markdaniels
08-10-2013, 09:03 PM
Hi all, wondering if anyone can please give some assistance with this. I have been using VCDS Lite with my 2001 Alhambra 1.9TDi over the past 2 years with no problems whatsoever.
I have read and cured many fault codes with the help of VCDS. Recently the car has developed yet another niggling power delivery issue and so I hooked up VCDS and found an engine fault code against a vacuum pressure solenoid valve. I changed offending valve and the symptoms got better, but not fully cured. Hooked up VCDS again 2 weeks ago and this time I got a consistent failure from ALL the controllers within the car??? I booked the car in with my local Carwood diesel specialist and when they hooked up their diagnostics equipment they could not even get a response from the car at all!!
If when I hook up my interface cable to the OBD port I push the connector in fully VCDS recognises the COM port but does not see the interface. If I remove the interface cable from the OBD port and gently push the connector back into the port just until the LED lights on the interface cable then VCDS sees both the port and the interface but does not acknowledge any controllers within the car!
As a note, I am using a cheap ebay interface, but this has been good up to now and the fact that Carwoods diagnostics equipment has problems leads me to believe the issue resides in the car and not with the interface or VCDS or my laptop. Carwoods suggested maybe a damaged OBD port or even a broken cable in the loom between the OBD port and the first controller / canbus. The broken cable is a possibility as I've already had to fix a few breaks in the past year due to age. When I changed the solenoid valve (mounted on the engine side of the bulkhead) could I have disturbed a part of the loom which is linked to the OBD?
I never noticed any cabling in that part of the engine bay (only vacuum hoses) but I did successfully run VCDS after fitting the new valve to clear the fault code in the Engine controller. Before this issue occurred, I successfully interrogated controllers for 01 - Engine, 03-ABS, 08- Auto HVAC, 15- Airbags, 17- Instruments, 25- Immobiliser. If anyone has any ideas of what might be happening I would welcome their input.
I have read and cured many fault codes with the help of VCDS. Recently the car has developed yet another niggling power delivery issue and so I hooked up VCDS and found an engine fault code against a vacuum pressure solenoid valve. I changed offending valve and the symptoms got better, but not fully cured. Hooked up VCDS again 2 weeks ago and this time I got a consistent failure from ALL the controllers within the car??? I booked the car in with my local Carwood diesel specialist and when they hooked up their diagnostics equipment they could not even get a response from the car at all!!
If when I hook up my interface cable to the OBD port I push the connector in fully VCDS recognises the COM port but does not see the interface. If I remove the interface cable from the OBD port and gently push the connector back into the port just until the LED lights on the interface cable then VCDS sees both the port and the interface but does not acknowledge any controllers within the car!
As a note, I am using a cheap ebay interface, but this has been good up to now and the fact that Carwoods diagnostics equipment has problems leads me to believe the issue resides in the car and not with the interface or VCDS or my laptop. Carwoods suggested maybe a damaged OBD port or even a broken cable in the loom between the OBD port and the first controller / canbus. The broken cable is a possibility as I've already had to fix a few breaks in the past year due to age. When I changed the solenoid valve (mounted on the engine side of the bulkhead) could I have disturbed a part of the loom which is linked to the OBD?
I never noticed any cabling in that part of the engine bay (only vacuum hoses) but I did successfully run VCDS after fitting the new valve to clear the fault code in the Engine controller. Before this issue occurred, I successfully interrogated controllers for 01 - Engine, 03-ABS, 08- Auto HVAC, 15- Airbags, 17- Instruments, 25- Immobiliser. If anyone has any ideas of what might be happening I would welcome their input.