Buying a Vagcom

R

russeleoin

Member
Hello all. I'm a newbie here and have only had my A2 for a week. I bought it will high miles( 101k) but good service history and it looks to have been very well kept. However at low revs it seems to lack power and I have to go down to 3rd gear to get up a hill on my way to work. As I am a keen home mechanic with a good home workshop, I thought I would buy my own Vagcom. I have seen a number for sale second hand and wondered if there is a specific, or preferred, model that will help with my 2003 A2 1.6Fsi(BAD). Thanks, Russ
 
The only one to consider is the genuine Ross Tech HEX+CAN usb interface - not cheap, but a worthwhile investment that you can use on hundreds of models and not just Audis too. It is also lifetime upgradeable, both software and firmware inside the interface.

Gendan is the authorised seller in the UK, so see if that's in your price range. Cheap units or ebay items are usually copy cables that cannot work with the proper software and won't scan the whole car, if at all.

Cheers,,


Michael
 
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Exactly, it is false economy to buy a pirate version, you will have to pretend it is a date in the past and disable the update option.

The other cheaper "lite" versions are OK but again, the expensive Gendan cable and software is a good investment if you plan on keeping your A2 for a while (or buy other cars that the cable can be used on)

I think that there are many people on here that have saved the cost many times over in time saved and fault diagnosis.

Steve B
 
Thanks guys, definitely food for thought. I'm going to give a couple of the repair options mentioned on here a go this weekend while I mull over spending £270 on a tool. I am not loyal to this car yet, its my first Audi, generally I'm a merc man, but the A2 is ally and the A160 is a rust bucket and a pig to work on. I'm only hoping that the flat spot/low power is easily resolvable. I did disks and pads all round on Sunday, so I do hope I wont be throwing money at it for too long. Will see. Thanks again.
 
Another option, if you dont want to spend much is using a OBD WIFI dongle and smartphone App. Around £15 total cost, but not as good as a proper vcds system, but it does give you fault codes, clear them and the EML.
 
manhattan$ said:
Another option, if you dont want to spend much is using a OBD WIFI dongle and smartphone App. Around £15 total cost, but not as good as a proper vcds system, but it does give you fault codes, clear them and the EML.
Click to expand...

I bought this kit and I had an Air Bag warning light on the dash, it didn't show as an error code in the App and I have found that it does not clear some codes either.

I bought it for the instant readings of several sensors and the dashboard function and it is well worth that money, but I wouldn't use one to determine if there are any error codes because it seems to miss out the important ones.

Steve B
 
Will the smartphone app be good enough to identify injector/ coil type problems? As the car just feels low on power at low revs (below 2500) I think that is where the problem lies. I haven’t been under the bonnet yet, this weekend is the time. I have noticed though that when taking my foot off the accelerator, instead of the revs dropping immediately, they climb a bit before they drop. If the app will be good enough for that, then I will definitely try that first. Thanks for the suggestion. Russ
 
i doubt it very much.
I have that kit and it dies not give you that level of error code analysis.
But I haven't tried it on a petrol A2 yet.

Even the full VCDS struggles occasionally with the more complex error codes and you have to use the "measuring blocks" to check the sensors etc

Having said that, the cost of these singles and apps is so low that it would be worth you trying it. Especially if you don't have anyone nearby that could do a full VCDS scan for you.

By the way, that symptom can sometimes be caused by the fuel mixture being lean, because as you lift off you are reducing the airflow and the fuel does not reduce instantly and so the mixture improves and the revs pick up a little.
That is not much help though.

Steve B
 
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