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Steering wheel controls

12K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  Rage T1 
#1 ·
I have a 01 glx passat V6 which has steering wheel controls for the radio cruise . None of these work including the horn. I had the dealer look at it . Could not figure it out. But one day everything worked for about a week . Then dead again. Is there a common ground for all of these. HELP need aleast a horn.
 
#2 ·
those all run to a multifunction relay behind the dash. remove the knee panel and you'll see a series of relays. i think it should be numbered either 451 or 452, but it usually says "multifunktion" on it as well. if none of the controls or the horn are working, then i'm guessing that the relay has gone bad.

in the meantime, if you want to get at least your horn back, pull the relay and try running a jumper wire between the contacts shown in step #4 here:

http://www.passatworld.com/forums/61-b5-information-base/150638-installing-r32-3-spoke-steering-wheel-multifunction-swap.html

if your horn works again after running the jumper, then i'd definitely give replacing the relay with a new one a shot to see if your MF controls return as well. should be a fairly easy and cheap fix (i think the relay shouldn't be more than $50, search ebay for "vw 451 relay").
 
#3 ·
I think someone else here had a problem similar to this one, where the steering wheel controls/horn would only work intermittently. IIRC it was found to be the clock spring had bent and wasn't always making contact, they diagnosed it by holding down the horn and turning the wheel lock to lock. I'll try and find the thread for you..
 
#7 ·
Thanks tried to jump 18 & 8 no go . I have a 452 maybe differant. Anyway plug it in upside down i think and every thing worked. Because it did work once before I,am wondering if it could be a loose wire or a intermittent relay. Does this make any sense.
 
#8 ·
i have the 452 relay and the jumper wire worked for me when i swapped out the multifunction for a 3-spoke gti wheel. are things still working now or did they go out again? if things continue working, then i'm leaning towards the relay being loose or seated poorly previously. if things stop working again, then i'd lean towards the relay being bad.

btw, if it's like mine, when installed, the "452" is supposed to be upside down. if it wasn't before, then most likely it was incorrectly installed at some point. although, i don't think it should be possible to install it right-side up unless you're able to jam some of the contacts into the incorrect slots. if a mechanic had done this previously, then i wouldn't go back to them. i'd suspect they were either incompetent at the least, or at worst shady and hoping to score some repeat business by causing an issue and claiming some expensive repair was needed when all they had to really do was correctly install the relay.
 
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