Steering angle sensor Reset

[andy_garm]

Hi all, this may end up being a long one so will try and keep it brief!
long story short I had the yellow steering light come on some time ago and in turn the ESP light with it.
took it to my usual mechanic who read the fault codes and said I needed a new steering angle sensor or at least that's what the car is saying. He ordered the part from the main dealer as it was the only option and then fitted it a few days later. Picked the car up as you would and I seem to remember the light was now out. A few starts later and the lights have returned and I then took the car back for another look. He said the car was still saying it needed a steering angle sensor with fault code 00778. At this point he decided I think to take the car to a vw specialist garage 20 yards away ( which I would think would be probing the cars computer as a favour as normally happens between local trades) as they had a bigger better machine for such purposes than his small handheld unit. As they could not sort it I think between them they decided that the part that had been fitted was also faulty as this is what the cars computer was saying. My mechanic said he knew someone at the dealer and would try and get it sorted by him but somehow I ended up being told vw would only replace the sensor after they had looked at the car to confirm fault at a cost of 75 I suspect plus vat!
i begrudged paying this initially as I had found that once both light had come on after starting that the steering light would go out after a while ( about 30 seconds or 1/4 mile not sure which ) and then once this light was out I could restart the car quickly and the ESP light would then stay out! Safety issue now solved I decided to plod on like this for about two months and here I am now still with the same problem to sort. Now I was told and did believe at the time that if the art did turn out to be faulty then vw would replace the part themselves on the car at their labour expense to rectify and nothing would need to be paid. However after a little research on the net I discovered a reset procedure for this part which I mentioned to my mechanic and he said 'yes it is possible there is a procedure so bring it in and we could give it a go'. I never got round to taking it back to him as I had learned to live with the restarting procedure but now I am putting the car up for sale I really need to sort it out. I could still take his offer of taking it to vw and paying the fee which would be waived if the part was faulty as the part had a Years warranty but here's my theory.
i smell a rat here - I think I would have taken the car to the dealer and they would state that the part was not faulty and it needed to be reset ( yes I think I hear you say what's wrong there ? ) well I don't think I need to pay the 75 fee to be told they simply spent 2 mins programming the part as my mechanic could not do it! I think maybe my mechanic doesn't have an adequate machine for doing the programming as I'm sure the machine would have told him about the reset procedure and is more of a code reader / light resetting tool (yes you do get what you pay for sometimes ) so hence my post to establish if what I suspect could be correct and if so can I just go somewhere where they do understand the problem and pay a more reasonable amount to get it programmed ? Anybody know anywhere in Norwich that has the required hardware?
just to add the all important background info!
car is a vw Touran 2004 1.9 tdi pd engine.
Not sure what the handheld scanner that was initially used was.
The light do not always come on and are not at the moment but don't want to sell the car like it is!
Any help gratefully received. Thank you in advance.
Just pay the dealer fee and have done I hear - yes if i Could afford it I would but was made redundant last year and am still out of work so I need to save as much as possible. I am only selling the car as I can no longer afford to run a car.

[phil miller]

it sounds like you just need the basic setting carried out, as detailed below

VW Golf (1K) Steering Assist - Ross-Tech Wiki

without seeing the data, thats where id start

[andy_garm]

Hi phil - thanks for your help. I was hoping it was just something as simple as needing the basic settings but I have just paid my mechanic a visit to confirm whether these settings had been done and he has confirmed that at the time he did not have a sufficient machine to do the settings, but it was taken to a vw Audi specialist garage over the way from him who do have a vcds computer and they did do the basic settings! Does anyone have any other ideas as I am looking to sell my car and its probably going to be an issue!
more info - the light is out at the moment nod if it does come back I can get it out by waiting for the orange steering light to go out and then restarting the car! It then will sometimes stay out for many days or it might need me to do this several times before it will stay out!
Many thanks in advance.