98 Passat Electrical Problems

I have a 98 VW Passat GLS, V6 2.8L auto w/ tiptronic ~90k mi.

I have been having several electrical problems, which may or may not be related:

-cannot connect to car computer
-console lights flicker, and are completely off sometimes
-radio is malfuncioning

When I went in for emmissions a couple months back, they could not connect to the ecu/ecm to get data. I promptly went to autozone to pull any error codes, however they also could not make a connection. I had both the battery and the alternator checked and they are working fine. I also pulled every fuse under the dash and they are all good as well.

The dash lights flicker on and off. When I first start up, they are usually on. They then begin to flicker and soon go off completely. This doesn't seem to correspond to vehicle speed or hitting bumps in the road. Also, the head lights don't flicker, just the lights inside the car, including dash lights, console lights, and buttons for pwr locks, windows, etc..

The aftermarket stereo has been acting screwy. It won't always take cds, and generally acts like there is some sort of power problem. Now this head unit is about 3 yrs old, so it could just be dying on its own. I tried removing its fuse, thinking maybe it was broken and possibly screwing up other electrical components.. no dice.

Overall, the car overall runs great. Other than the electrical problems, I have no complaints. I am hesitant to take it into a shop for repairs, simply because without an error code from the computer, they will be just poking around blindly at about $80/hr. Any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jason

Your aftermarket radio is the problem.

In order for the scanner to communicate with the car you need to remove the radio and completely disconnect the wiring harness down to the factory radio harness so no aftermarket stuff is connected.

You are correct,

Someone in another forum pointed me to this article: http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/aftermarket-radio.html , which was dead on. I disconnected my radio and had autozone scan the ECU and, low and behold, they were able to make a connection. From this I have concluded that the 3 problems were not in fact related. The aftermarket stereo is old and dying on its own and the computer would not accept connections because of the 'K-wire'. Two problems down.

This leaves us with the problematic / flickering dash and console lights. The problem involves the following:
-speedometer and other gauges
-lights behind heater controls and stuff around that
-lights that illuminate buttons for pwr windows, door locks, etc
The interior dome lights, gas light, check engine light and other similar lights work fine. Any further advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Jason