Alarm goes off when I lock my 02 Passat

[derekjohn37]

The alarm on my 2002 TDi Passat went off today in the drive for no apparent reason. When I unlocked the car it stopped but when I locked it again it went off imediately. I can now not lock my car without setting off the alarm. I have checked that the doors, boot and bonnet are all correcly closed but still no luck.
Any ideas?
:confused:

Please Help

[Sam]

The alarm on my 2002 TDi Passat went off today in the drive for no apparent reason. When I unlocked the car it stopped but when I locked it again it went off imediately. I can now not lock my car without setting off the alarm. I have checked that the doors, boot and bonnet are all correcly closed but still no luck.
Any ideas?
:confused:

Please Help

Sit in the car and turn it on, does the display show that you have anything open?

Check for dampness in your footwells.

Possibly a faulty microswitch somewhere.

HTH
Sam

[derekjohn37]

Thanks Sam. The display does not indicate that any anything is open and I cannot find any damp in the foot wells.
The problem did go away last night and was ok this morning but at about mid-day the alarm went off again (no one was near it) and I haven't been able to lock it again tonight.
I am interested in your suggestion that it may be linked to dampness. I live up in Scotland and we have has some very heavy rain over the last couple of days. Dampness shorting something may explain the intermittent nature of the problem. Do you have any idea where in the car this is likely to be affecting the alarm?

Cheers
Derek

[Sam]

Derek,

If you can, pull up the carpet in the driver's footwell.

This post http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=607 should help you on your way, but do post again if you don't get anywhere.

HTH
Sam

[Brian Rouse]

I had a similar problem. Water was was leaking through the pollen trap gasket on the bulkhead. There are a lot of multiplugs in the passenger fotwell behind a plastic kick plate. The grey one is from the bonnet lock sensor. This was corroded but cleaning and spraying with WD40 seems to have sorted it out.

[derekjohn37]

Thanks. I'll have a good look this weekend and let you know if I have any luck.

[DRSWANSTON]

I recently discovered that this appears to be a standard fault with this model (2001 saloon Passat). The water leak leads to ( amongst other things) (i) alarm problems (ii) all sorts of other 'mysterious ' electrical faults(iii) Wet carpet in passenger footwell .
When this happened to me the VW emergency chap said he sees a lot of these faults " some have a couple of inches of water in the footwell " The alarm/locking system etc apparently has its own (very inaccessible ) battery which will flatten if the alarm goes off ever few minutes all night as happened to me .

This leak could be due to (a) poor design (b) Poor Manufacture (c) poor maintenance
None of these should be charged to the owner/user .
Verdict: It should have been the subject of a recall or " at next service fix"

I think all user landed with these associated problems should press VW for action Any helpful comments welcome

[richieb]

hi im having the same problem with my 01 estate :banghead: i was just wondering if your boot hatch is working or maybe this is a seperate problem for me ill b takin my carpets out at work tommorow and ill see if ive any water there hope u get yours sorted :drive:

[DRSWANSTON]

If you take up the carpet front passenger area and ease back the plastic trim on the vertical panel just in from the door you should see a lot of electrics ie connectors . These include ( I think ) all sorts of stuff like alarm , door locking etc . If water gets in above this area ( ie from the Pollen Filter Housing) it will seep down to these connectors, which are NOT waterproof) If that happens it will 'connect' wires that should not be connected and thus make things happen in an unpredictable way . This seems to explain many many reported faults with this series . If the water leak is small ( ie a fewdrops) this will in fact be worse because it will be that much more difficult to find out what is causing these mysterious faults, and when the car gets hotter inside the tiny drops of water will evaporate and 'bingo' ..." No fault " ...Until it cools down , goes though a rain storm or whatever. This is a fault that VW should have admitted and done a "recall" or " fix at next service" bulletin to dealers . Tell any one you know who has this model about this and ask them to contribute here . Cheers

[Dozz]

Don't think theres any chance of vw owning up to this. From the service histroy on mine it looks like i had the same problem and they charged over 300 quid to fix. Prob to good an earner to turn down. Also if they do make it a recall will they refund the money to people who have already paid for it to be fixed????? I think we all know the answer to that question

[pol66]

hi im having the same problem with my 01 estate :banghead: i was just wondering if your boot hatch is working or maybe this is a seperate problem for me ill b takin my carpets out at work tommorow and ill see if ive any water there hope u get yours sorted :drive: hello i am also having the same problems as you. i have a 01 passat estate the carpet in the back passenger side is soaking as is the front.did you get yours sorted?

[DRSWANSTON]

The short answer is no , I could not get my dealer or the Country dealer to take any notice. I have given up on this . Next car will be another maker perhaps Honda , If I live that long !!

[pol66]

hi dozz,i am having problems with my 01 passat estate. the front and back passenger carpet is soaking wet,the alarm goes off every now and then. i was wondering if you had the same problems with your car, i would love to get this sorted as i cant even sell it due to this problem. yours pol66

[richieb]

hi pol66 ive sortof got my passat fixed im fortunate and in the motor trade and have been able to make friends with my local dealer ship and one of the mechanics is helping me by borrowing the diagnostic vw tool:D as ive already got a new ccm and repared all the wiring .the diagnostic tool is used to reprogram the new ccm to the main ecu and keys.
if you lift your carpet ont he passenger side foot well you will find its wet(mine was nearly an inch deep in water and the module inside its sealed(ha ha :confused: ha)box was full and green but my carpets felt dry.
rty seeing if any of the mechanics in your dealer ship are up for a forgener most of us are! good luck.:biggthump
ps my ccm cost £190 from vw trade dont be robbed!
pps if your going to trade the car in (i didnt tell youthis)if you get in your car with the carpet up and the module still conected with the key out of the ignition and all of the doors locked and windows shut you can disconect the plugs from the module and every thing except for the alarm and the remote control will work(eg cenral locking/windows/boot release)

[Rog le Vin]

Just bought a 2002 estate, guess what alarm goes off randomly. Will try water in footwell search but also suspect faulty sensor. Does anyone know what these sensors are? Can't see the old button microswitch on doors/boot/bonnet.
UPDATE
1 week later sorted! Wet footwell and water had corroded the grey connector behind the left side front footwell trim.
Interestingly VW gave me the new gasket gear for the pollen filter housing where the water was pouring in!!
Repaired pollen filter housing and replaced corroded connector with a new connector(not from VW) and everything now OK

[johnb]

Hi All.
Guess what?
I have a 2001 Passat SE Saloon and the Alarm started going off last week for no apparent reason every time I locked the car.:(
Pulling Fuse 14 enabled me to lock the car with key only when parking up until I got the problem sorted, but beware as this disables the Alarm function.
Checked the passenger and drivers side footwells under the carpets but both were bone dry - no sign of any water ingress.:confused:
Puzzled I had to take it to my local Auto- Electrician.
They discovered a short in the Alarm wiring behind the Dash and sorted the problem for me ( cost £132 :( ).
The following day I had a problem with the Indicators flashing erratically and stopping on occassion - had to buy a new hazard relay switch to sort it ( cost £15 from VW :( ).
I used to like my Passat but I am now not so sure - had a Honda Accord prior to this and never had any problems at all - will think twice before buying another VW.

[Doh]

Hi all, sorry to drag up an old thread, been having alarm problems for months but never had any damp issues till today when i noticed the passenger footwell was damp! my car is actualy booked in for a lube service tomorrow (70k 1.9 TDI 2002) do you think i should up it to the one with the computer check and get VW to sort it? or should i have a go a tackling the problem myself (i'm pretty handy with the spanners)

also this morning i had a warning come on te dash "Engine Workshop!" for a couple of seconds, then go offer... never had this before, to u think its related? or another fault...

jez and i bought a VW cos there supposed to be reliably ive only had it 6 months!

[Rog le Vin]

Hi all, sorry to drag up an old thread, been having alarm problems for months but never had any damp issues till today when i noticed the passenger footwell was damp! my car is actualy booked in for a lube service tomorrow (70k 1.9 TDI 2002) do you think i should up it to the one with the computer check and get VW to sort it? or should i have a go a tackling the problem myself (i'm pretty handy with the spanners)

also this morning i had a warning come on te dash "Engine Workshop!" for a couple of seconds, then go offer... never had this before, to u think its related? or another fault...

jez and i bought a VW cos there supposed to be reliably ive only had it 6 months!

DOH,
99% certain you've got the dreaded pollen filter gasket leak. Its relatively easy to sort, awkward rather than difficult so it takes time. To sort do the following:-
1.Visit www.weirdlittlebiscuit.com/passat/leak/index.htm (http://www.weirdlittlebiscuit.com/passat/leak/index.htm) to clear all the accumulated sludge around the pollen filter housing and the 2 bulkhead drain holes.
2. Renew the pollen filter housing to bulkhead gasket with whatever vw currently give you. This is where the water gets in, runs down the wiring loom, connectors and fills the passenger footwell.
3. Remove trim left hand side passenger footwell (and glove box) to expose lots of wiring harness connectors.
4. Lift passenger footwell carpet and insulation to expose ecu box inside a non watertight plastic box! and wiring loom.
5. Disconnect ecu box.(don't worry you don't have to have it reprogrammed unless you need a new box.
6. Dry out the footwell (The carpet and padding will take a couple of days)Take the tapes off the wiring loom in the footwell, spread the wires out and let them dry. Some wires you will see have joints in them with a little sleeve over, check for corrosion.
7. Open up each connector exposed in 3 above and check for corrosion. WD 40 it before you close it. I found the grey connector, this carries alarm, aircon and other bits of info for the ecu, (bottom right as you look at them) badly corroded and replaced it with a power connector from maplins electronics, the vw repair kit is unneccessarily fiddly.
8. Let everything dry out and presto you'll be in love again with it.
9. Or you can give it to vw to sort but have big bucks ready, over £1000 not unusual.

[Doh]

Hi, yeah i managed to find the time to have a go managed to get the battery out and my rubber gommit thinks weren't too bad, but there was loadsa crud round the pollen filter and the glove box was full of water that i hadn't noticed... i got the carpets ups and it was soaking! all the electrics were wet, i dryed everything out but couldn't find the ECU ?

i couldn't for the life of my figure out how to get the pollen filter holder out :(

looks like the problems temporaryly sorted at least, the carpets stayed sry and the alarm hasn't gone off so far...

unfortunately my engine light came on again but i think this is unrelated is i've got like a missfire on full engine load :(

[katies dad]

I've only owned my 2001 Passat Saloon for a month. The day after a very wet drive home from Edinburgh, my car alarm activated for no reason. The car was started and then switched off and this seemed to solve the problem. A few days later whilst cleaning the inside, I discovered that the carpet in the front passenger footwell was damp.

Through this forum, I was able to identify the problem and explain to the mechanic who services my car what I thought it was. He unblocked the drain holes which were totally blocked and all for forty quid.

I dried everything else with a hair drier, and touch wood, all seems ok.

My question is this. Does anybody know how often should the drain holes be cleaned out?

[Sam]

I've only owned my 2001 Passat Saloon for a month. The day after a very wet drive home from Edinburgh, my car alarm activated for no reason. The car was started and then switched off and this seemed to solve the problem. A few days later whilst cleaning the inside, I discovered that the carpet in the front passenger footwell was damp.

Through this forum, I was able to identify the problem and explain to the mechanic who services my car what I thought it was. He unblocked the drain holes which were totally blocked and all for forty quid.

I dried everything else with a hair drier, and touch wood, all seems ok.

My question is this. Does anybody know how often should the drain holes be cleaned out?

I check mine when just before autumn starts or if I've been parked under trees for a long time.

The first time I checked they were blocked solid (thankfully I escaped the wet footwell saga) and they've been empty every time I've checked since.

[kriskros]

I am suferring this same intermittent alarm fault when i lock/unlock the car. The VW dealer have suggested i should replace the CCU (Convenience Control Unit) at great expense although they were quick to offer some good will - £140 off part and labour. An independant dealer suggested i sort out a leak in the first instance. This happened just the once with a pool of water appearing one morning, after a particularly heavy night of rain, in the drivers foot well. Apparently the water can traverse the floor pan and soak the protective padding surrounding the CCU, which sits in front of the passenger seat under the carpet, and which acts like a sponge to any moisture. Immediatley before the alarm/CCU fault the remote control on the key packed up although the VW dealer denied this was in anyway linked to the current problems.

[Doh]

i did get mine sorted by just replacing the gasket under the pollen filter, the filter holder was a right pain to get out... VW now supply a putty type substance off the roll, i did get a meter for free which i was qutie pleased about. drove round for for a month with the carpet up and the hole gaffer taped up to dry it out. I then fitted the new gasket and put it all back together since its been fine.

VW also suggested the CCU might be shot due to water damage however i've not had any problems so must have got lucky :)

[blackmontiva]

Having done a quick google search on the faults described by local VW dealer I came across this thread. Again a 2001 Passat (1.8T). Battery had already been replaced by Green Flag after failing to start but alarm problem started again a week later. Had raised the issue with dealer several months before (e.g. water in passenger foot well) but they said they couldn't see anything wrong and vaguely mentioned tightening something up to my partner. Looking at a bill of £500 to rectify (not 6 months since having a spent a few hundred pounds on emissions warning light repeatedly coming on). Passats are a comfortable drive but can be plagued with costly and obscure faults. I will contact the VW group to seek a goodwill payment for a known fault (they've changed the location of the pollen filter on the new model apparently). Has anybody had any joy in getting some form of compensation for this?

[styloa]

Thanks to johnb I may get some sleep still tonight ;-) Fuse 14 is a life saver...

With the alarm blaring every 15 - 30 minues since 2am my neighbours must be well pleased. Only got it silenced now (5:30am) after a quick google search that led me to this forum.

My 53 reg passat started doing the erratic alarm thing a few days ago. It is booked in with VW. On the phone they did mention water as a suspect now that I think of it. Will check under carpets later today.

[styloa]

Ok, pasenger footwell soaked. CCU was dry still, but a couple of connectors to the left of the glove box were wet. After a bit of fiddling managed to trace the leak to the gasket under the pollen filter. In my case it was a sponge type gasket???? It was completly soaked and when sqeezed released loads of water..... surely VW was not planing on this ever getting wet?

Replaced the gasket with a generous helping of silicone. Hope I never have to take it off agian ;-) Left a heater in the car overnight + a bit of help from a hairdryier sorted the carpets out.

IMHO - the design of this air intake is rather poor. A proper rubber seal would have been all that was needed under the pollen filter.

ALSO - did anyone ever have trouble with water leaking into the filter itself? It just looks open and vulnerable. In fact VW have a gutter type thingy fitted over the top of it - looks like they worry about watter leaking under the windscreen and into the filter.... to me it looks like it is begging for a full plastic cover over the top of the filter, with air vents on the front/sides rather than leaving it all open on the top...

But than agian who am I to question "vorsprung durch technik".

[Dave Elcome]

ALSO - did anyone ever have trouble with water leaking into the filter itself? It just looks open and vulnerable.

Yes, all the time. I live on a hill and my car is parked facing downhill, which encourages water to 'overflow' into the pollen filter housing.



to me it looks like it is begging for a full plastic cover over the top of the filter, with air vents on the front/sides rather than leaving it all open on the top...

I agree, and understand that earlier models had a cover?? however I applied a bit of lateral thinking. As stated above I live on a hill, and to be honest I don't think I was ever going to cure this problem. The car has had a complete new Pollen filter housing and seals, a new lower screen scuttle moulding, (the black thing), and 15 tons of mastic sealer around the pollen filter housing, but it still leaked. After hours of pouring water over it, I realised that it was dripping onto the pollen filter and causing a puddle in the base of the housing if the car was parked for long enough, (sometimes I don't use it for a week at a time) then this puddle could get big enough to leak into the car, other times there would be a puddle, but this would only get dislodged when you drove the car. I then though, 'OK, if you want to leak do so', so I drilled 3 10mm holes in the base of the pollen filter housing, thus any water that gets in, can now run away instead of forming a puddle, and then running into the car when you move it.


I don't want to count my chickens too early, but so far so good. :biglaugh:

[TONE]

how annoying is this problem,mine has taken to alarm going off at all hours in the night, finally lifted carpet in passenger footwell after reading threads on this site....... wot a suprise 10mm of water sat happily corroding joints in wiring from ccu,this would explain alarm going off and doors not opening intermittently... sorted wires next job is to clear drains from pollen filter and local river overflowing if it keeps raining

[sdi2]

Just found this thread.
I have an 02 v6 tdi passat.
Guess what, the alarm goes off randomly, not had a chance to look at the footwells yet.
I like this car, but it seems to have more than its fair share of faults.
Gearbox pinion bearings replaced £1200
Break in by hammering screwdriver into door lock and opening windows, this has the added benefit of disabling the alarm. Known easy way of breaking in. New door needed.
Now the alarm appears to be suffering from water ingress.

I will think twice before buying vw again.

Nick.