Vag-com

S

sbchilton

Member
I made a post on this forum yesterday that suggested I pull off the diagnostics from my A2 with a local dealer, however I wanted to get peoples thoughts on the "compatible leads" available via e-bay eg. USB VAG-COM 409.1 OBD 2 II CABLE LEAD AUDI VW VAG COM.
I can see lots on there for under £20 and wondered if it's worth the small investment?
Has anyone brought one of these?

Many Thanks

Scott
 
The consensus is don't waste your money. I lost my cable and bought a cheap one off Ebay and basically to cut a long story short it doesn't actually work. Half the pins aren't connected at all and I don't think the quality of the rest of them is good enough for VAGCOM to work correctly.
 
The cheap cable will allow you to connect the car to the PC so that the shareware version of VAGCOM can talk to the car. The cheap cable + shareware allows you to get basic diagnostics done without too much info apart from fault codes. Which you can google for what they mean and I have successfully done that to fix a few things with my car. Not bad for a £12 cable.

If you want to do something more than a simple scan, please buy the full version.
 
Hi Scott
If funds allow, I would also recommend the genuine RossTech cable. If you plan to stay with VAG group cars then its definitely a long term investment.
If not, consider a cable from Gendan (they also sell the genuine ones if your tempted) - much less risk than buying something 'unknown' off e.bay - http://www.gendan.co.uk/product_VAGUSB.html

Cheers Spike
 
Last edited:
Cheers Spike

I do plan to stay with Audi so I may consider the genuine product, with the cheaper version from GenDan will I not be able to do things that I can do with the RossTech original?

Is it possible to buy the cheaper cable and then later buy the software to allow extra funtions or does the cable limit what the software can do?

Thanks

Scott
 
You can buy a handheld (U281) off ebay for £25 which will reset Fault codes on the Engine , ABS , Airbag and Auto transmission it comes with a book to look up the fault codes and if not in the book you can find out what they mean online its a very easy use and cheap alternative to VAG.COM.
Dont waste your money on the cheap laptop leads on ebay they dont work properly i know ive got one.


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-VW-AUDI-S...14&_trkparms=72:1689|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318
 
sbchilton said:
Cheers Spike

I do plan to stay with Audi so I may consider the genuine product, with the cheaper version from GenDan will I not be able to do things that I can do with the RossTech original?

Is it possible to buy the cheaper cable and then later buy the software to allow extra funtions or does the cable limit what the software can do?

Thanks

Scott
Click to expand...

Hi Scott
The cheap lead can only be used with RossTech 409 level software (latest version is 806?). This combination is adequate for fault finding but I suspect it won't have the capability to recode/adapt any replacement modules on the car. Also the lead will not work with later canbus Audis when you eventualy change cars.
RossTech do not charge for software updates which can be downloaded from their web site

Cheers Spike
 
spike said:
Hi Scott
The cheap lead can only be used with RossTech 409 level software (latest version is 806?). This combination is adequate for fault finding but I suspect it won't have the capability to recode/adapt any replacement modules on the car. Also the lead will not work with later canbus Audis when you eventualy change cars.
RossTech do not charge for software updates which can be downloaded from their web site

Cheers Spike
Click to expand...

yeah spike is right, 409 and no recode/adapt and can't do individual module scanning. Basic fault finding, that's it. Mine is 2001 pre-can so the cheap cable works really well TBH, as far as my need goes. The real thing is not cheap but the amount of money it may save you makes it worth the asking price. Should I buy another VAG, I'll definitely buy the full version.
 
I started to play with the shareware of VAG-COM and it threw me 1 error:
17964-Charge Pressure Control: Negative Deviation

I googled this and there seems to be a lot of people who have has this error!

Does this explain the limpmode I have had twice in 6 weeks?
 
Yep that would more than likely throw a limp-home mode - sounds like you've got an air leak in the induction system - becoming very common now as the rubber hoses age/get oily/brittle/perish.
 
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