CanadaBruce

This is my first post to this forum. I have owned my 2006 A4 Quattro, 2.0T 6-speed, 86,000 km, for six weeks now. Brilliant car - more fun to drive than the '87 944S I have just said goodbye to. Have purchased the Bentley repair manual DVD and VAG-COM (the full-meal deal) from Ross-Tech. I've done auto repair as a hobby off and on for 35+ years but have limited background in programming. Here is my problem: since I replaced my front brake rotors and pads (OEM Audi parts) two weeks ago I have been getting intermittant "check front brake pads" warning lights. Sometimes it's on when I start the car; sometimes it comes on after driving 5-10 km; sometimes I can make it go out by stopping the car and turning the ignition off and then back on; sometimes I can drive an entire day without seeing it. Anyway, it is both annoying and distracting. I have verified the connectors between the pad sensor wires and the car's wiring harness and all seems OK. My question: can I use my VAG-COM to program my car to ignore whatever intermittant electrical fault is causing this? If so, can someone talk me through a "VAG-COM for Dummies" explanation of how to go about it? All I have done with my VAG-COM so far is connect it up and scan for fault codes - none found. Many thanks.

Chaos

Yes you can make the car ignore that warning so it wont show up on the display i dont have my laptop with me but i can walk you through it tonight you just have to change the coding around

CanadaBruce

Thanks, Chaos. I'll hold off reprogramming for now. This afternoon I cleaned - really cleaned - the connectors between the wires from the pads and the car's wiring harness, and so far the light has stayed off. Maybe that was my problem. On the same subject, where should I be looking to find the programming codes necessary to do things like this, or change the way my lights or my windows work? Is there a website? A reference book? It's nice to own the VAG-COM but I've realized that without some explanation of what codes do what, the VAG-COM's usefullness to me is limited. Thanks again.

a4audi4fun

Ross-Tech: VCDS Tour

VAG-COM/VCDS manual is at the link above. - Downloadable manual link is on the same page. The other really useful thing is to use notepad to look at the label files associated with whatever modules are installed on your car. The labels folder is in whatever directory you installed the VAG-COM/VCDS software into.

Ecmbuster

Instead of doing that, do an autoscan to fit your model. The designation is the 7th and 8th digit of the VIN. Have a power supply attached to the battery and start the autoscan.
When completed click the COPY button and go to START > Programs > Notepad and right mouse click [PASTE]

Your complete autoscan is in notepad. Save it to a name that's recognizable.

Depending on your, make and model, there will be a label associated with the controller that was interrogated. That label is the BLUE test that can be viewed at:
Function [08] Measured Values (lets call it live data)
Function [04] Basic Settings (lets call that live data but with control)
Function [10] Adaptations (serious adjustments and at times requiring a login)

Back to Function [08] and reading any data line. The upper left corner will display a label file in blue that may look like:
4D0-907-551-AH.LBL
You can click that and it will open with notepad, the same data that will be displayed under the live data fields in BLUE.
For example on my A6, the first two blocks:
001,0,General Engine Data
001,1,Idle Speed,620-740 rpm
001,2,Coolant Temp,80-105C
001,3,Lambda control,value Bank 1
001,4,Lambda control,value Bank 2
;
;
002,0,General Engine Data, Load Measurement
002,1,Engine speed,RPM
002,2,Engine load,1-2.5/.8-2.5ms
002,3,Injection time,2-5/1.6-5ms
002,4,Mass air flow,2.8-5.6/10-15g/s

This text is viewed under block 001 and 002

To see this example in real time got to:
01 Engine Electronics
08 Measured values
Type in 001 and click go (you can view three at a time but it does slow down the computer read - write abilities)

All controllers and all measured values behave the same. All can read up to 256 blocks BUT not all use that many blocks with data.

The log feature is great. There is a start and end time and you could choose the data to log while running the engine and driving. The log can be imported to excel for viewing or graphing.

Maybe it's time to have this forum attend an Audi data blocks and VCDS training session in the near future.

CanadaBruce

ECMbuster and a4audi4fun: many thanks for sharing your thoughts on how to get started into the VAG-COM programming world.

ewanbotterill

hi, I am moving back to Canada from US this summer and bringing my '06 A4 with me. I was wondering if there are codes to switch the speedo and odo from Miles to Km. have you seen anything like this during your research? I realise that the speedo has small lettering for km, but this is easy to misread, so would rather have the main gauge read in km. I am not looking to replace the back plates, just re-calibrate if possible...

a4audi4fun

90% sure you can't change the speedo units to have the needle line up with the markings. Have trip computer & colour display on my B7 Avant and know you can change the units on the odometer only just by using the menu options on the trip computer.