grazuncle2 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 2:22 pm
Thanks for the reply
I have looked at more advanced diagnostic OBD scanners and considering the charge to 'just look' at vehicles today, they seem a bargain. I have looked at many YT videos... principally OBD Eleven.. and whilst they do do a lot of stuff; knowing what to do with the information is not as straightforward as just buying into it. I used to be a mechanic in the 70s and cars are more like computers now. I could change parts if i knew enough to diagnose properly. From my research it seems some diagnostic data need interpretation too. Some things will be obvious from the data for sure. Even with my basic OBD scanner I had to look up codes relating to LONGTRM_FT and what a typical reading or range should be expected. There are many others. If I had a DTC or dash light on It would have simplified the whole thing but there are none. Just a symptom of something wrong.
A good number of scanner YT videos .. (and i have watched many) revolve around switching on features... or making them stop. I'm not into that so much and I suspect you could do a lot of damage with that kind of coding too...
I just need some tuition first. There are probably courses out there LOL
It might yet happen...
Yes, as you know just going out and buying a fully loaded tool storage system does not immediately turn you into a functioning mechanic from previously knowing nothing, same for buying a good scan tool, but types like VCDS are safe to use, which is probably more than you can say for the "one key strike" ones that allow a complete non-mechanic to make changes.
What prompted to initially buy VCDS from a proper UK based re-seller was, I had ordered a new VW Passat 4Motion 2.8V6 from a car broker in Holland, called Intercar, they seem to have vanished after many years sourcing tax free cars for mainly USA and UK forces personnel based in Europe - you just paid your local VAT after you reg'd the car, in my case, in UK. So big saving could be made if you could be bothered making the effort, as well as saving a small fortune on factory fitted extras as you were paying VW AG prices and not greedy VW UK prices for that stuff, okay VW UK is now owned by VW AG but they left the big mark up on factory fitted options as people were and are still, willing to pay them. So, back in May 2000 I paid just under £20000 including all associated travel costs and buying a correct Gamma radio instead of handing over £24575 to my local VW dealer - okay I had to wait 9 months until it appeared as VW AG do try to slow deliveries to dealers that are selling to someone outside their own sales area, and sell my own car privately, but that suited me at the time.
Anyway, I quickly discovered that this car, well during the first long winter journey, that the low washer warning had not been coded in, and while sorting that out I discovered that the brake wear warning was also not coded in, VW AG do like to mess up people importing their own car instead of using their local dealer! So, I approached my local VW dealer and explained what my issue was, where I had bought my car from and what I wanted them to do for me - at my own cost, their answer was that internet motoring forums just talk rubbish, the only way to get the low washer fluid warning active, was to allow them to order in a new instrument panel, price roughly £250, then they would need to code it for that exact car roughly £100 and swop the instrument panels over roughly another £100 - all January 2001 prices from my local VW main dealership! As I had been reading about VCDS, and its price back then was under £200, I dived in and bought VCDS, and having read hints/tips on the internet, spent only 10 minutes putting it to use for the first time, switching on the low washer fluid warning, discovering that the brake wear warning was also not switched on, and sorted out that issue - and correctly coded the VW Gamma radio/cassette player for that version of VW.
One nasty/naughty "thing" about most VW Group cars of that period in time was, that they did not have "bulb failure warning" built in, so when a brake light bulb went "pop" the car would log a fault and typically the unfortunate owner would hand it in, so needed a scan, a new bulb and the logged faults cleared! Similarly for the many badly designed brake pedal switch for the brake lights that failed, many panel lights would get switched on costing some people quite a bit of money to get resolved - VCDS owners just needed to plug in and check to see what was being reported.
