Main dealer mechanics, waste of time.

[slim_boy_fat]

I had a problem with a warning light for my Active Steering/Dynamic Drive/alarm tilt sensor set-up. Main dealers wanted permission to replace the control module at a cost of £1000+.....I declined but asked them where on the car the module lived. Receptionist said "I'd have to check with the workshop". Me, "OK, I'll wait here". Her: Sorry, we don't know....." I bit my tongue and left without asking how they proposed replacing it, in that case.

They either a) didn't want me going elsewhere, or b) sourcing a '2nd user one' and replacing it myself. In the end I found an internet 'work-around' which enabled me to rest the appropriate sensor and all's been fine since....go figure.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Ahhh the old £1,000 for a box of electronics which is "supposedly" coded to the car line...been there myself...turned out to be cobblers.

I'm sure some cars are coded....however I think some have network consistency checks to make sure each box is running the "same software version" so replacements would have to be sourced from the same batch of cars. Bit tricky as you have to hunt down a matching car....in my case I found a guy with 50 cars in a field and he literally only had 1 car that matched mine!

There are plenty of fleabay suppliers willing to sell various boxes which will turn out to be paperweights unless you know the specifics of the car it was pulled from. But guess there are equally many people willing to have a go with a £50 replacement vs a £1,000 bill.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Ahhh the old £1,000 for a box of electronics which is "supposedly" coded to the car line...been there myself...turned out to be cobblers.

I'm sure some cars are coded....however I think some have network consistency checks to make sure each box is running the "same software version" so replacements would have to be sourced from the same batch of cars. Bit tricky as you have to hunt down a matching car....in my case I found a guy with 50 cars in a field and he literally only had 1 car that matched mine!

There are plenty of fleabay suppliers willing to sell various boxes which will turn out to be paperweights unless you know the specifics of the car it was pulled from. But guess there are equally many people willing to have a go with a £50 replacement vs a £1,000 bill.

Sorry, didn't make clear that I didn't need to buy another module [I'm aware of the difficulty on sourcing a 'straight swop' one]. The work-around was done by a procedure to reset the sensor, by several ''steering wheel twirling' steps.......

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Sounds like you got lucky with the reset....I missed that.

Does seem like they make the prices up though...with some cars you have to buy a blank new box and then get the software loaded onto it....bit more expensive of course.

My daily driver is a new car....just before the end of the 5 year warranty I'll chuck it and get a new one. The amount of electronics it's got is crazy...stuff already seems a bit flaky and it's only 2 years old....in another 3 years I'm confident there will be plenty of issues and glitches.

The other day I pulled up in a car park.....it was cold so figured I'd leave the engine running....put the car in neutral and hand brake on but could not stop the proximity sensors going off. In the end I had to switch off the engine and switch it back on...as someone once said to me....bells and whistles are only good if you can hold a tune!