why is the glow plug dash light flashing

Les, January 2009

I have glow plug flashing engine fault workshop on my 2010 vw passatt. I managed to drive it slowly home. This is the first time this has shown on my dash board and I have had the car for 3 1/2 years.

Paula, July 2014

Hello,have problem vw passat 1.9 tdi 2002 tiptronic start flashing 2 lights in dashboard first glow plugs and second traction control and 5 day before this come airbag light,please help the resolve problem????????????

Aivar, February 2012

hi my passat 19 tdi estate wont rev and the glow plug starts to flash, if i flick the key sometimes it will start to rev again then it stops again but then the glow plug dont flash???? could it be damp in the throttle sensor as its been raining. or the sensor its self, or a injector am confussed .com please someone nos what it is i cant work it out.
thanks for looking

benny, January 2012

08 Passat Diesel 1900 estate. Glow plug started flashing. Thought it was the icy weather. Googled problem that evening and found this suggestion that brake switch / pedal was likely problem. Just been out and tried pumping brake pedal soft and hard and the flashing glow plug (warning light) went off and has not come back since. I will keep an eye on it over next few days but otherwise many thanks it seems cured.

Stears -Berko, December 2010

Had the same problem on my VW Passat 2002 1.9TDI Estate...glow plug light flashes and the ''ENGINE WORKSHOP!'' light comes on! These lights come on when a fault is detected by the engine management system (on board computer). The brake lights come on automatically and stay 'ON' as a safety feature, as long as the glow light stays on i.e. 'fault condition'. When the fault disappears or is attended to, the brake lights go off autamatically.

This fault occured to me twice:-

1) In the first instance I got away by revving the car sensibally and applying/releasing the brakes using the brake padel -'pumping' (while stationary!). Fault disappeared!! Everything back to normal....

2) At the 2nd intant the fault symptoms came back after an oil change and some 30-40 miles of driving! At the time I was in my drive trying to reset my service interval display and the fault just popped up! So tried the revving bit..didn't work...had forgotten about the brake pumping bit!... checked forums on the internet and there was mention of brake switche etc... Bingo.....! It came back to me and I went out and pumped the brakes and sure enough the fault cleared.... the brake lights are off and I don't have to leave my battery disconnected to stop it from being drained!
I hope that's the last I see of it ..otherwise the brake switch near the pedal is a definate suspect in my book and will need replacing....!
I hope anyone out there benifits form my little contribution....

Thanks for reading!

Kool, June 2009

It could be because the brake light switch has failed. this seems bizzare but it I red this answer somewhere when I had the problem and sure enough when I checked my lights they didn't work. I replaced the switch and all was well.

Richard, May 2009