Esp light illuminated

[rhencullen1989]

Hi, the wife was driving the car today and the ESP light came on.

I took it out tonight for a few miles and it did not come on, it works fine on the button.

Is this perhaps related to the brake light switch that i have read about. I was going to leave it and see if it comes on again, then perhaps put a new brake light switch in and see if that cures it. Any ideas anyone?

[pippip]

Yeh its probably the brake light switch. Have the same problem myself at the moment. Resets whenever the ignition is turned off but randomly comes on. Vagcom confirms the code if you can get it plugged in.

Part is very cheap and a very easy diy. Hoping to do it myself soon, just cant find the time. Plenty of guides around.

[spanishfly]

Sorry to sound 'stupid' but as A breakdown person I get this alot... any chance it could have been the ESP actually kicking in due to snow/ice and wheel spin?

[neilos100]

I agree but I doubt you'll get a reply.....post was made 3 years ago......:D

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[neilos100]

Ignore me! Using my phone....I now realise its February 9th! :banghead: its early for me! :o

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[spanishfly]

lol

[rhencullen1989]

Hi, thanks for the advice, its a quattro with new vredesteins sessanta's, and the wife was driving with our daughter, so unlikely to be dropping the clutch @ 6000 rpm!!!! or driving hard enough to cause the wheels to spin up. I think (and hope) this is due to the brake light switch, although it has not illuminated since, unless my 7 yr old daughter reached over and pressed the button without the mrs noticing...........

[pippip]

They can stay off for months at a time. I had it come on last winter a good few times and it never came on during the summer....really cant make out why temp would make a difference. Then on again nearly everyday this winter. Have my NCT (irish mot) at the end of the month so have to get it sorted.

[neilos100]

If you aren't on winter rubber, temperature makes a huge difference. Summer tyres have a harder rubber compound which when cold gets even harder.....thus causing the tyre to have much less grip. If any one of the 4 on a quattro touches a patch of ice, the ESP light will activate as power is cut to that wheel to stop spin.

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[spanishfly]

as above. did it flash up, or stay on?

[pippip]

On mine it Stays on and wont turn off until restarting the car. I know when flashing its working

[rabmurray9121]

I have the same problem it comes on after driving about 3 mile and it stays on until the ingition is turned off and back on again, my car is fitted with winter tyres and the temp is plus 11 so i would not have hit a patch of ice

[niall campbell]

Unless you hook it up to a computer, you will never know. Once stability is recovered the light should go off. It can be caused by a hill start in rain, if slippy

[rabmurray9121]

It is happening on a good flat road, i dont have VCDS only a little hand held scanner which i will try tomorrow to see if i have any codes

[niall campbell]

get up to about 40 mph and jump hard on brakes to see if it clears on dry road

[rabmurray9121]

i scanned the car today and found 2 fault codes 00526 (brake light switch intermittent) & 01616 (sensor wire fault) this is why my internal lights come on when the car is in reverse only discovered this after i cleared both faults. I then took the car for a 10 mile drive and then did a rescan and none of the faults have come back on and i hope it stays this way ;)

[rabmurray9121]

Thats another 20 miles covered with no more faults