hi forum members, bora engine management light problem.

[dustman]

Hi, I've just joined and i'm new to the forum game so if I sound a bit wet please excuse me! Im Andy, 24 and live in kent, I've got a vw bora 2.0 SE,'01 Y reg. Im having an engine management light problem and require help in sourcing the best tool to succesfully diagnose the reason the light came on. Some people said to get a fault code reader and some have said to try a vag-com. To be honest, I haven't got a clue what a vag-com actually is or does! Any ideas whats the best way forward? I've just had an indicator blow in the N/S headlight (yesterday), would this cause the light to come on. The light has been on for 8 days and the car drives fine otherwise. Any replies are greatly received.

[mpg_obsessed]

Hi, I've just joined and i'm new to the forum game so if I sound a bit wet please excuse me! Im Andy, 24 and live in kent, I've got a vw bora 2.0 SE,'01 Y reg. Im having an engine management light problem and require help in sourcing the best tool to succesfully diagnose the reason the light came on. Some people said to get a fault code reader and some have said to try a vag-com. To be honest, I haven't got a clue what a vag-com actually is or does! Any ideas whats the best way forward? I've just had an indicator blow in the N/S headlight (yesterday), would this cause the light to come on. The light has been on for 8 days and the car drives fine otherwise. Any replies are greatly received.

Hi, I'm new to these forums also, but I have a couple of mates who seem to know their stuff about cars. A VAG-COM is a bit of software that when plugged into your car, will check and give you a list of any problems the car is experiencing. It's really useful for diagnosing problems like the one you mentioned above.

If you go to google and search for "vag com", the first couple of results there should be useful to you.

I'm afraid at the moment I'm new to Audi's myself so I can't help you out with what the issues you're having are.

[RickT]

Hello and Welcome to the Forum!

RickT

[chrisvrscrx]

Welcome to the site!

[Eshrules]

Hi, I've just joined and i'm new to the forum game so if I sound a bit wet please excuse me! Im Andy, 24 and live in kent, I've got a vw bora 2.0 SE,'01 Y reg. Im having an engine management light problem and require help in sourcing the best tool to succesfully diagnose the reason the light came on. Some people said to get a fault code reader and some have said to try a vag-com. To be honest, I haven't got a clue what a vag-com actually is or does! Any ideas whats the best way forward? I've just had an indicator blow in the N/S headlight (yesterday), would this cause the light to come on. The light has been on for 8 days and the car drives fine otherwise. Any replies are greatly received.

firstly, hello and welcome to the forum

secondly....

you are quite right in saying you either need a fault scanner (handheld) or vagcom to be able to read the fault codes from your car's EMS (engine management system)

which you choose is often based on personal preference.

vagcom requires a vagcom lead, a vagcom license and a laptop to run the software. there are 2 ways of getting vagcom, buy a 3rd party lead (such as mine) and buy the license from Ross-tech.com OR you can go direct to ross-tech.com and buy one of their leads (now referred to as a dongle) which has in-built authentication (doesn't require a license) and as a result, is transferrable between different computers.

the other option (if you dont have/dont want to buy a laptop) is the handheld scanner route. this too, has 100's of variants. there are basic scanners, which simply scan your car for faults and display the codes. or there are more advanced ones (such as mine) which will connect to each module and scan for codes, display both the fault code and the description of fault. the more advanced ones are also handy in respect of adaptation, such as matching up remote fobs & keys, enabling the anti hijack etc etc, as well as being able to monitor measuring blocks realtime, such as watching the MAF values vs requested (a common example)

like for like, vagcom for full functionality wins every time, vagcom can do some things that scanners just simply can't, so if you have a laptop, or dont mind getting one, that would be my recommendation.

however, if you want a bit more portable source, which is self powered and easy to use, id go down the scanner route. which type of vagcom/scanner you choose is dependant on how much you think you will use it

hope this helps a little


just as a little side note.... if you're local to me, bring a few beers and ill scan your car for you

[golf tdi 02]

hello and welcome to the site
hope you get your problems sorted

[Ben]

welcome to the forum.

[dustman]

"just as a little side note.... if you're local to me, bring a few beers and ill scan your car for you."

Thanks for the info, I'm in medway, kent, if its any good.

[Eshrules]

"just as a little side note.... if you're local to me, bring a few beers and ill scan your car for you."

Thanks for the info, I'm in medway, kent, if its any good.

i dont think Kent is quite as local to Stalybridge as i'd hoped

take a look at some of my items, i can't recommend them enough, they really are excellent quality