SEAT Electrical Issues
Discussion
Hi, I have a SEAT Ibiza FR 2.0 and I have been having multiple electrical issues over the past few months and I am quite concerned. Please help!
- Electrical issues
1. Steering wheel locks up while driving and the light is displayed on dashboard.
2. Every dashboard light flashes up, my window wipers turn on, radio restarts itself and my car makes a strange noise like a frequency wave. Sometimes I just get the lights flash up but don't notice anything else.
The only methods I've found to unlock the steering wheel is by either slowing right down to almost a stop and then turning the wheel, or by restarting the engine while the car is moving. I have noticed that while not moving at traffic lights, if I wiggle my gear stick I get lights flash up on my dashboard, I don't know if this is related? I also find that it mostly locks up when I put my foot down in first gear to pull away quickly or as I shift into second gear and put my foot down. I don't have any issues with performance though, just the electrics.
I have replaced my alternator as I suspected this was the problem, but still not resolved. I replaced my starter motor and car battery around 6 months ago after my engine wouldn't start, and I feel like this has only happened since then.
Please can someone offer advice?
By the "steering locks up" do you mean the power steering switches off (making the steering heavy but still movable) or the steering lock engages?
Usually when you have multiple seemingly unrelated electrical problems it turns out to be a earth fault of some sort.
Usually when you have multiple seemingly unrelated electrical problems it turns out to be a earth fault of some sort.
Edited by kambites on Tuesday 10th December 15:20
The steering wheel pretty much locks up, I can only turn it slightly to the left or right with a lot of force, but I definitely couldn't turn it to a 90 degree angle.
Do you think it's possible that I bought the wrong battery or didn't connect it up properly? It just seems strange that it's mostly just my steering wheel that will has issues. The flashing lights on the dashboard doesn't affect my driving, but sometimes the radio will restart itself. Occasionally my radio will restart and I have to go through the setup process on there, setting the date/time etc. That usually only occurs when you unplug the battery.
Do you think it's possible that I bought the wrong battery or didn't connect it up properly? It just seems strange that it's mostly just my steering wheel that will has issues. The flashing lights on the dashboard doesn't affect my driving, but sometimes the radio will restart itself. Occasionally my radio will restart and I have to go through the setup process on there, setting the date/time etc. That usually only occurs when you unplug the battery.
Don't know if it could be related at all but at a friends workshop there was a SEAT estate (sorry don't know the model) which had encountered what I was told is a common problem with some SEATs.
A leek in the water temp sensor allows coolant to seep in to the signal wire which then due to capillary action makes its way up to and in to the ECU causing utter havoc with all the electrics - disco dashlights we called it.
We ended up pulling the ECU, it was behind some fire/sound proofing behind the scuttle between the wind screen wipers (if that makes any sense to its location in the engine bay).
New 2nd hand ECU, rewired the ECU plug wire by wire (as it was corroded to fvck) and then got a clever lad in who had a snap-on computer to reset all the error codes.
Car started on first turn of the key once he'd done his magic.
That was our scenario, I've no idea if you have similar a problem - it might be worth taking off a few bits of trim to get a look at the ECU to see if it looks like a water problem.
HTH
A leek in the water temp sensor allows coolant to seep in to the signal wire which then due to capillary action makes its way up to and in to the ECU causing utter havoc with all the electrics - disco dashlights we called it.
We ended up pulling the ECU, it was behind some fire/sound proofing behind the scuttle between the wind screen wipers (if that makes any sense to its location in the engine bay).
New 2nd hand ECU, rewired the ECU plug wire by wire (as it was corroded to fvck) and then got a clever lad in who had a snap-on computer to reset all the error codes.
Car started on first turn of the key once he'd done his magic.
That was our scenario, I've no idea if you have similar a problem - it might be worth taking off a few bits of trim to get a look at the ECU to see if it looks like a water problem.
HTH
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