Haunted Fender Sound System, Tried (Just About) Everything

[jtk5th]

Hey, y'all.

I'm a proud new owner of a 2015 Golf with the Fender Upgrade. I am pleased with the quality of the audio system, with one large caveat: sound is only being played from the subwoofer, and the front, left channel (woofer & tweeter). It works for less than half a second when I disconnect and reconnect the MOST connector from the glovebox head unit.

I've taken several steps of increasing difficulty and cost to try and fix it. I have been unable to. I am asking for any potential solutions, troubleshooting steps, or prayers.

First, I took out the front seat and reseated the harness on the amplifier. I jumped one of the working speakers to one of the non-working ones and was able to get it to play audio. I also tested each connection with a multimeter and none had an open circuit. After doing this, I came to the conclusion that the issue was not between the amp and the speakers.

I then tried replacing the amp with one from eBay. The issue presented in the exact same way.

As a last-ditch effort, I replaced the factory head unit by following this guide. This did not fix anything, but I at least have Apple Carplay and a slightly larger display.

I am thinking about replacing the amp with an after-market option, like the ZEN-V, but I would rather not pay that much without exhausting all of my options.

From my understanding, I have tested and/or replaced each part of the chain, and it has not helped. Thank you so much for reading. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Cuzoe]

Do you have a scan tool? I think that's what happens when component protection is active on the amp. And if you tried an amp from eBay component protection was definitely active on that one unless you had online access to clear it.

 

[jtk5th]

Thank you so much for your reply! I've considered component protection as being the root cause, and it is active currently, but I initially ruled it out for two reasons.

1. The vehicle came to me with this problem. I know the person that I bought it from, and I don't think that she messed with or replaced anything that would've triggered component protection. Can it trigger randomly?
2. I disabled component protection on the head unit using this guide (essentially flashed new firmware to it). I don't know if this would've disabled component protection in the amplifier, but there are reports of people following the guide and having their amplifier work perfectly fine after. If component protection was the root problem, and it is still "inside" the amplifier, it would make sense for someone who started without the issues to have a working amplifier afterward.

Below are the current scans for each module, ranked from most to least interesting.

Spoiler: 19 Gateway

19 Gateway
System description: GW MQB Mid
Software number: 5Q0907530S
Software version: 2186
Hardware number: 5Q0907530L
Hardware version: 211

Faults:
U106A00 - Digital sound system control module
No Communication
static
Priority - 2
Malfunction frequency counter - 2
Unlearning counter - 74
km-Mileage - 191504 km
Supply voltage, terminal 30 - 13.6 V
Terminal 15 - On
Unknown ambient data -
date - 2024-04-23 13:05:00

U110100 - Component protection active
static
Priority - 4
Malfunction frequency counter - 1
Unlearning counter - 74
km-Mileage - 191504 km
Supply voltage, terminal 30 - 13.6 V
Terminal 15 - On
Unknown ambient data -
date - 2024-04-23 13:05:00

Spoiler: 5F Multimedia

5F Multimedia
System description: MU-S-S-US
Software number: 3Q0035844
Software version: 0613
Hardware number: 3Q0035844
Hardware version: 620

Faults:
U110100 - Component protection active
static
Priority - 4
Malfunction frequency counter - 1
Unlearning counter - 74
km-Mileage - 191504 km
Dynamic environmental data - 028689
date - 2024-04-23 13:05:00

B11CF53 - Tuner for satellite radio
Deactivated
static
Priority - 4
Malfunction frequency counter - 1
Unlearning counter - 74
km-Mileage - 191504 km
Dynamic environmental data - 0286884FF70201008B00010202
date - 2024-04-23 13:05:05

Spoiler: 47 Sound System

47 Sound System
System description: MIB_lite_amp
Software number: 5G0035456
Software version: 0060
Hardware number: 5G0035456
Hardware version: H40

Faults:
U110000 - Component protection
No basic setting
static
Priority - 4
Malfunction frequency counter - 1
Unlearning counter - 74
km-Mileage - 191504 km
date - 2024-04-23 13:04:58

U110100 - Component protection active
static
Priority - 4
Malfunction frequency counter - 1
Unlearning counter - 74
km-Mileage - 191504 km
date - 2024-04-23 13:04:58

 

[Cuzoe]

Component protection is your problem. It should not trigger randomly, but stranger things have happened. Using Duke and Congo (Congo and Duke? I don't know the order, haha) patches the main unit to ignore the component protection fault but it doesn't do anything for any other unit as far as I know.

As far as other people using the patch for MIB 2 upgrade (or replacement) and not having issues with the amp... That's not how component protection works. The parts (that have component protection) are being tied to the car, not to each other.

Only the component that is new to the car would have an issue, which is what Congo and Duke solves for a new main unit that is being installed. An existing amp remains tied to the car no matter what you do with other components, to include the main unit.

And just to be technical about it. The patch does not disable component protection. It just makes it so that the MIB ignores the fault and this does not limit functions. Component protection is still present in the unit and the car. It's just not impacting the unit. The car (gateway) is still properly reporting the fault but that doesn't cause any issues. Essentially the gateway is just complaining that something in the car doesn't belong but it's still happy to talk to that "something" anyway. That "something" in your case is the amp. And the amp is limiting its function because it does not belong. VW's intent, ostensibly, is to limit the market for stolen components.

 

[backcountry]

Also be sure to change the amp in long coding from Fender to Dynaudio. You won't get any sound until you do that coding. Everyone with MIB1 Fender has to change that setting.