h2ocooler

Hello fellow 8'ers

I have just received my brand new S8 steering wheel. (ebay 99 EUR)

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/74951/s8_swheel.jpg">

I believe it is for a 1999 but I am not positive.

Could someone with a copy ETKA please run it's part # "4D0 419 091 AG" for me so I could confirm the year? This is easy to do with Porsche's PET (similar to ETKA) by searching under the specific part #.

If that person was so good as to do this for me, could he also pass along the associated airbag, and clock spring part #'s?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

Sven_S8

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/79649/sw.jpg"></center><p>We may have a slight problem...

ETKA is a PITA to work with, it doesn't take you to the part, it just shows you the number and a brief description, like above (it's cropped, but this is about it). No year, no model...

To find out you have to <i>browse</i> manually to each and every year and model. :-/

So far I haven't found either of the above. I'll let you know if I do.

h2ocooler

Hi Sven.

Thanks for looking into it for me. I have to get a copy of ETKA.

If you manage to quickly come across the part # reference, that's great. However please don't go out of your way. I guess I will take the wheel to the dealer and see if the "good guy" has some time to spend with me.

Thanks again Sven,
Mike

Sven_S8

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/79649/sw2.jpg">

What's a tad weird is I found this on a '99 A8 non Quattro. It says however, "to be used for 4D0 419 091 AG" and the emblem nr. matches as well. Typical, ETKA only says "emblem", not <i>which</i> emblem.

To make it a bit more confusing, If I look at the S8, the same AE number appears, but now it refers to another part number, * AH. The airbag nr. is the same though, so if you go to the dealer, there's a fair chance this is it...

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/79649/sw3.jpg">

Mysteriously, neither the 4D0 419 091 AG, nor the 8Z0 419 091 AC show up in the list, other than the first as a remark.

Anyway, HTH. ;-)

h2ocooler

Thanks again Sven.

Tha airbag info is great. I will let you know what I can dig up.

Cheers,
Mike

PaulW

The cancelling ring or clock ring as you state is different for the 97's versus the 98's and newer cars. The 97's have the hole on the bottom of the steering wheel shaft for the wires to pass through, where the 98's and newer have the wires that pass through above the steering wheel shaft.

The cancelling rings are very much different.

So the wiring will also be different, I know you have figured out that you will loose the radio buttons on the steering wheel (if you had them), and you might have to hack the air bag wiring harness on the car side of the steering wheel.

When you do that, be careful, the electrical connections are gold plated and any additional resistance you put in line could come up as an airbag fault/light.

Here's a few pictures:

See how the air bag wires come out of the steering wheel side at the bottom on the 97, see the black wire next to it in the picture below it, it's the single wire that brings the radio control signal back across the cancelling ring to the radio:

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/susp_whls_brake_steer/sw1.JPG">

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/susp_whls_brake_steer/sw3.JPG">

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/susp_whls_brake_steer/sw4.JPG">

It's hard to see, but you see on the 00 wheel, the wires come through just above center hole, and on the 97, they come through on the bottom:

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/susp_whls_brake_steer/sw5.JPG">

And on the back side, there is a connector at the bottom right corner for an 00 that has a wiring harness plug in, and the 97 comes out the top and has the wires built into it:

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/susp_whls_brake_steer/sw7.JPG">

And here's your wheel.....it needs a cancelling ring like an 00 (I think they were all basically the same from 98 on):

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/74951/s8_swheel.jpg">

I tried to retrofit a 00 ring to my car so I could use the radio buttons for tip control, but no dice. As I recall, the cancelling ring would not fit on the old design, but don't quote me on this, I can't remember.

pw

h2ocooler

Thanks for the info Paul.

With help from your web site, tomorrow I will be:

1) Installing my tip shifter.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/74951/tip_shifter02.jpg">

2) Clearing out the AC drain lines (Ice cold water reportedly spills on wife's feet during hard turns).

3) Re-installing re-coded airbag sensor.

4) Assessing the A8&gt;S8 steering wheel interchange.

I will get back to you, or should I say "have more questions for you" tomorrow if you have time.

BTW, when I purchased this A8, it had a hit to the front right. Not bad (no bag/belt deployment) just a little ugly. Well, the airbag light was on in the dash. I don't have the VAG COM yet so used dealer. Report came back as "Crash Data Stored". As you probably know this is not a cancelable item. New Airbag control sensors are $1100 CAD, but after a quick investigation I found "2" shops that will erase the modules software, and reload new code. One was in Germany who advertises on ebay (post core/weeks/$150 CAD), the other was here in Toronto (drop core/same day or wait/ $120 CAD). Hopefully this new code should green flag my bag system. If so, this saves enough cash for a Navi+

Cheers,
Mike

tozoM8

<center><img src="http://142"></center><p>If you take the top cover off, you will see that the shifter housing is the same. All you need to do is install the switches, the little spring loaded block by the tip engage switch, change the two shaft, left and right on the bottom and the top cover. I will try to post some pic.

demon_s8

i have a copy of the ETKA but cannot get past the hard lock.. any idea???

Sven_S8

Hmm, my version doesn't have that problem. However, someone on TSN wrote the instructions below:

<i> These are the instructions from my Etka Disk, should make it clear!!

hardlock is the way round having a dongle installed in the back of your computer to run Etka, which is part of VWs Security to stop people from using the software that are not dealers!!

Installation Instructions.

Please be sure to have hidden files showing. In "My Computer" and "Windows Explorer",
Go to "Tools", click "View Tab" and make sure that "Show hidden files and folders" is
checked.

1)Install using the ETKSETUP.exe icon.

2)Copy LEXHDL5.DLL from the cd to x:\et_prog directory.
Where x is the harddrive that the program is installed.
This will bypass the hardlock dongle.

3)Create a shortcut to WINETKA.exe on your desktop, from the et_prog directory above.
You now use this icon to run the ETKA not the one it installs in the start menu.
Or it will not run smoothly.

4)Your display must have the ability for 1024x1280 resolution or you won't be able
to see the whole screen. 17" inch or larger is recommended.

5)System Requirements: Win95,98,NT,ME,2000,XP; Pentium II or higher;
400 megabytes of harddrive space; CD-ROM Drive; Resolution of 1280 x 1024.


Super detailed instructions for those novices on the computer:

Please be sure to have hidden files showing. In "My Computer" and "Windows Explorer",
Go to "Tools", click "View Tab" and make sure that "Show hidden files and folders" is
checked.

- Put CD into CD drive
- Go to Windows explorer
- click on CD rom drive (usually D drive), it should say EKTA next to the
drive.
- you should see a bunch of folders, A, D, E, etc. 4th icon from the bottom
should read "ETKSETUP.EXE", click on that.

- this should put you into the set up mode. Install the English version.
Make sure that you install it under the "C" drive folder, once it is done
installing, you still need to do 2 more things.

1) go back to Windows explorer and click back on D: , the very next to last
item there is LEXHDL5.DLL, right click and "copy" it. It is right above the
read me. txt . Then go to "C" drive and find the folder "et_prog" folder,
click on folder and then paste LEXHDL5.DLL to that folder. This is very
important!!

2) After you do that you can now create a shortcut. Right click on
WINEKTA.EXE in the "et_prog" and highlight and click on create short cut.
This will create a shortcut for you in the same folder. Make your window a
little bit smaller so you can highlight the new shortcut and drag it to your
desktop. Once there you can change the icon if you want to the ETKA icon
which in the "et_prog" folder and also change the name if you like by right
clicking and renaming.

YOU must ALSO make sure, that your screen is set to a 1024x1280 resolution.
You can do that by right clicking on your desktop and go to settings and
then slide the resolution over to 1024x1280. You must be in this resolution
EVERY TIME you are working with EKTA.
</i>


Hope this helps. NB: my notebook has 1400 x 1050 res. and I have found it's NOT necessary to adjust that. Etka just doesn't fill the entire screen.