Volkswagen Rear Parking Brake System Diagnostics
Here's the Car Commando's Tip From the Field: Straight from the EDR Technical Site.
A fellow Technician and friend of mine posted this to my site.
I think this may be a REAL helpful tip for those of you out there that have experienced these issues:
I see a lot of those harnesses break at the rear brake calipers, the way they are positioned when the weather pac fails / leaks water gets it and the harness just dissolves.
If you are part way into replacing rear pads, and you disturb the caliper the harness breaks the park brake module freezes and you are screwed. Park brake does not function, warnings are blinking until (after harness repair / replacement)
What you do is back probe pins and connect direct to a 12VDC source (B+), you can power up the park brake motor. Cycle it to the stop, then reverse polarity, repeat, and repeat.
The park brake module is watching this, and it wakes up and allows basic settings to run, and the faults to be cleared, life is good hefty repair bill to the consumer and a hefty profit for you!
HINT: Wiggle the harness BEFORE starting the brake service to see.
NOTE!! Warn your Customer BEFORE wiggling that harness!
Thanks to Mike Webb for this VERY helpful tip on the rear parking brakes for Volkswagen and Audi.
We have seen a number of these failures on my Technical Site, and Mike Webb, who I consider one of my personal TOP 5 Technicians on my site mentioned this tip. A BIG thanks to him and the Technical Support Group at Euro-Diagnostic Resources, Inc.
Car Commando signing off.