MY 2004 D3 electrical gremlins
 

I think my D3 is telling me its time to be sold, I have had her for 4 and half years now.

Latest problem.

Driving in stop and start traffic, out of the blue up will pop a series of faults on the DIS in the following order.

Headlight range control defective
Parking Brake Fault
And another I cannot remember.

ABS and ESP lights then come on in addition to the warning, and you cannot engage ACC cruise control.

The parking brake still works perfectly fine, if you turn off the engine before engaging.

I drove for three hours yesterday morning in regular traffic, and the car drove perfectly with no faults. I got stuck in traffic going to work, and within just a few minutes up pop the faults. The only thing I can think of is that in traffic the brake pedal is being used a lot more than when in motion, can a faulty brake switch cause this?

Yes it can - and has done to my D3 - or at least the ABS and ESP lights part can be (I think that the Headlight range and Parking brake may well be seperate faults)
and the brake switch isn't too expensive or difficult to change so I'd definitely start with that first +++

Your adaptive cruise won't work of there is known issues with the ABS and ESP for safety reasons I would have thought

I agree with Neil, first stop would be VCDS scan to see what errors are logged as brake switch defects will be logged in that

I've got an old dodgy copy of vcds, I'll try and scan the car later and post the results.

I'll be down to Beaulieu at the weekend on Sunday at the show otherwise Manny and will happily catch up and plug in my vagcom for you somewhere if that helps, just let me know +++

I wouldn't be certain about the brake switch, when mine went the gearbox went into limp mode. I drove it to the garage thinking the gearbox was toast. I was thrilled to be told it just needed a brake switch.

Today I finally got around to scanning the car. Sorry i am not Beulieu, I've got a job application to finish off and my CV as unemployment looms.

I have attached the log, but aside from the usual issues my D3 has and those relating to low battery as the car is hardly used one stands out like a sore thumb.

Address 03: ABS Brakes Labels: 4E0-910-517.lbl
Part No SW: 4E0 910 517 A HW: 4E0 614 517 A
Component: ESP 5.7 allrad H29 0420
Coding: 0008597
Shop #: WSC 02313 000 00000
VCID: 214DE1B78159

1 Fault Found:
00290 - ABS Wheel Speed Sensor; Rear Left (G46)
012 - Electrical Fault in Circuit - Intermittent

That is the obvious stand out, how easy is that sensor to sort or check the wiring connections?

Perhaps if someone else could review the whole log I would feel happier.

With the fault present I can clear the ABS sensor fault but as soon as you close the controller it returns. However after the car has gone fully to sleep the fault is no longer current and will drive fine again until it recurs.

Well as you suspect I'd say most of that will clear ok other than the abs sensor and level control pressure and temp warning I would be too concerned.

the abs sensor may be faulty but worth checking the contacts for grime or corrosion.

The door handles quite possibly are dragging down the battery.

The rear parking sensor can be changed assuming its it at fault without removing the bumper, well it can be on the S8 bumper.

Once you sort the the abs out the headlight and acc should start behaving too.

The level control pressure sensor one I had before, and I had the bagpipingandy rebuild kit fitted more than 4 years ago. The cause then was low pressure output from the compressor.

The overtemp must be caused by the system trying to build up pressure after not being run for nearly 2 weeks. Whilst left for this long the car does drop a little.

I maybe selling the car soon, but I do want to have a car that does not beep loudly in slow or stationary traffic. As it stands now, it may well fail the MOT as it is unpredictable how long the ABS light remains off after starting the car, and the next MOT is due soon.

Wheel bearing?