Stuart's Volkswagen Golf Mk 5/V Forum

Hi Stuart,

I've enjoyed browsing your informative website as regards your purchase of a 2005 VW Golf TDi SE.

I have just bought the same vehicle second-hand up here in Scotland but registered in 2004 (04 plate) and am very much missing the feature of an outside temperature display from my old car (1998 1.6 16v Astra Sport). When you say that your MFD was "modified", am I right in thinking that this was a VW upgrade from the previous model and so can't be applied to my 2004 Golf, even by my local dealer?

I also have one other niggle which I wonder if you can shed any light onto? With the vehicle locked and when I press the remote key controller twice to open all the locks, the passenger door from the outside never opens on the first pull of the handle but always does on the second. All the other door locks (I have the 5-door model) and the tailgate open fine. Is there something stupid that I'm not doing right, before I contact my VW dealer? I've looked along the edge of the door with it open and can see that, unlike the rear doors, it doesn't have a child-proof locking facility, but can see that a red plastic switch of some kind lies behind a circular rubber seal. I've tried pressing this in, but it only seems to permanently lock the door until it's opened from the inside.

If you have any thoughts or advice, I'd be very grateful. Thanks again for an excellent website and keep up the good work.

Kind Regards,
Donald

Hi Donald,

I'm glad you found my website useful.

Yes you are correct. My car's MFD was not a modification but rather a new
version which appeared in 2005 model year cars. There's a photo of my car's
MFD on my website at
http://www.stuartdalby.co.uk/vwgolfmk5/vwgolfmk5_secrets.php#2005diffs. Your local VW
dealer would probably be able to replace your car's MFD but I imagine it
would be a big/expensive job. I'm not sure it would be worth it.

As for your passenger door locking query, there does sound to be something
wrong there. I know that if you lock the doors (from the inside) and then
try to use the interior door handle to get out, the first attempt doesn't
open the door but rather just unlocks it, a second pull on the interior door
handle then opens the door. Obviously you wouldn't want the external door
handles to work like this but it sounds like your passenger door's external
door handle is! I'd recommend you let your local VW dealer take a look at
it. I'm sure they'll be able to sort it out for you.

Please let me know how you get on,
Stuart