DarthRay

I don't have a VAG-COM cable/software (yet) but now that I'm planning for my new car purchase, it seems it will be one of my first thing I'll get.

As I learn more about how VAG-COM works, something came to mind. I know some dealer will recode something during service and overwrite settings I may have coded into my car. I was wondering, does VAG-COM have any features where it would record the settings I like the most so I can re-apply them later in case the dealer resets everything?

Along the same lines, can VAG-COM store a backup of my car's original settings? The scenario here is as I play with VAG-COM I may screw things up and recode something I wasn't supposed to and let's say I didn't write down the original value first. It would be nice to have a backup of the original settings so I can put them back in a case like that. It would also be useful to compare the before and after a visit to the dealer, to see what they changed.

Is any of the above available in VAG-COM today?

Thanks.

Dana @ Ross-Tech

It is always advised to have an auto scan of the vehicle prior to any changes. I recommend that to new customers even when they don't intend on changing anything, just for future reference. The auto scan can be saved in file format and even printed if you wish.

Out current software creates coding and adaptation logs of the changes you make using VCDS. If you only use one PC and do not uninstall the software, you should have all of the data for future reference.

There isn’t an easy button. If you make changes that have undesirable results you will need to look at the previous scans and mentioned logs to resolve the problem.

Typically a before and after auto scan will show anything that a dealer has changed in regards to coding and firmware updates. However, adaptation values can go unnoticed unless you create logs of the modules in question and compare them before and after repairs.

DarthRay

Thank you, Dana.

It seems like it's not as automated as I would have liked, but is doable. Auto scan is what I'll be doing every now and then. It's nice that it can be saved to a human readable/pritable file too.

Thanks.