alin2em15

ok so here is the rundown
bought an audi a couple weeks ago with broken timing belt. replaced belt, timed it correctly and put it all back together. now it runs but it idles rough and its missfiring. i have one of the cheap cables of ebay and the vcds lite program to read the codes. the problem is i can only read the instrument panel codes and it will not access the module for the engine. im kind of stumped here and could really use some advice about where to go from here. thank you all.

auwag

get a real vag com. I played around with 2 versions of the ebay cable (one china brand imported to US) and one ECS china brand) and had the same symptoms. Tried the Serial version of 409.1, regular 409.1, vcds lite and even tried the earlier version (I think it's 3.11). Also tried just about every FTDI driver there is without avail. If you want a zip package to waste time with yourself feel free.
I could get to the alarm module but not engine - same 'no response from controller' message. Hardware recognized and communicated with all versions, but no glory on reading modules through autoscan or directly picking one.
I got the HEX version so I'm not stuck with wasted hardware - it's firmware updateable and will work with newer cars. Even though I'm still in the 20th century I expect to catch up sometime.
I read this elsewhere and figured I would add as it's relevant here: figure the time it takes to do the work yourself and multiply by your hourly rate of pay at your day job. If you can feel good about the time you spend on this stuff, go for it. I certainly pushed the limits and ended up just buying the right cable in the end. Maybe you can get it rockin', good luck either way!