Anyone know about vagcom/vcds?

Clarkey · 27 Jan 2018 at 13:01

Hi. Trying to diagnose a fault with a 1y beetle 1.6. It has a strange loss of power at low rpm but it's not exactly like a misfiring.
Anyway the esp light is on and the check engine light doest function at all.
Borrowed a laptop with vids and 409.1 cable from a mate and didnt work. Said no response from controller then the cable melted. Got a new cable but still not getting any response from controllers. Any ideas why this could be, related to the no show of the check engine light?
Thanks

xs2man · 27 Jan 2018 at 13:07

Probably because your trying to use fake, copy cables? The Genuine cable, which is what you need for a 1 year old motor (assuming thats what 1y means), is significantly more expensive. The 409.1 cables work reasonably well on up to Mk4 Golf platform cars. After that, you need a genuine cable really.

Have a look on owners groups for someone near you with a genuine copy of vcds. They often scan your car for beer money.

Dis86 · 27 Jan 2018 at 13:08

1 year old? Take it to vw...

andy_mk3 · 27 Jan 2018 at 13:19

1Y refers to the model, it's a beetle soft top.

agw_01 · 27 Jan 2018 at 13:25

Stating the obvious here but you have installed the FTDI drivers for the cable haven't you?

I've used a KKL cable and VCDS-Lite with my Mum's 03 beetle for years, works well. The same cable even works with my Impreza.

Odd how the first cable melted, was it part of the cable itself or the actual interface card in the OBD plug end? If a short circuit killed the cable, this could have caused a fuse to pop for the OBD port hence why the 2nd cable hasn't endured the same fate.

Clarkey · 27 Jan 2018 at 15:03

Yeah 1y beetle vert 2003

agw_01 said:
Stating the obvious here but you have installed the FTDI drivers for the cable haven't you?

I've used a KKL cable and VCDS-Lite with my Mum's 03 beetle for years, works well. The same cable even works with my Impreza.

Odd how the first cable melted, was it part of the cable itself or the actual interface card in the OBD plug end? If a short circuit killed the cable, this could have caused a fuse to pop for the OBD port hence why the 2nd cable hasn't endured the same fate.

Cable drivers installed off the CD and the test says ok. I should mention this cable and machine worked fine previously.

rodenal · 28 Jan 2018 at 06:40

Does sound a bit odd - can you pull generic code data using another obd reader or does the car never connect?

I have a known good cable that I used to access and code various mdules from a mk5 platform car you're welcome to try if you still suspect it's interface related

paradigm · 28 Jan 2018 at 06:45

Clarkey said:
Yeah 1y beetle vert 2003

Cable drivers installed off the CD and the test says ok. I should mention this cable and machine worked fine previously.

Is it a VCDS-Lite cable (i.e. free, legitimate, I assume so as you mentioned 409.1), or is it a "clone" cable for a more modern version of VCDS? If it's the latter, it's likely that the machine connected to the internet and the cable is now a paperweight (they have an e-fuse that can be triggered by reaching the rosstech update servers).

I'm happy to send you my working VCDS-Lite cable, or you're welcome to come here and use my genuine HEX+CAN cable. I would also be happy to lend you my genuine carista bluetooth dongle (works well with the carista app, almost as verbose as VCDS for error reporting).

Orionaut · 29 Jan 2018 at 10:02

Cant remember the details off hand, but I seem to recall that there is an issue that can damage VAG-COM cables if an after market radio has been fitted.

If it isn't done properly it can render OBD socket pins "Live" that shouldn't be...

Dangerous Dave · 29 Jan 2018 at 11:43

Orionaut said:
Cant remember the details off hand, but I seem to recall that there is an issue that can damage VAG-COM cables if an after market radio has been fitted.

If it isn't done properly it can render OBD socket pins "Live" that shouldn't be...

Yes, official VCDS cable has a protection circuit to stop frying the adaptor. If it has an aftermarket radio I would disconnect it.

Slightly off subject, if the engine management light is not coming on with the ignition this will fail the new MOT test coming in April.

Clarkey · 29 Jan 2018 at 21:39

rodenal said:
Does sound a bit odd - can you pull generic code data using another obd reader or does the car never connect?

I have a known good cable that I used to access and code various mdules from a mk5 platform car you're welcome to try if you still suspect it's interface related

Going to try a generic reader on it next. Thanks for the offer of the cable.

paradigm said:
Is it a VCDS-Lite cable (i.e. free, legitimate, I assume so as you mentioned 409.1), or is it a "clone" cable for a more modern version of VCDS? If it's the latter, it's likely that the machine connected to the internet and the cable is now a paperweight (they have an e-fuse that can be triggered by reaching the rosstech update servers).

I'm happy to send you my working VCDS-Lite cable, or you're welcome to come here and use my genuine HEX+CAN cable. I would also be happy to lend you my genuine carista bluetooth dongle (works well with the carista app, almost as verbose as VCDS for error reporting).

The cable drivers weren't installed when he gave me the machine, I tried downloading some drivers but they wouldn't load, in the end windows update installed one from wch.cn or something like that, didn't work and melted. The new cable looked exactly the same, came with a driver which loaded fine. Still unable to communicate with the modules but no melting this time. It's quite odd the cable burnt out because the friend I borrowed it from used to have an Audi A4 of similar vintage and had used it just fine. I might take you up on that offer, should be getting my licence back soon, will see if a generic reader will connect first. I suppose if not then it's definitely something off with the car.

Orionaut said:
Cant remember the details off hand, but I seem to recall that there is an issue that can damage VAG-COM cables if an after market radio has been fitted.

If it isn't done properly it can render OBD socket pins "Live" that shouldn't be...

I had read about that, but the car has the factory radio in it. I also checked the diag port fuse which was fine.