Golf 1.4 55 ESP light

[kumarj]

Hi, this is my first post so please take it easy on me if I have done something dense. My brother-in-laws Golf has the ESP (skidding car icon) on his dash for the past couple of weeks and obviously pressing the ESP button makes no difference. The ABS light comes on and goes off as normal. I have scanned it with VCDS but NO fault appears. I know VCDS works because it found a fault on my car (Passat). I have checked fuses/wiring harness but found nothing. Having gone through a lot of posts it appears that it might be the ABS ecu. The dilema is do I take it to VW for a scan for £70-£80 quid or what ever they charge or just send the ABS ecu to be repaired? The car has only done 17,000 miles but has missed one service and has been serviced by non VW dealers so getting a reasonable discount or done free is going to be hard. Is there anything I have missed? Can anybody help?

Any feedback would be great......

[kumarj]

Anybody? Looks like VW might win this one unless someone can help.

:confused:

[ChicksFan]

For anyone getting nowhere with their dealer with this problem, ECU Testing will re-engineer and rebuild your existing unit for £350.
If you were to have a new one fitted by VW for £1000 +, the design fault would still apparently be there in the new unit and so you could fairly assume that failure would take place again in another 4 - 5 years.
With your own unit re-engineered by ECU Testing you can reasonably expect no repeat of the problem.

http://ecutesting.com/ate_abs_pumps___modules.html (http://ecutesting.com/ate_abs_pumps___modules.html)

[VAGMAN54]

normally a faulty abs unit brings a fault code of g201 brake pressure sensor,what version of vcds are you using ?

[kumarj]

Thanks for the replies chaps. I have just found out that it will not read the Golf because it is CAN based. I am using VCDS Lite and the cheap blue cable from flea bay which I have had for years and has worked great from my old Audi to my Passat. It will read the Golf Engine but not the ABS. Having read through loads of threads it seems the only thing it can be is the ABS module which can be repaired as mentioned by ChicksFan. What I am trying to get at is, is it worth bothering to read the ABS module only to find out it is the one faulty? Is there anything else it can be? Shall I just send the unit to ECU Testing and get it repaired?

[VAGMAN54]

if you know someone who can scan it for you cheap then thats gotta be your best bet,otherwise its a guess and an expensive one if its just a brake light switch or a steering angle sensor ......................what im saying is guesswork is always expensive your better of knowing and not guessing............

[kumarj]

Yeah VAGMAN54 you are right. Maybe I am thinking of the worst senario when it could be something simple. Anyway, I will try and locate somebody local that will scan it fully with a decent reader and I will let you know the outcome. Thanks for you advice.

[VAGMAN54]

advice is always free on the forum ......look forward to hearing from you :beerchug:

[kumarj]

Just had the car scanned (by a smartbox thingy......it was the cheapest option) and the fault came up as Brake pressure sender G201. Looks like my brother-in-law will have to start saving! Is £350 (as posted by chicksfan) the cheapest I can get it done for him?