might have had a tow bar before and they removed it for some dolla.
When the bumper off you cut a even bigger hole for your removable tow hitch.
You can just see it the bigger hole at the bottom.
Bumper work done, cable routed from tow bar in to boot, boot is stripped out ready for cable. Let the routing/cabling commence.
3 power leads routed to the front of the car and wired in to fuse box. With the power cables wired in I can rebuild the front and put the seat base back in and all the control boxes.
Back in the boot I removed the TV, Suspension control unit and routed the cables up to the top of the wheel arch, wired it in to the can bus cables and mounted the tow bar ECU.
With in the kit was the split charge loom which we ran from the rear battery up to the relay which we fitted next to the tow bar ECU.
I used all the same cable channels and routings to try and keep it as close to factory as possible.
Me with a spider nest of cables trying to route it with in the proper cable channels.
then put it all back together.
Pic of the hole where the hitch goes and the 13 pin socket.
And a funky spare wheel that I really want to inflate. lol
We also noticed these little things up and down the car.
Looking on ETKA they are the aerials for Kessy. Which we can't get working.
Noticed as well there has been 3 repairs done to the plugs on the suspension ECU.
I need to get my copy of elsa working but if any one has a working copy of elsa and willing to look up the pin outs for the suspension ECU that would be a great help.
We did the steering wheel switches (no pictures) and fitted a new knob to the stereo (No pictures) with the above, I think its been a very successful weekend.
I ordered a VCDS cable for my dad just before Christmas so I'm waiting for that to turn up then we can do another scan and if our work has many any differences to the error codes.
with the state of the clips, wiring on the passenger side, under the seats, the repair done on the suspension ECU and the length of 3 core house hold cable running from 1 side of the boot to the other, we fear was else we might find in the future but we find it very entertaining and gratifying (I think thats what I mean) when we solve issues and get things back the way they should be.
We currently have a parts list for breakers and a part list for VW.
and a list of things to retrofit.
I hope you all enjoyed this essay. lol
There was no massive problems, just little annoyances mainly. We borrowed VCDS off a Crazytwofatladies and it brought up intermittent communication errors for allot of system, we assumed and still do, that this is down to the wet passenger foot well and all the electronics under there.
We checked the bulk head drain plugs and they was clean and dry. Removed them and ran a hose pipe over there to make sure water did come out and not in to the cab. That was fine.
Next was the pollen filter. This appeared to be dry and no issues but there is a littleish rubber drain tube at the bottom that fell out of the bulk head. Like it was not pushed in correctly.Ppushed that back in. We think this was the cause of the water ingress but time will tell. We the hose pipe test going, there was no signs of water.
With the prospect of the water leak being fixed we set a date to take at these electrical issues. Dad also ordered a removable towbar.
I did try and convince to order the electric folding one but he was not having any of it. This is the BMW version.
The weekends task was to remove the carpet and foam on passenger side, double check the electronics under there, fit the towbar, fit new steering wheel buttons, 12v socket (There is 4 in this car) and new stereo knob.
Under the passenger seat is a 2nd battery, some relays and some fuses, because of this the passenger seat's base is hinged. Remove the front bolts and the hole unit will tilt back. So much easier than the drivers side, that thing weighs a ton.
Sorry for the images being a bit patchy but its cause I was concentrating more on not fkn this car up over taking images.
First is to remove the centre console.
Remove all the buttons, covers, vents, trays, arm rests, holders and other cubings from the centre console.
Remove other trims that would possible stop you from removing the carpet and getting a good visual on the cables needed and shove it all in the boot. Its neater than it looks.
With the console removed, seat tilted back, its time to remove the sodden carpet and foam underlay. We was working out the best way to remove the front half of the carpet, we noticed that someone else has removed it before by slicing down the middle so they only had to remove half of the front half of the carpet, over the hole lot. Its ok, made it easier for us, the cut was not to bad but it did make us wonder why someone was poking around under there.
with the carpet up we noticed that someone did poke around with the loom, there was cut cables, bodged tape and bits not put back properly. With this in mind I set about taking the drivers side apart and check that loom over, it also made it easier to look at the Kessy unit and wire in the towbar loom.
On a plus note we found about £3 in change under the drivers seat, this should cover all the broken clips by the last club fisted guy that took this apart.
I did get a bit carried away though, which is fine, cause I got a towbar to wire up.
With both seats up and out of the way we spotted that someone at some point must have had issues with air bag lights cause the cut the cable from air bag plug under the seat and joined the cables.
There was 3 joints found on the Red/Yellow cable where the water got in and corroded the cable on the passenger. It was stripped back and repaired.
Passenger side all loomed back together and ready for the foam and carpet thats been drying in the wet room for the last 24 hours.
Battery tray, relays and fuses under the passenger seat.
Nothing wrong was found on drivers side, all cables was clean and under tampered with, I did find 2 joins but they was clean, I did resolder them just to make sure, sealed put back in the loom.
With the passenger side being rebuilt I set about fitting the towbar cables in to the fuse box and running it down the car towards the boot.
On to the tow bar section of this very long post. Thank you for reading this far.
As a reward here is a random picture of me putting the car back together.
Right, tow bar. We was looking at going genuine VAG and almost bought one but read some good reviews about PF Jones and westfalia towbars. After a bit of reading we've decided to go for one with complete loom to 13pin and 13 to 7 pin converter.
We wanted vag cause it was just plug 'n play 'n walk away. Did not like the idea of cutting in to the back of lights or any thing but the Westfalia towbar came with a loom that integrated with cars loom, just as well as the VAG one. We went for it and was very happy with it.
First is 3 power cables fitted in to the fuse box.
The cable followed the same routing as the cars own loom.
Pictures. This one should be more images and less reading.
Take one Touareg and remove rear lights, mud flaps and and screws thats needed for removal of the rear bumper.
Remove bumper and wonder where the F&*K is the rear bumper bar.
Have a cup of coffee and put the new towbar one on.
Test fitting of removable tow hitch
With bumper off you notice a hole has been cut and think it might have had a tow bar before and they removed it for some dolla.
When the bumper off you cut a even bigger hole for your removable tow hitch.
You can just see it the bigger hole at the bottom.
Bumper work done, cable routed from tow bar in to boot, boot is stripped out ready for cable. Let the routing/cabling commence.
3 power leads routed to the front of the car and wired in to fuse box. With the power cables wired in I can rebuild the front and put the seat base back in and all the control boxes.
Back in the boot I removed the TV, Suspension control unit and routed the cables up to the top of the wheel arch, wired it in to the can bus cables and mounted the tow bar ECU.
With in the kit was the split charge loom which we ran from the rear battery up to the relay which we fitted next to the tow bar ECU.
I used all the same cable channels and routings to try and keep it as close to factory as possible.
Me with a spider nest of cables trying to route it with in the proper cable channels.
then put it all back together.
Pic of the hole where the hitch goes and the 13 pin socket.
And a funky spare wheel that I really want to inflate. lol
We also noticed these little things up and down the car.
Looking on ETKA they are the aerials for Kessy. Which we can't get working.
Noticed as well there has been 3 repairs done to the plugs on the suspension ECU.
I need to get my copy of elsa working but if any one has a working copy of elsa and willing to look up the pin outs for the suspension ECU that would be a great help.
We did the steering wheel switches (no pictures) and fitted a new knob to the stereo (No pictures) with the above, I think its been a very successful weekend.
I ordered a VCDS cable for my dad just before Christmas so I'm waiting for that to turn up then we can do another scan and if our work has many any differences to the error codes.
with the state of the clips, wiring on the passenger side, under the seats, the repair done on the suspension ECU and the length of 3 core house hold cable running from 1 side of the boot to the other, we fear was else we might find in the future but we find it very entertaining and gratifying (I think thats what I mean) when we solve issues and get things back the way they should be.
We currently have a parts list for breakers and a part list for VW.
and a list of things to retrofit.
I hope you all enjoyed this essay. lol
