Wonder if anyone here can help me, I have just got a serial lead form eBay & have been using it with vagcom shareware version to read the faults form my newly purchased Fabia 2000 MPI.

I read various error codes, nothing serious, a Lambda error and a steering angle sensor one.

I then had a browse through the cd that came with the serial lead, and incredibly stupidly ran a programme called skoda fabia c86.exe.

By not looking to carefully at what I was doing I have now seemingly wrecked something in the electronics, the dash milometer shows error then 00000 then 105300 the dash illumination is really dim, the low coolant symbol is illuminated, but worst of all, the immobilizer is stopping the car from starting.

I have done a scan with Vagcom and amongst various other errors most worryingly it is showing:-

17978 Engine start blocked by immobilizer

Readiness 0110 010

65535 – Internal control module memory error

01317 - Control Module in Instrument Cluster

So how can I repair the damage that has been done?

Unfortunately I have only 1 key & don’t have the SKC number.

Any advice will be most gratefull.

Andy

that doesn't sound good to be honest,

I had too go to the dealers when swmbo Ibiza showed that code.

Cost £150 roughly although this was with a new key.

Sorry I can't be anymore help.

Moved to Vag-com forum.

If the key is the problem look on fabia-vrs.com and it tells you how to recode your key via vag com but it does say you need the SKC

I think the immo is the least of your worries. I'd be more worried about the last 2 errors, it sounds like you have written something to the memory on the instrument cluster or seriously altered some of the settings allbeit unintentionally.

I have done a little googling and the program seems to be something to do with the instrument cluster,

http://www.tachosoft.com/_fabiakm.htm

suggests the software is fake and its intention is to break the instrument cluster, yet another reason to not trust ebay leads and software.

The software is like a trojan, basically pretending to be mileage correction software.

Edited 22 February, 200917 yr by mannyo

Thanks for the replies, although the answers were what I least wanted to hear!

Any thoughts about how I might resolve the problems I have caused?

Would the first step to be to put in a new (secondhand) dash & take it from there maybe?

Can you get anything back off the people the lead came from? It sounds like the program was a virus! :eek:

A 2nd hand dash may not be a bad idea, but it will show a different mileage so you will need to account for that in the service history. Also, the new dash will have it's own SKC code, etc, and this will need to be read to get a key coded. There is a program out there called vagtacho which I have successfully seen used to read the immob code required to code a key. What I would be worried about is if that stuff you loaded onto the car has done anything to the ecu, not just the instrument cluster.

You could try disconnecting the battery and see if the car resets itself .

As i see it you have nothing to lose if it doesn't work:thumbup:

Best of luck with it.

I tried disconnecting the battery then re-connecting, but sadly had no effect.

Have had to resort to booking it into a dealer on Monday, so will have to see what they say, whatever they say I am not expecting it to be cheap!

Thanks to all.

It's a main dealer visit job... no way around it full stop.

Oh dear, sadly an expensive and harsh lesson.

I fear you'll be buying another dash insert.

65535 - Ross-Tech Wiki

01317 - Ross-Tech Wiki

What about whipping out the dash and removing the chip involved and re-flashing on a bench.

Is this an option Stu ???

As I know a man who can do these type of jobs

Yes and no.

Clearly you need the equipment etc.

IMHO you'd need a known good unit to read from and then you'd still have the issue with the Immo as it'll no longer be unique.

Aggro would probably make it prohibitive and not worth it.

Just gives an indication of how powerful the OBD port is and how careful you need to be when using it and 3rd party cheapo equipment.

Edited 24 February, 200917 yr by VRStu
typo

Hmmm, maybe I won't buy myself a VAG COM lead then... (I was going to buy the proper Ross tech one but think I'd probably end up resetting something I shouldn't!!!!)

To the OP, I hope you get it sorted (and sue the seller of the software you bought)

Vagcom is a supported, well documented, and well known product, and if in doubt, ask first

If you just do fault scan & reset faults you really cant go that far wrong to be fair

Hmmm, maybe I won't buy myself a VAG COM lead then... (I was going to buy the proper Ross tech one but think I'd probably end up resetting something I shouldn't!!!!)

VCDS doesn't write to EEPROM for that reason.

Let's be sure we all understand that he picked up a unit that is not VCDS (VAG-COM). He has something that modified the program in the instrument cluster. This VCDS does not do as Stu pointed out. We get asked often to add this feature. This episode is the exact reason we do not support EEPROM modification with Ross-Tech products. It's expensive to fix this problem and who is to blame? The operator or the creator of the product? And then I don't want to get into the fact that the product was most likely a clone of another product. That's another bag of worms.

Indeed - I've used VCDS (vagcom as I bought it originally, USB cable) for a long time to do basic diagnostics and fault reset as well as resetting the service indicator for neighbours etc, not had any trouble.

There are clear warnings in the program where you *may* cause a problem, usually you can revert without any trouble at all.

As pointed out, it cannot be compared with random executabes downloaded from somewhere. There are products other than VCDS out there which probably also work for their specific purpose, but for VAG you cannot really get this level of functionality outside of their own VAG equipment possibly.

So a genuine ross tech VAGCOM cable is completely safe, even for a complete computer f*ckwit like myself??

So a genuine ross tech VAGCOM cable is completely safe, even for a complete computer f*ckwit like myself??

Erm there are one or two exceptions to the rule John :rofl:

So a genuine ross tech VAGCOM cable is completely safe, even for a complete computer f*ckwit like myself??

It is safer - doesn't mean you can't use it to cause something to go wrong

How about I buy one, then bring it round to you for some lessons on how to use it??????

( I now have two VAG cars, both with the EMLs on, and my door control module needs coding to the car I think)

How about I buy one, then bring it round to you for some lessons on how to use it??????

( I now have two VAG cars, both with the EMLs on, and my door control module needs coding to the car I think)

I already told you I'd help you.

Doesnt VCDS allow the saving of a good config, so if you do messup, you can restore stuff?

Lotusandy - might not be wise to tell the dealer what you were doing, especially if you still have any warranty cover. it just stopped working ;)