Bought the VAG plus the Bentley manual. Some comments (+mods)
09-23-2010, 01:46 PM
#1
Bought the VAG plus the Bentley manual. Some comments (+mods)
This is my 5th year with my 2006 A6 so the warranty is gone. I have worked on cars all my life (48) and I'm happy to take over the service and repair schedule. When the weather cools, I will do the 55K service as well as rear brakes. All of my pads are like new except the left rear which is at minimums (??) Realizing I would need the computer, I bought the HEX-CAN from Ross-Tech as well as the Bentley manual. Some thoughts...
I have always had a garage full of repair manuals, from some really excellent manufacturers manuals, to the 3rd parties, Haynes, Chilton etc. I even had a fantastic manual for an old Scirocco called "How to keep your Rabbit alive" The CD was a big disappointment. First, the reader would not run on my computer. There was a conflict with my anti-virus software and it was not an easy fix. Second, you can't beat having the manual open and sitting next to you on the garage floor. I realise this is personal preference though so enough about that. I only gave a quick look through the CD but I didn't find it laid out very well and some of the diagrams were hard to read. I understand our choices are limited so it is what it is.
Onto the VAG tool. It loaded right up and was very easy to interface with my car. Some of the simpler actions such as resetting the service reminder are very easy to do. I also realised that this tool is very powerful and you can really mess up the car ... if you want to. Luckily, Ross-Tech made this very clear and easy to navigate safely through the software ... if you want to
Now for some fun stuff. I changed the lighting code from USA to ROW. This gave me fogs with high beams and fogs with parking lights. I don't care about the second but it does help you check the aim of the fogs without covering the Xenons. I DO like to have my fogs on with high beams to help look for deer.
I turned off the alarm beep when you lock the car. This has bugged me since day one and I'm glad it's gone.
I enabled "windows down with remote". Now the windows go down with remote, but not up. Hmmm, I'm going to have to investigate that one further.
What I REALLY wanted to do was to be able to leave my incandescent DRL's on when the parking lights were switched on. My State requires headlights on with rain and I think the DRL's are more visible in this case plus I'd rather change an old incandescent bulb than an old Xenon unit
I'm not even sure this mod is possible if you don't have the LED DRLs.
So in summary, if there was an alternative to the Bentley, I'd rather have that. The VAG tool is excellent as a tool/diagnostic and it's also fun as a "toy" to lightly modify your car. It seems some of the other platforms have a greater ability to change things than the A6 guys though, more research is needed.
Thanks,
John
I have always had a garage full of repair manuals, from some really excellent manufacturers manuals, to the 3rd parties, Haynes, Chilton etc. I even had a fantastic manual for an old Scirocco called "How to keep your Rabbit alive" The CD was a big disappointment. First, the reader would not run on my computer. There was a conflict with my anti-virus software and it was not an easy fix. Second, you can't beat having the manual open and sitting next to you on the garage floor. I realise this is personal preference though so enough about that. I only gave a quick look through the CD but I didn't find it laid out very well and some of the diagrams were hard to read. I understand our choices are limited so it is what it is.
Onto the VAG tool. It loaded right up and was very easy to interface with my car. Some of the simpler actions such as resetting the service reminder are very easy to do. I also realised that this tool is very powerful and you can really mess up the car ... if you want to. Luckily, Ross-Tech made this very clear and easy to navigate safely through the software ... if you want to
Now for some fun stuff. I changed the lighting code from USA to ROW. This gave me fogs with high beams and fogs with parking lights. I don't care about the second but it does help you check the aim of the fogs without covering the Xenons. I DO like to have my fogs on with high beams to help look for deer.
I turned off the alarm beep when you lock the car. This has bugged me since day one and I'm glad it's gone.
I enabled "windows down with remote". Now the windows go down with remote, but not up. Hmmm, I'm going to have to investigate that one further.
What I REALLY wanted to do was to be able to leave my incandescent DRL's on when the parking lights were switched on. My State requires headlights on with rain and I think the DRL's are more visible in this case plus I'd rather change an old incandescent bulb than an old Xenon unit
I'm not even sure this mod is possible if you don't have the LED DRLs.
So in summary, if there was an alternative to the Bentley, I'd rather have that. The VAG tool is excellent as a tool/diagnostic and it's also fun as a "toy" to lightly modify your car. It seems some of the other platforms have a greater ability to change things than the A6 guys though, more research is needed.
Thanks,
John
09-23-2010, 01:49 PM
#2
AudiWorld Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 185
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This is my 5th year with my 2006 A6 so the warranty is gone. I have worked on cars all my life (48) and I'm happy to take over the service and repair schedule. When the weather cools, I will do the 55K service as well as rear brakes. All of my pads are like new except the left rear which is at minimums (??) Realizing I would need the computer, I bought the HEX-CAN from Ross-Tech as well as the Bentley manual. Some thoughts...
I have always had a garage full of repair manuals, from some really excellent manufacturers manuals, to the 3rd parties, Haynes, Chilton etc. I even had a fantastic manual for an old Scirocco called "How to keep your Rabbit alive" The CD was a big disappointment. First, the reader would not run on my computer. There was a conflict with my anti-virus software and it was not an easy fix. Second, you can't beat having the manual open and sitting next to you on the garage floor. I realise this is personal preference though so enough about that. I only gave a quick look through the CD but I didn't find it laid out very well and some of the diagrams were hard to read. I understand our choices are limited so it is what it is.
Onto the VAG tool. It loaded right up and was very easy to interface with my car. Some of the simpler actions such as resetting the service reminder are very easy to do. I also realised that this tool is very powerful and you can really mess up the car ... if you want to. Luckily, Ross-Tech made this very clear and easy to navigate safely through the software ... if you want to
Now for some fun stuff. I changed the lighting code from USA to ROW. This gave me fogs with high beams and fogs with parking lights. I don't care about the second but it does help you check the aim of the fogs without covering the Xenons. I DO like to have my fogs on with high beams to help look for deer.
I turned off the alarm beep when you lock the car. This has bugged me since day one and I'm glad it's gone.
I enabled "windows down with remote". Now the windows go down with remote, but not up. Hmmm, I'm going to have to investigate that one further.
What I REALLY wanted to do was to be able to leave my incandescent DRL's on when the parking lights were switched on. My State requires headlights on with rain and I think the DRL's are more visible in this case plus I'd rather change an old incandescent bulb than an old Xenon unit
I'm not even sure this mod is possible if you don't have the LED DRLs.
So in summary, if there was an alternative to the Bentley, I'd rather have that. The VAG tool is excellent as a tool/diagnostic and it's also fun as a "toy" to lightly modify your car. It seems some of the other platforms have a greater ability to change things than the A6 guys though, more research is needed.
Thanks,
John
I have always had a garage full of repair manuals, from some really excellent manufacturers manuals, to the 3rd parties, Haynes, Chilton etc. I even had a fantastic manual for an old Scirocco called "How to keep your Rabbit alive" The CD was a big disappointment. First, the reader would not run on my computer. There was a conflict with my anti-virus software and it was not an easy fix. Second, you can't beat having the manual open and sitting next to you on the garage floor. I realise this is personal preference though so enough about that. I only gave a quick look through the CD but I didn't find it laid out very well and some of the diagrams were hard to read. I understand our choices are limited so it is what it is.
Onto the VAG tool. It loaded right up and was very easy to interface with my car. Some of the simpler actions such as resetting the service reminder are very easy to do. I also realised that this tool is very powerful and you can really mess up the car ... if you want to. Luckily, Ross-Tech made this very clear and easy to navigate safely through the software ... if you want to
Now for some fun stuff. I changed the lighting code from USA to ROW. This gave me fogs with high beams and fogs with parking lights. I don't care about the second but it does help you check the aim of the fogs without covering the Xenons. I DO like to have my fogs on with high beams to help look for deer.
I turned off the alarm beep when you lock the car. This has bugged me since day one and I'm glad it's gone.
I enabled "windows down with remote". Now the windows go down with remote, but not up. Hmmm, I'm going to have to investigate that one further.
What I REALLY wanted to do was to be able to leave my incandescent DRL's on when the parking lights were switched on. My State requires headlights on with rain and I think the DRL's are more visible in this case plus I'd rather change an old incandescent bulb than an old Xenon unit
I'm not even sure this mod is possible if you don't have the LED DRLs.
So in summary, if there was an alternative to the Bentley, I'd rather have that. The VAG tool is excellent as a tool/diagnostic and it's also fun as a "toy" to lightly modify your car. It seems some of the other platforms have a greater ability to change things than the A6 guys though, more research is needed.
Thanks,
John
Lee
09-23-2010, 02:08 PM
#3
AudiWorld Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: lawn gyland
Posts: 262
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
09-24-2010, 10:29 AM
#5
Good review...it took me a month or two after I received the Bentley manual to figure out why it wasn't loading on my laptop as well. I disabled the anti-virus software, ended up with a virus and now my laptop is toast. Oh, and I also dislike how you can't copy and paste the pictures.
09-24-2010, 01:21 PM
#6
AudiWorld Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 185
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
For those of us with new Vag-Com's we are playing with, can you explain that a bit more??? If you don't, I'm liable to start tinkering and then ultimately f something up... which. of course, I'm also the type that will blame you ;-)
LOL
L
LOL
L
09-24-2010, 03:25 PM
#7
Once again, this worked for my particular case. As always, write down your current value before making any changes. If you screw it up, you can always go back and enter the original value. You can also check out the original discussion back in 2006: https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2604015
I just replaced my 2006 with 2009 and have to do this feature again... only after I find my missing Vag cable. Good luck!
Trending Topics
09-24-2010, 07:16 PM
#8
AudiWorld Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 185
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well, that's one the of the reasons why I didn't specifically spell out what you need to do because I'm not sure if your coding is different than the one I used. When I had the 2006 3.2, I turned on the window down feature by adding 128 to my Central Conv. section. In order to enable the roll-up feature, I added a value of 5 to my existing 10 in Adaptation code 061. Here is the officially guide from Ross-tech on #061: http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index...Comfort_System
Once again, this worked for my particular case. As always, write down your current value before making any changes. If you screw it up, you can always go back and enter the original value. You can also check out the original discussion back in 2006: https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2604015
I just replaced my 2006 with 2009 and have to do this feature again... only after I find my missing Vag cable. Good luck!
Once again, this worked for my particular case. As always, write down your current value before making any changes. If you screw it up, you can always go back and enter the original value. You can also check out the original discussion back in 2006: https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2604015
I just replaced my 2006 with 2009 and have to do this feature again... only after I find my missing Vag cable. Good luck!
:-)
L
09-24-2010, 08:13 PM
#9
09-24-2010, 08:22 PM
#10
Thanks for the offer. I'm in Irvine, CA. Let me know if you're close by. There was also a post by Pierreb on how to activate a basic set of voice commands even on cars without this feature. You don't get everything, but you get some basic features. https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2746605