V10 starting problems.... Help!

4ePikanini · Sep 9, 2015

Brake switch faulty?

Turn the ignition on and listen if you can hear the little solenoid clicking by the shifter when you press the brake pedal and clicking again when you release the brake pedal.

This should also be accompanied by the on/off of the green footbrake light on the speedo cluster.

BigFJS · Sep 9, 2015

Hi Pikanini.

I don't even get the footbrake light on the dash at all ....
It stays with the cream box with white "Touareg" logo ....

I assume it's a different switch from the brake light switch?
That definitely works, as whilst trying to start it, the wall behind me lit up red .... .

No clicking at all when turning ignition key, either direction ...

I am thinking rear battery, or i believe there is a big relay under the seat that has a safety cutout ????

noobytoogy · Sep 9, 2015

But can you hear the clicks by the gear lever as 4eP asked?

As you already know, the front passenger seat battery will indeed start the V10 if the boot battery isn't up to it [assuming the seat battery is in good order!].

BigFJS · Sep 9, 2015

Hi Nooby. Thanks for your help.

No, no clicks from anywhere ... Except ignition barrel when attempting to use key ....
In keyless mode, just radio coming on, nothing else

4ePikanini · Sep 9, 2015

start with the basics. Charge both batteries (front via terminals in engine bay - rear battery is easy to charge) or use some jumpers and check if the problem persists.

dragline1570 · Sep 9, 2015

this may seem odd but disconnect your front battery for 10 secs then reconnect and see if it starts
your issue sounds similar to one I have seen before in another V10 and that was a temp fix to get it restarted.

Regards
drag

wannabe · Sep 9, 2015

Let's forget the discussion in regards which battery does what. I had a problem, replaced the rear battery. Problem continued. When I took out the front (under the seat) battery, the container was half full of acid fluid from an overly stuffed battery! Replaced that battery as well and no problems since. As for the voltage meter - always showed 14v.

BigFJS · Sep 9, 2015

Dragline and wannabe, thanks

I will check front battery condition, and the the disconnect reset this evening after work ....

Thanks

Francis

4ePikanini · Sep 9, 2015

if you are checking the underseat battery you may as well inspect the cut off relay

The "trip switch"

dragline1570 · Sep 9, 2015

BigFJS said:
Dragline and wannabe, thanks

I will check front battery condition, and the the disconnect reset this evening after work ....

Thanks

Francis

What I am suggesting has nothing to do with battery condition or cut out switch under the seat
The disconnection of the front battery acted like a reset for a faulty power control relay that would not allow the car to start.

Regards
Drag

Blownvette · Sep 9, 2015

Diesel_Junkie · Sep 9, 2015

I did end up swapping my underseat battery, (After the trunk battery) and that fixed all my starting problems.
Root cause was the underseat battery.

BigFJS · Sep 10, 2015

Hi guys.
So, 90 minutes of fiddling around on the drvieway last night, and the beast lives!

Both batteries were well charged, but still no good.
Both look reasonably new, definitely not 9 year old originals.

Disconnecting the batteries and "rebooting" the system was the solution.

Thanks dragline, I should have just tried your way first,and not spent so long gaining access to the batteries to test things with a voltmeter ....

Still, I now know where a few things are hidden for the next little piece of VW TLC.

Dragline, did your problem turn out to be a battery of reduced capacity, or an electronics fault in the power controller? And did it happen frequently?

Anyway

Thanks guys

BigFJS · Sep 10, 2015

Just out of interest, the under seat electrical distribution is a little different on mine to pikanini's photo ....

And no obvious reset button to the over current device ....

dragline1570 · Sep 10, 2015

BigFJS said:
Hi guys.
So, 90 minutes of fiddling around on the drvieway last night, and the beast lives!

Both batteries were well charged, but still no good.
Both look reasonably new, definitely not 9 year old originals.

Disconnecting the batteries and "rebooting" the system was the solution.

Thanks dragline, I should have just tried your way first,and not spent so long gaining access to the batteries to test things with a voltmeter ....

Still, I now know where a few things are hidden for the next little piece of VW TLC.

Dragline, did your problem turn out to be a battery of reduced capacity, or an electronics fault in the power controller? And did it happen frequently?

Anyway

Thanks guys

I never did pinpoint the customers exact issue but once he realised that just disconnecting the front battery for a few seconds then reconnecting fixed the issue he put in a small battery isolator on the earth cable and just used that to disconnect reconnect when he needed to. Didn't need to lift the seat then just a 20 sec exercise when it did it every few weeks or so.
I believe it is a sticky relay under the dash in the power control module area.

regards
Drag

4ePikanini · Sep 10, 2015

yes, yours looks different as you have the dual battery setup.

Scottoc · Apr 21, 2018

4ePikanini said:
Brake switch faulty?

Turn the ignition on and listen if you can hear the little solenoid clicking by the shifter when you press the brake pedal and clicking again when you release the brake pedal.

This should also be accompanied by the on/off of the green footbrake light on the speedo cluster.

I am having the same dreaded intermittent starting problem on my 2008 V10.

Barons Culemborg had the car for a while and the car did nothing wrong while there. Typical...

I had the car at Ferolli's where it did nothing wrong again. Typical...

My mechanic buddy, who also has a V10, picked the car up and had it for a couple weeks and drove it around like his own. And the car did nothing wrong. Typical...

I recently noticed that there is sometimes the clicking noise at the gear shift so I have started doing some research myself and your answer has intrigued me. I am unfortunately out of the country so there is not much more I can do other than more research, but could you expand on what the solenoid clicking is and what we should be doing next?

Scottoc · Apr 30, 2018

Hey 4ePikanini

Have you got some advice on what I should be doing to confirm whether or not the solenoid is the root of my starting problems? I have been doing some more research but not really getting anything clear

fjfonline · Jun 20, 2021

dragline1570 said:
I never did pinpoint the customers exact issue but once he realised that just disconnecting the front battery for a few seconds then reconnecting fixed the issue he put in a small battery isolator on the earth cable and just used that to disconnect reconnect when he needed to. Didn't need to lift the seat then just a 20 sec exercise when it did it every few weeks or so.
I believe it is a sticky relay under the dash in the power control module area.

regards
Drag

Now I have the same problem. It will start in the morning and after reaching operationing temperature it won't start when you try to. But it will start when it sits for a few hours. And it will always start when using a lithium portable jump starter.
Batteries are fully charged and both are new. The car starts in the morning but when you kill it after arriving somewhere it won't start anymore and behaves as if it has dead batteries. The "turn the key to the left and turn to the right" method does not work too. But if the car cools down for a few hours it will start a s normal

Singh · Jun 20, 2021

Run a scan? Could be a temp sensor issue

V10 starting problems.... Help!

4ePikanini

BigFJS

noobytoogy

BigFJS

4ePikanini

dragline1570

wannabe

BigFJS

4ePikanini

dragline1570

Blownvette

Diesel_Junkie

BigFJS

BigFJS

Attachments

dragline1570

4ePikanini

Scottoc

Scottoc

fjfonline

Singh

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