Saw a worrying issue yesterday which occured on a brand new Octavia II.

It seems that VAG have switched to a new MK60 ABS controller, MK60EC/1 (ABS/ASR/ESP) and MK70M (ABS/ASR) which now uses long coding. Whilst coding another device on the car the ABS controller cleared itself of any coding at all. Normally this might not be too much of a problem as with VAG-COM/VCDS you can actually 'build' the new long coding with the information in the label file, however sadly this new controller isn't yet supported by VAG-COM/VCDS.

As it happened this car was in a Skoda dealer which had the latest revision of VAS software - The controller isn't yet supported by that either!!! How fecking rediculous that VAG are building cars with components that the dealers cannot support.

A quick call to our resident expert also confirmed that it happens on VW cars at the moment too.

In the short term the common sense way to overcome the problem is to carry out a full autoscan with with VAG-COM/VCDS and save it, this will show the current coding of all the controllers in the car which can then be re entered if the coding is lost.

The result in this case is that the car is now off the road until tomorrow when Skoda Technical can be consulted.

Edited 24 September, 200817 yr by VRStu
More Info Added

i guess skoda technical wont be told about it being vag com'd then? cheers for the info stu!!

i guess skoda technical wont be told about it being vag com'd then? cheers for the info stu!!

It wasn't VAG-COM that caused the problem it was VAS. Regardless of that, VAG-COM is a proper tool and therefore shouldn't have any effect on warranty unless it caused a problem.

I should add that I am of the opinion that the problem is only caused when changing anything that communicates with the ABS controller.

Thanks for the advice VRStu:thumbup:

To add some more info on this subject, the new modules are also installed in the new Audi A3 as well as some VWs - problem so far is that none of them comes with a coding table and the general rule is to request the original coding from the factory.

We have seen a similar behavior of ABS modules which lost their coding in the past, back then it was a safety measure which could be triggered by several things. A power supply problem as well as an unlearned steering angle sensor could cause this, so we believe this is a safety measure as well.

The next VCDS data update will have a label file for this control module but reality is that its unlikely we see coding details until then, so for now I suggest to follow Stu's advice - make a backup before you make any changes.

Nice one Stu. Hopefully by the time I get my hands on them it will all be resolved... (circa 2 years or more).

Its happening more and more with the VAG control units. It can be a pain even for us in the dealer network as it relies on

1) the VAG server being upright and able to communicate with the VAS machine

2) the company server being upright and able to communicate with the VAS machine

if 1 or 2 fail

3) It has to be a weekday and someone has to read the cry for help on DISS at HQ to email the factory, get you the long coding, then update the DISS report with the information, which to be fair to VW anyhow the technical team are very good at (if they are there...lol).

Would it not be possible for the dealer to scan one of the cars they have in their showroom to get the coding?

As surely it would have the same controller and coding, or would they not risk the chance of losing the code for that one too?

The 'doner' car would have to be of exactly the same specification as the one the code was required for so yes if you have one available that should work.

Its happening more and more with the VAG control units. It can be a pain even for us in the dealer network as it relies on

1) the VAG server being upright and able to communicate with the VAS machine

2) the company server being upright and able to communicate with the VAS machine

Forget VAS and Vag-Com, have you guys not heard of Autologic from Diagnos?

Edited 19 April, 200917 yr by VAG-tech

For reference... Since everybody should make up his own mind.

VAG Diagnostics

Yes but why would we want something more expensive with less support, forums and users that is more basic?

Forget VAS and Vag-Com, have you guys not heard of Autologic from Diagnos?

:confused: Looks fancy how much is it though ?