Former VWDieselParts.com Forum

Everyone agrees that a Bentley is a necessity. Is VCDS a necessity as well.

I'd say no, I've never used one.

VCDS is not necessary but certainly helpful on the OBD2 based vehicles. It can also be used to check injection timing on the TDI motors as well as a myriad of other features. (Like disabling the seat belt alarm on my 04 Jetta GLS 1.8T, which was highly annoying)

What are "VCDS" and "OBD2" ??

VCDS is a Miscrosoft software diagnostic tool that can read the ECU of the car starting in some cars in 1990. It could be used in place of expensive diagnostic tools that mechanics use to read the computer on the car.

OBD2 is a level of diagnostics of the ECU in the car. OBD stands for On Board Biagnostic and it referrs to the vehicles level of self diagnostic and capability to report issues. OBD2 was better able to report issues then OBD1 ECU's on cars.

Actually, I always refer to Vag-Com as VCDS, since thats what a lot of people call it. Its made by Ross-Tech and is a comprehensive diagnostic and adjustment tool for OBD2(On board diagnostics revision 2, for cards 1994 and newer)

As I suspected......

It's what one is used to.......my MK2 with one wire to shut off the fuel flow....
Enough electronics for me thanks !!!!!

Oh, except for that pesky little voltage stabilizer !!!!

Thanks, 82VDUB

I'm going to move this over to the TDI fora, where they use computers.

VCDS is the best tool you will ever buy for a VAG vehicle. I doesn't just read/erase error codes you can investigate more component functions with Measuring Value Blocks (MVB).

VCDS Compatibility Charts

Don't think about the cheap Chinese cloned cables on fleabay.

With my EOBD II Fault Codes software you can find what the error codes mean.

It is not cheap, (what in the UK is?) but it pays for itself very quickly. It won't extract immobiliser pin codes though. The error code diagnostics have been spot on so far. It simply works.