I have two false errors on my driver information display screen. They appeared immediately after I had the LCD screen replaced (for dropped columns and rows, display fade-out when warm). The new LCD screen looks great but it’s always telling me I have a burned out brake light and that my washer fluid is low, neither of which is true.

I took my car to a German car repair shop and asked them to read and clear the errors. They were able to communicate with the dash cluster without any problems but couldn’t see any errors, and therefore couldn’t clear them.

I may have caused or contributed to this problem by inadvertently having the ignition key turned to the “ON” position when I started plugging in the three electrical connectors that attach to the back of the cluster.

How do I go about clearing these false errors? I don’t have a VAGcom but I can get access to one. Is that likely to find/do something the scan tool the repair shop had couldn't? It wasn’t a little multimeter-sized tool that only reads the OBDII codes. Anything else I can try?

 

did you try reinstalling it without have the key in the "on" position? That would be the first thing I'd try. Try ruling that out...

 

Yeah, I tried that first but the errors persisted. I also called the folks that replaced the LCD screen and they said I'd need to get the false errors cleared by a dealer or repair facility. So that was my second try and I've come up empty there as well. Any other ideas?

 

This is going out on a whim, but what if you drained your washer fluid and removed a brake bulb to actually trip the codes. That way, you can go to the dealership and they can actually see those codes because now they do exist and then try to erase them.

 

That's a very interesting idea. I don't think I'd even need to drain the washer fluid--I could just remove the electrical connector to the float sensor and either short out or leave open the connector to simulate a low fluid condition. And then I could pull a brake bulb as you suggest. If it works I'm home free. If it doesn't, I think it means there's something wrong in the cluster itself. It will probably take me a few days to try this but I will report back as to the results.