God damn k-line

[Funkoid]

Got hold of a vag com cable the other day and was toying with the idea of having a go this weekend I figured I'd check that I'd installed my stereo correctly with the 12v k-line issue you can get.

Now i was 99% certain I'd done this correctly and didn't fancy removing my stereo for a 2nd time!

I went over to read up on ross tech about the k-line issue and now I'm a tad baffled... not sure if its me being a voltmeter dummy or if the k-line is actually sorted. I followed the instructions below...

If you have a volt-meter: measure the voltage between pins 4 and 7 of the diagnostic connector with the ignition and radio turned ON. If it's under 9V, your K-line is fine. If it's over 9V, the results are inconclusive.

I had my voltmeter set to DCV 20, which was returning 11v when the radio and car ignition was turned on. It was returning around 4.5v when the ignition and radio were off. So presumably this is inconclusive?

Getting hold of some resistors isn't too easy in my area and everywhere will be closing up today :(

So my question is do you think i've used the wrong settings on the volt meter? I don't think i have which makes me even more curious abotu the radio install.

Am i safe in presuming that the half decent ebay cables don't come with protection against the surge if it was shorted?

edit - Well as a work around in the time being i figured I'd disconnect the stereo completely which only meant taking the glove box out and disconnecting the iso connections. I checked what i believed to be the k wire as per the ross tech documentation. The grey and white wire/pin 3 of the black half of the car connections didn't make any contact with the head unit harness anyway.

I figured I'd then take the voltages again with the head unit detached and the ignition on and they were exactly the same as before when the head unit was connected so i presume I'm good to go?

Anything i haven't thought of?

Edited 20 September, 2008 by Funkoid

[Funkoid]

edit - Well as a work around in the time being i figured I'd disconnect the stereo completely which only meant taking the glove box out and disconnecting the iso connections. I checked what i believed to be the k wire as per the ross tech documentation. The grey and white wire/pin 3 of the black half of the car connections didn't make any contact with the head unit harness anyway.

I figured I'd then take the voltages again with the head unit detached and the ignition on and they were exactly the same as before when the head unit was connected so i presume I'm good to go?

Anything i haven't thought of?

[cjb]

How about pulling the radio fuse temporarily?

[Funkoid]

Well... with the voltages being the same and my gear only costing a tenner (as long as it didn't blow my hu :p) .... i went for it. All is working okay.

Am still a little concerned with the voltage hitting 11v which is higher than stated on ross techs site but everything is working fine...... and more to the point the k-line isn't connected, this was confirmed by vag-com too!

[cjb]

The thing is is that a high-mpedance multimeter will read near 12v even with a current-,limited source. I wouldn't worry, since it works.