For what they charge for these cars, it would be a trivial matter for VW to put a diagnostic interface on the dashboard somewhere - as was done with the mid-1990's BMW's pre-ODBC, you can access codes using a stomp-test procedure, and the numbers flash on a dashboard indicator. (edit: I respect the work that Ross Tech has done, and I agree that they need to be paid for their development work - but I wouldn't say that any cost was 'justified' simply because VW charges $30,000 for their tool. You also need to make sure that there's no COM port that conflicts with the COM port settings in VCDS-Lite.Īside from diagnosing faults (and resetting glow-plug CEL's) - the most useful thing, imo, that VCDS can do, is set the keyless entry so that it unlocks all the doors with one button-press, instead of two, (like every other car requiring two presses is super-annoying). THEN you go to the FTDI site, and install their driver, THEN it is safe to plug the cable in, so that it will work. So you have to unplug the cable, go into Device Manager, and delete the driver. Users should review their web site prior to making a purchase decision IMHO.įinally, here is the link to the function table from Ross-Tech: Ĭlick to expand.I am not sure if this is still an issue with Windows 7 but with the older Win XP version, you can get into a situation if you plug the 'ebay cable' into your computer, and Windows automatically installs a driver.

Ross-Tech has a nice web page listing the features of VCDS, VCDS Lite (paid version), and VCDS Lite (crippled version). In many cases I am not sure they even realize that the version they are using is not fully functional. I think a lot of the complaints with VCDS Lite are from folks that didn't pay the shareware fee and are using the crippled version that has many of the most valuable features disabled. But, I guess you can never go wrong with purchasing one of the Ross-Tech cables/dongles. I can use the timing graph too (another post about a month ago questioned this).įor the limited times I use the set-up I am very happy with my purchase. I have access to all the timing values I need. Here is their direct web site: įWIW, I have had no problems whatsoever. I paid the $99 for VCDS Lite and bought a cheap cable from alpha-bid on ebay.

Vcds software for vw tdi