Has enyone else had this problem??

When i turned my car off on saturday morning i jumped out a went to arm the alarm(viper, not factory) and it wouldn't turn on. I open the door and could hear a relay clicking like mad behind the fuse box. Put the key back in a tried to start the engine, nothing. After about a minute the relay stopped and i could start the car. For the rest of the weekend it was fine, then when i arrived at work this morning the same thing happened again. Over the last month a few funny things have happened.
- Interior light not working when opening doors
- Interior light not turning on when switching alarm off
- And now the relay situation........
Could all these be linked?? Faulty relay?? :frown:

Have you checked all your fuses? That's the easiest place to start, other than that, it is a MkIV Golf and they're notorious for electrical faults. I only bought mine because it came with a full 1 year warranty, i'm probably planning on selling it when that 1 year is up just in case.....

Fuses should be ok as the interior lights work when you switch them on, just not when you open the doors or use the alarm.
Its a MK4 GTI.

Interior lights not working when opening the doors is something to do with the door lock switch module. I had mine replaced, I posted about it a while back.

Should the lights come on when turning the alarm off ? Mine come on when unlocking the car or opening the doors but yours may be different ?

Check the volts on the battery is good, relay clicking can sometimes be because there isn't enough power.

Check connections on the alarm ? Or even better take back to the person who installed the alarm.

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Originally Posted by ntails

When i turned my car off on saturday morning i jumped out a went to arm the alarm(viper, not factory) and it wouldn't turn on. I open the door and could hear a relay clicking like mad behind the fuse box. Put the key back in a tried to start the engine, nothing. After about a minute the relay stopped and i could start the car. For the rest of the weekend it was fine, then when i arrived at work this morning the same thing happened again. Over the last month a few funny things have happened.
- Interior light not working when opening doors
- Interior light not turning on when switching alarm off
- And now the relay situation........
Could all these be linked?? Faulty relay?? :frown:

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Originally Posted by gavs

Have you checked all your fuses? That's the easiest place to start, other than that, it is a MkIV Golf and they're notorious for electrical faults. I only bought mine because it came with a full 1 year warranty, i'm probably planning on selling it when that 1 year is up just in case.....

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I don't know why you have that conclusion, I've had no electrical problems at all with my Mk4 Golf over the last 4 years.

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Originally Posted by ntails

When i turned my car off on saturday morning i jumped out a went to arm the alarm(viper, not factory)

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Is the alarm installed recently ??? probably a dodge installation that caused your problems.

The golf's electronics aren't the best but they are not the worst. Yes a few things fail but I think you will find that with all cars.

You would be foolhardy to keep a car for a year in this current climate.

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Originally Posted by RedMk2Gti

I don't know why you have that conclusion, I've had no electrical problems at all with my Mk4 Golf over the last 4 years.



Is the alarm installed recently ??? probably a dodge installation that caused your problems.

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Originally Posted by qsilverza

The golf's electronics aren't the best but they are not the worst. Yes a few things fail but I think you will find that with all cars.

You would be foolhardy to keep a car for a year in this current climate.

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I bought the car in June, it has been back 4 times already, all for warranty claims in regards to electricals and all the standard electrical faults, all of which are documented all over the world.

1st, it was the passenger side door lock wouldn't work
2nd, passenger side window and power mirror
3rd, the entire passenger door wouldn't work. Mirror, window, door lock, speakers..... the result was a new wiring loom for the whole door
4th, driver's door window and door lock control panel grew a gremlin, which on 2 separate occasions opened windows on it's own, the passenger side one night when it was pouring rain!

qsilverza, yes i entirely echo your sentiments, but i'm now in the situation that i NEED a car to get to and from work, as there is no public transport here and i can't afford to have my car going in and out of workshops every month..:frown:

strange i have had my GTI for over a year now, never had anything break or go wrong on it. A for doing an Alarm on a 2000 mk4 plus is kind of silly, i would have to point all the problems at the alarm or the actuall installer of the alarm that did not do the job correctly, seen them done here in NZ a few times, half the times just twist the wires together and then insulation tape around we go. Where the problems stop nobody knows unless reverted back to standard.

The AVS alarms can happily co-exist with the factory VW immobilizers.

Hope this points you to some place.

Are there any other devices in the car which may be drawing a current ? Amp computer etc ?
If there are then the doors will not double lock or immobilise and the light will stay on.

I`d always suspect the aftermarket alarm first. I have seen too many old faulty units or ones installed by monkeys.

Alarm looks to be installed well as it was already in the car when i purchased it.
Running two amps but they have been in there a while before the issues started.
Funnily enough the alarm hasn't played up for the last couple of days....no doutb it will start again when i really don't want it to.

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Originally Posted by ntails

Alarm looks to be installed well as it was already in the car when i purchased it.
Running two amps but they have been in there a while before the issues started.
Funnily enough the alarm hasn't played up for the last couple of days....no doutb it will start again when i really don't want it to.

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Because a car alarm did not cuase issue's when you bought the car does not mean that it's not the cause.

I have a friend with a corrado over here. He had an alarm fitted to it.
It started causing issue's around 4 months ago. Now the alarm has been in the car for around 3+ years.

Sometimes the unit's fail. His battery kept going flat which was caused by the alarm.

Hopefully this helps and points you in the right direction.

Hi,

My GF's golf has been doing the same thing. I definitely thought it was a relay by the sound it was making (tika tika tika). Sometimes the power windows wouldnt work properly and the doors would unlock and lock themselves without pressing the remote.

We took it to the VW mechanic on Anzac Parade and they did some diagnostic testing that didn't really show anything. They replaced the most likely relay and it didnt solve the problem.

They suggested it could be the central locking unit which would be about $500 to replace.

I would be keen to hear if anyone else has the same problem and has had any luck with fixing it. It's an incredibly annoying sound and is getting more regular.

Cheers