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A/V problems...?

10K views 25 replies 9 participants last post by  Jm-Imports 
#1 ·
I've had a few strange electrical gremlins over the past few weeks - mostly relating to the A/V system, but with a few alarm incidents thrown in too. The issues are intermittent and include:
  • CD & MusicBox not recognised (Disc button does nothing & Source button on steering wheel skips CD/MB)
  • Steering wheel volume controls stop working
  • Steering wheel phone answer/drop button stops working
  • Alarm fires, even with car in garage
None of this affects the performance or grin-factor of driving the car, but I want to get it sorted out under warranty... so I sent it off to Marshalls (where I bought the car) to get it looked at... that's a whole other story, for another post on another day...

They have just called (again, I will resist commenting on the style and content of the call, for now) to say that they can't read the ECU... and are blaming it on a phone cradle I had installed a couple of months back. They also asked about the Cobb AP - the suggestion being that its use may have had some adverse affect. I fully expected the Cobb comment, and am now getting the wiring on the phone cradle checked...

... has anyone experienced any electrical issues after a Cobb remap? Does any of the above ring any bells? Just keen to know if I'm the only one (which suggests a faulty A/V unit, or a badly wired phone cradle) or whether others have experienced similar?

Thanks
 
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#3 ·
Marshalls tried to blame Cobb when they couldn't communicate with my gearbox at the time of optimisation. I didn't have ANY mods at that time.

Anyhow, turned out they didn't have the Consult 3 update for the 2010 EDM cars!!! (Mine was the first one they had AFAIK)

Cobb has sweet FA to do with the AV unit....

Last time I was at Marshall's I thought things were getting better with Gurbinder there... is he still there? Who did you deal with?
 
#4 · (Edited)
The newest Consult III update did have trouble connecting to a car that actually had an AP INSTALLED (but not if uninstalled), but that has been resolved and will be corrected as part of a forthcoming mega update.

The vast majority of connection problems are related to Consult III updates, missing fuses (part of the PDI apparently) or user error though.

Phone cradle shouldn't have anything to do with the CAN BUS and connecting though. If a nav car, I'm not sure, but my phone cradle using the charles charlie method is just into the back of the 12V socket and antenna input to the radio.
 
#5 ·
Thistle - in the "mega update " you mention , have I read it right that even if you have a custom cobb map installed , the consult III will still be able to talk to the ECU and update as normal thus making the business of putting the car back to standard for dealer servicing obsolete ????
 
#9 ·
Thanks guys

@Chris956
I didn't revert the car back to 'normal' before Marshalls took it in. If the Consult III won't talk to the car with the Cobb AP installed then it sounds like the problem is of my own making... I didn't realise that it *had* to be rest before they can read it I know it's advised - but I thought that was for warranty protection rather than technical reasons).

I'm picking the car up tomorrow morning - tempted now to reset the Cobb as soon as I get it and get them to reconnect, but they were insistent that I had to get the phone cradle uninstalled (or at least 'unwired') before they would attempt to read the ECU again. I will check with them tomorrow when I pick it up - perhaps I can charm them into checking it while I'm there?!

@Elliot_GTR
I haven't dealt with Gurbinder (at least, not knowingly) - my initial contact was with Caroline on the service desk, and then I didn't get the name of the guy who called me back (noisy line), but he was referring to "Colin" as the GTR tech who had advised that the problem would be due to the phone. Ironically, the guy who called me proceeded to lecture me on using the Cobb AP, suggesting (almost insisting) that it would do damage whenever it was used. I thanked him for his advice.

@Thistle
Thanks - so the "must reset" advice relates only to the newest Consult III update? That's interesting and well worth knowing.

@professor matt
Thanks for the link - the self-diagnosis info is very useful - I will ask Marshalls if they tried that... presumably HPCs know about it?! having read the info I realised that I had used the "40 clicks" method to access settings when I first got the car, including renaming its Bluetooth name :) Will definitely try the diagnosis once I have the car back tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for the comments - very helpful :)
 
#12 · (Edited)
Thistle

Can I just check what I need to do with my Cobb in order to let the Consult III talk to the car correctly? You talk about an "uninstall" of the Cobb - is this just a question of restoring the original map, or something more fundamental? I can't remember seeing an uninstall option on the Cobb menu, but I'm sure there is something there if I explore fully...?

Thanks

EDIT: Just read the manual(!) and can see the full uninstall option :)
 
#14 ·
Elliot

Damn - should have noticed that before now... shame I'm tied up on Saturday. Would be VERY keen to swap notes on HPCs... have you got a future meet planned?
 
#15 ·
Update - car back from Marshalls today.

Downsides:
  • They washed the car, even though I had written in large letters "PLEASE DO NOT WASH THE EXTERIOR"
  • The 'handover' of my keys was from a distinctly surly service guy - more or less tossed them to me and walked off
Upsides:
  • Despite them not being able to "access the ECU" (their phrase, via phone yesterday), the gremlins haven't reappeared yet... I'm not holding my breath, but hey - who knows?!
  • They had cleaned the car very well - looks great, and no additional swirls... credit where it's due
I ran all the A/V diagnostics - as per the thread recommended by professor matt - and no errors are reported anywhere, at present. The error history (an option from the A/V diagnostics menu) reports 2 previous errors - DSP failing to connect to AMP, apparently - but none at present. I will keep an eye on these and check again if/when problems reappear.

I will be getting the car checked over on another Consult III (having uninstalled the Cobb AP) to see whether there are any lingering issues... and checking the phone wiring too, to be safe... and will head back to Marshalls with my findings if problems reappear, armed with evidence of the phone charger being safe!
 
#17 ·
Not good news...

Alarm went off again in the night on Sunday night (went through the now familiar unlock/lock procedure from bedroom window). On starting the car yesterday morning, and ever since, I have no audio at all i.e.
  • Volume / on-off control does nothing
  • Source buttons do nothing
  • Steering wheel controls for audio (volume, source) and phone (call/end) do nothing
  • Phone still connects via Bluetooth but no sound via speakers
I have run the diagnostics listed in the A/V thread mentioned earlier in this thread, and a host of A/V errors are reported... I will post pics of the various screens later.

I'm off now to uninstall the Cobb AP, in preparation for servicing and full A/V diagnostics (via Consult III) at Litchfield on Thursday... wish me luck!
 
#18 ·
OK, here goes... my picture-posting skills are rather rusty, so this may take a couple of attempts (and apologies for the phone-cam quality, but they work - just!)...

1. Firstly, whilst I can't get any reaction from the audio system at all, the buttons (well, at least one of them) do work - because I can do invoke the self-diagnosis system... which requires:
  1. Switch audio off (easy for me!)
  2. Hold Settings button down
  3. Turn Volume control 40+ clicks clockwise
2. From this screen I run the "Self Daignosis" option, and get:


3. I then select the "Control Unit" box, which gives me:


4. I then backtrack to the more detailed diagnostics functions, as the image above suggests, and choose the "List error codes" option:


I'm not sure how readable that is, so just in case... the errors listed are:
  • DSP Connection Error 44
  • DSP Communication Error 40
  • AV COMM CIRCUIT 0
  • Internal Communication Error 0

5. I then go to the dedicated "AV COMM diagnostics" option and run that:


I think that's just about readable? Various checks come up as "Status = UNKWN" and "Count = 0"

6. I have also tried doing a Speaker Test... but nothing happens here at all.

Finally, before I uninstalled the Cobb AP, I ran its error code checker, and got:


Again, in case that's unreadable, there are four error codes under the "MultiAV" heading:
  • U1300
  • U121d
  • U121e
  • U121f

The Cobb AP is now uninstalled, and the car scheduled for a thorough inspection (including the phone charger install, blamed for the problems by my HPC) at Litchfield on Thursday... I will post again after.
 
#19 ·
I've not been reading the forum recently, so thought I'd check in to see if there was any news. Sorry to hear about your problems Guy. In case, you didnt already work it out, the trouble codes show the following in the esm:
U1300 and U121F together indicate "Malfunction is detected in AV control unit power supply and ground circuits" and the possible causes and action to take is "AV control unit power supply and ground circuits".
U121D and U121E indicates "Internal malfunction of AV control unit (DSP connection error) is detected". The possible causes and action to take is "An intermittent error may be detected if the music box function operates normally. Replace the AV control unit if the malfunction constantly occurs".
I would ask for the supply and ground circuits to be checked first - perhaps there is just a loose connection?
 
#20 ·
Hazardous

That's REALLY useful - many thanks. Would be great if it really is just a loose connection!! Can I ask how you know this... looks like you have access to some kind of diagnostic tool?!
 
#21 ·
As a general update...

I took the car to Litchfield Imports for the 24k service yesterday - first-class service as previously experienced. Before I went I uninstalled the Cobb AP to make sure Iain and his guys could connect their kit.... so the order of the day was:
  1. Connect Consult III to check ECU was visible (the problem that HPC had) - all fine (with Cobb AP uninstalled)
  2. Normal 24k service
  3. Review electrical connection of phone charger cradle (confirmed as 'standard' - to the BCU feed, same as my tracker)
  4. Fit isolation switch to phone charger cradle - just in case a problem at HPC (can now switch off phone cradle completely)
  5. Reinstall Cobb AP
  6. Reconnect Consult III
The result of the last step was that all Consult III functions were normal, with the exception of communication to the ECU itself... all other communication (AVCOMM, BCU, TCM etc.) were fine.

I should add that Iain and his autoelectrics guy - Greg - did all of the Consult III and phone work FOC in the name of good service. Simply outstanding, given that we all believed it was a wild choose chase, inspired by the HPC.

So now the car is rebooked at the HPC for Tue 21 & Wed 22 Sept... I will go armed with the suggestion that cable connection (as per Hazardous email above) should be checked first... but I suspect that any such 'advice' will be frowned upon. Shame - it would be nice to think they could check & fix while I wait, but I guess I will have to wait the full 2 days... will post update afterwards.
 
#23 ·
@Prashan - thanks, but looks like I will be OK after the HPC had my car Tue & Wed...

... they have run diagnostics (their Consult III connected fine after I had done a full Cobb uninstall - nothing to do with the phone charger as they had previously suggested!). The result is that they have been in touch with NMGB who have agreed that the A/V unit is faulty and have ordered a new one from Japan; apparently this is the 5th such case in the UK.

So I get a new unit installed under warranty... when it arrives - I have been told to check back after 4 weeks, but they hope to have it before then.

The service controller at the HPC suggested that this unit costs NMGB £10,000 !!! That seems wholly ridiculous to me... unless they don't have any non-nav 2009 EDM units any more and now have to retro-fit a SatNav model (which, I believe, has a subtly different wiring loom?). I can imagine how that might cost a LOT to be fitted...

So if anyone else has A/V problems, and running the diagnostics shows up similar error codes, get your car into your HPC before your warranty runs out!!
 
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