dashboard misbehaving

i laid up my t5 130 for five months. the battery went flat so i put it on charge and it fired up no problem, except the abs and handbrake lights stay on. i took it for a drive the speedo does not work and the fuel gauge seems to loosely follow the tacho , the yellow fault light comes on, the mileometer and trip do not work. when i start it there are three audible beeps, sometimes the handbrake light goes off when driving. before i laid it up it all worked faultlessly. also the abs does not work i can now skid to a halt. any help appreciated

Sounds like the abs control unit is knackered, a quick search on here will give you all the info you need

thats a bummer, any idea why not using the van would cause that?

ABS units are very sensitive to voltage changes as it could be a fault on the braking system.

i was recently looking at having to get a new abs unit but decided to have a go repairing it first. Reckoned that faced with a 1k+ bill i would have nothing to lose. for me it worked.

before i had a go i made sure that nothing else could cause the problem, new battery, new fluids in the brake & clutch system, checked voltage at all the abs plugs on the wheel, wiggled the wires under the seat and reset the fault codes a few times.

the job of repair basically involves taking the controller unit apart and resoldering the connectors, used these forum posts as a guide.

http://newbeetle.org/forums/2-0-liter-gas/53360-how-i-fix-my-abs-pump-01276-without-paying-penny.html

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=211776.0

the inside of the t5 controller is not identical to those in the posts but the technique is the same.

get the fault codes read and post them up on here. 01276 seem to be the death signal from the abs unit.

i use one of those cheap ebay leads and a copy of vag-com on the laptop. good enough for reading codes and clearing them.
 once tried a cheap RAC branded reader from argos. did not work on the T5
 i noticed whilst reserching my problem that there are a few different  types of controller just for the T5, wouldn't want to think about trying to use one off an other type vehicle. Also read that any new controller needs to be coded to your specific van.

thanks again for the info i will get a lead and have a go at the weekend

Can you swap in a known good battery just to see if that solves the problems for you ?  Doesn't have to be the exact same size as the original.

Unless you test with a large load tester (the ones that heat up like a toaster) then a battery may appear OK to a volt meter but not be able to deliver enough current when cranking the starter motor.  

Actually the ABS repairs can be done by ECU testing Limited at a reasonable £200-300
I had mine rebuilt, it came back and ran super smooth for two years until last weekend, I think it's gone again..... but they do offer a lifetime warranty if it is!

There's a video here.  The sensible part starts at about 1 minute in.