you'll have go get it done at skoda then unless you want to spend silly money on a vas5051b or a vas5052 or the new panasonic toughbook versions.

The vas5051b's motherboards retail at £1000 to give you an idea of the price of the entire unit lol

you could pick VAS5054A for about £500 incl the panasonic toughbook

thats why vag stopped using the VAS5051b and 5052's. Fujisu siemens had them over a barrel and ripped them off massively

The 5051b is about 2-3k brand new but with parts like motherboards @ £100 and measurement boards costing £300 they are expensive to maintain. I fixed one machine and it had so many new parts it came to more than the price of a new unit lol

Really??! Are people seriously even entertaining the thought that it's worth buying whatever it is at at least £500+ to have both fog lights on?? :no:

How do independant garages afford all of these different pieces of software and hardware to cover the main car manufacturers?

There was initially a school of thought years ago that the development of engines in modern cars would kill the automotive mechanic trade, as they were just turning into the big plastic lump we all know under our bonnets, but then they quickly realised that it would bring MORE business in cos the average man CAN'T tinker with their car anymore.

How do independant garages afford all of these different pieces of software and hardware to cover the main car manufacturers?

There aren't too many manufacturers (Bosch, Lucas etc) of ECUs and the larger assemblies connected to it i.e. fuel pumps, injectors etc. I used to work for a major diesel engine manufacturer whilst studying and all of these components were supplied by Bosch. In addition a sensor in simple terms just provides an electrical signal proportional to what it is measuring over a given time period - the ECU / software then act as a comparator agianst the 'map' with go/no-go criteria.

In answer to you question an indy will probably have a 'Bosch' (or equivalent) reader (effectively a more expensive and capable multi-car reader like those availble to us ordinary folk) that can read/clear/write to multiple cars - and like VCDS just needs a software update as cars change.

Edited 21 January, 201313 yr by Black_Sheep

How do independant garages afford all of these different pieces of software and hardware to cover the main car manufacturers?

Because you can buy generic ones. They do a similar job but not in as much detail, I know snapon do one as a mechanic friend of mine has one. BUT they do some great tools like cameras on the end of lines so you can see right into the engines

I'd put money on no-one bar VAG dealers and big earning specialists had the VAS5051b, VAS5052, VAS5051 and now the Panasonic Toughbooks