instrument brake light & epc light

5242 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by billymade, Sep 23, 2014

AVATR

Discussion Starter · Sep 21, 2014

My son's car was totaled 2 weeks ago. No one hurt and other persons fault.

Anyway, we found a 2001 VW beetle, 5 speed, no-turbo, trade-in, power windows, sunroof, etc. Clean Car Fax with all maintenance done by a VW dealer in another state. He loves the car, (his second Beetle) and frankly I would rather drive it than my much more expensive Japanese car.

We owned the car less than a week, took it in for an oil change, went to pick it up and the panel brake light was own. It wasn't before the oil change. The epc light also is on plus an annoying beep and the A/C wouldn't blow cold air.

Our mechanic, not a VW dealership, found a diagnosis test code of P0571 and replaced the brake light switch. There was a fuse blown in the A/C.

I made the mistake of letting our son drive away from the mechanic as I normally do a test drive myself first. Our son isn't mechanically inclined.

The brake warning light came back on with the beep pretty much right away as I understand it from our son. Not sure about the A/C.

Any ideas?

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billymade

· #2 · Sep 21, 2014

Scan the car for current trouble codes; post them up here and we will do our best pt to help! If you don't have a scanner; pick up a Vgate vs450 off of amazon for $50

Look up codes; on the ross tech wiki site:
http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/16955/P0571/001393

The new switch might be defective; was damaged during install or a unrelated issue, post up those codes! They can really help you figure out what is going on!

Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

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AVATR

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 22, 2014 (Edited)

We had the car back into the shop today (not a VW dealer but works on a lot of VWs). The fuse to the A/C was replaced or whatever is in the #5 slot. My understanding is the warning lights went out. The mechanic seems to think the problem has something to do with the A/C compressor as the A/C quits blowing cold air when the brake and epc lights come on but he wasn't there when we picked up the car and this was second hand info. He test drove the car for 20 miles or so and all was well. He didn't charge us anything for this visit.

My son just called and said the warning lights were back on, total of about 40 miles. The fuse that was replaced was in the number 5 slot. I didn't have my glasses own when I looked at the fuse but think it said 15 amps. My plan is to go to Advance auto, pick up some fuses, replace the blown one with a like kind, find out which wires go to the A/C compressor, disconnect them and tape them so they don't contact anything else, and see what happens.

Something else, this may not be the radio original to the car.

I looked at the FAQ section on this site and this seems to be a common problem. This brake light switch has gone from black color to blue to now green. Even had a recall but when I called the VW dealer today they said the recall expired in 2008. Just my luck.

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billymade

· #4 · Sep 23, 2014

Did they scan the car; for trouble codes, were there any? I would REALLY, recommend that you get your own scanner; the $50 Vgate VS450, is a cheap solution and you can scan your car, any time you need to! Control your repair process; get a VW compatible scanner!

Here are online manuals for your car; to read up on info, that might help your troubleshooting and repair process:

http://workshop-manuals.com/volkswagen/

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