Kufatec LED upgrade for A3 - Anyone done this who can help me?

[Guest 2]

If you wanna spend another £20 I recommend upgrading the number plate lights to Audi LED units. I done these and they go well with the taillights see my link below

Link - https://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/s...hlight=oem+led

Some more

[NHN]

Just be weary of kufatec adapters as had some people get water ingress into the adapters & cause issues, hence why I swap plugs, repin, wire, heatshrink & wrap as per oem through the bootlid to outers aswell, as I dont like to tap bootlid lights tbh.

I cant stand how the inners are dimmer than the outers, its down to the prism/led position design mainly but audi could of spotted that.

[rosso rocket]

Thanks for the advice NHN....the lights arrived yesterday so I am going to do the upgarde hopefully at the w/e....weather permitting!!!

I'll post before and after pix....

[rosso rocket]

Interesting that...I'll have a look at some newer A3's with the LED rear lighting as standard....is it the same for those too?

My missus had an 2011 BMW 520D SE last year and the led optic lighting on that model is superb and beautifully designed...quite a bit differet from Audi's early attempts at LED lighting, especially on the A4, A5 and A6, both front and back which looked like disco rope lights!!!

[Guest 2]

The actual brake lights arent led - only the sidelight light is led

[rosso rocket]

Just be weary of kufatec adapters as had some people get water ingress into the adapters & cause issues, hence why I swap plugs, repin, wire, heatshrink & wrap as per oem through the bootlid to outers aswell, as I dont like to tap bootlid lights tbh

The lighting units I have are actually Magnetti Marelli units and the extender cables are Kufatech Gmbh as per this diagram.

Any chance of elaborating a bit more on this NHN??? What do you mean by swapping plugs, repin etc
100_2556.jpg

Cheers

[rosso rocket]

URGENT!!! Just putting the LED rears on today. What inner cable does the single fly lead wire from the 'inner' tailgate LED Kufatec adapters splice into? Anyone know?

[rosso rocket]

OK...The LED units are on but not working.

Here what I have done so far:-

The installation instructions were followed to the letter (albeit with a translation from German!)
1) Battery disconnected - Earth removed
2) Tailgate inner cover removed and inner and outer original lights removed
3) New Inner LED lights fitted into place using Kufatec adapter cables which are plugged in series with existing looms
4) Adapter cable fly-leads (both sides) then taken around looms in tailgate to central number plate lighting connector
5) Pin 3 - Grey/Red cable was spliced into and soldered for good electrical joint
6) New Outer LED lights fitted using Kufatec adaptor cables supplied with kit
7) All stranded electrical cables were then wrapped up using self-amalgamating tape to make them as weatherproof as possible
8) Final check made on all connnections
9) Ignition switched on and waited 30-secs as per instructions
10) Coding module then plugged into OBD port
11) After 15-seconds, coing module removed
12) Swictehd ignition off and then back on again
13) Nothing......then lighting error messages on DIS after a couple of seconds
14) Turnining the lights on makes no difference

HELP!!!

I have a car now with no rear lighting, brake lights or rear indicators....the number plate lights works OK!!!

I have gone over all the electrical connections again and can't see any issues....what concerns me is that the coding module can no longer be used, accoridng to the instructions that came with it!

Is there anybody near Melksham in Wiltshire who has a VCDS coder that is willing to assist to se if we can fathom out what the problem is?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help. Much appreciated.

[Guest 2]

Have a look here - VCDS - Users Locations

Gupsterg lives in the West somewhere and has VCDS - VW AUDI Forum - VWAF - gupsterg

Are they looking good so far, albeit not working?

[rosso rocket]

Ha Ha Chris...yes, they sure look good but would be nicer if they worked though!!!

Trouble is, where do you start?

I have stripped out and checked the wiring four times this afternoon....my background is electrical engineering so am pretty confident that all is as should be and the joints were soldered! I am getting 12v at the LED modules from the 'number plate' feed. I suspect this 'plug-in' coding module that I bought from Kufactec as its a 'one off' plug in job and there is no way of checking the coding!

To install, I diss'd the battery and put all the LED units in, as per instructions and then took the two fly leads from each of the inner clusters to the number plate electrical connector, as per instructions. Here I spliced into the PIN3 of the cable, the Grey/Red wire and soldered the connection.

I then connected the battery back up and proceeded with the coding as per instructions. This involved turning the ignition on and waiting for 30 seconds - then I had to plug in the coding module and wait for the coding to be done. The unit indicated that it was finished and I turned the ignition off.
Now when I turn the ignition on, the car starts fine, but I now get errors on the DIS.

As follows:-

1) Turn ignition on
2) 2-secs later Bulb displayed in DIS then the following messages at 2-sec intervals
3) LEFT REVERSING LIGHT
4) RIGHT REVERSING LIGHT
5) LEFT REAR LIGHT
6) RIGHT REAR LIGHT
7) REAR LEFT TURN SIGNAL
8) REAR RIGHT TRUN SIGNAL

Then the Bulb symbol comes back into the DIS

If I turn the lights on, there is after 2-secs, the bulbs light for a second or so then go off.
Front lights work perfect, as do front indicators and side repeaters, but no rear indictators.

Do you think this is the coding causing the problems????

I would have though that the LEDs in the new lights would have at least operated...but then maybe not!

Any thoughts as to what I do next????

Cheers

Peter