BFG owners rear foglight changeover dramas MY15

[john96]

Hi all,

just received email from FCD stating that the dealer is unable to change over the foglight due to not having the (expensive) machinery for it...

Last year they managed it using a change of coding on the laptop.

This is the reply I recieved after asking why the laptop couldn't be used;

"Yep, that was the case, but because the model has changed they now require a new piece of equipment to enable them to do this on the new Octavia’s. Most Skoda dealers in the UK don’t have this tool as it is very expensive and the demand for it isn’t that high."

Am I being taken for a mug? Or has the same car from last year had such a major overhaul that recoding is now not possible?

This is the kind of crap that really sours the buying experience.

Edited 11 September, 2014 by john96

[andyvee]

I coded it on a 2015MY vRS last week that had the new BCM no problems. Happy to assist if you can get the car to me.

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[themanwithnoaim]

John, name'n'shame the dealers in question.

 

I'd also suggest you look up your local briskoda meet and pop along someone is likely to have the VCDS to enable this change if not, there is a map of VCDS owners on here somewhere whih you can contact about do the mods you require.  There you go and offer as I typed.

Edited 11 September, 2014 by themanwithnoaim

[Nige400]

Where are you?

It's easily done with laptop, I done my own with a ross tech cable and laptop,

[Black_Sheep]

Blahde2 had this issue a while ago in Germany with the MY15 model. Andyvee was able to assist so I assume that he has a cable, and possibly not too far from you.

If not get the instructions from Andyvee and take the car to the Isslehorst Skoda dealer midway between Gutersloh and Bielefeld. One of the techs there is ahead of the game on VCDS / VAS systems for recoding issues.

[Auric Goldfinger]

I coded it on a 2015MY vRS last week that had the new BCM no problems. Happy to assist if you can get the car to me.

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Mines done   :yes:  by Mr Vee

[john96]

Thanks for quick replies!

Its the usual Canterbury skoda dealer that FCD supply from. Im still out in Afghanistan at the moment, have arranged a December pick up for the new one. It is annoying that it seems to be just a laptop recode to change it.

Andyvee if you are in the Kent area it is do-able, but I think the Gutersloh dealer may be my best option as the one in Paderborn is never much help.

[Black_Sheep]

Thanks to Andyvee the coding is here:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/299424-octavia-iii-vcds-adaptations-tried-and-tested/#entry3567267

[andyvee]

Yep, one extra adaptation channel to change on MY2015 cars with the new BCM.

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[blahde2]

Blahde2 had this issue a while ago in Germany with the MY15 model. Andyvee was able to assist so I assume that he has a cable, and possibly not too far from you.

You have it all wrong good sir, I "am looking at buying one" but don't have one currently. I would suggest to John 96 to look up Gizmo down near Dover as he is a VCDS Guru and should be able to do it for you.

He and I never managed to meet up (Easter hols got in the way) but found a sound gent in London 15mins from my sisters place. He did it all for a bottle of wine (he didn't want payment of any sorts actually) & wasn't familiar with the much more complicated coding of modern cars. But between us we managed by following the guides on here.

Hi all,

just received email from FCD stating that the dealer is unable to change over the foglight due to not having the (expensive) machinery for it...

Last year they managed it using a change of coding on laptop

This is the kind of crap that really sours the buying experience.

If you pick the car up from the UK dealer as I did, see if some of the VCDS owners on the way back to Dover could do it for you. Alternatively (& as a last min bodge) you could string a wire across between the fog lights, technically slaving the left hand fog light. That will allow you to register it & give you time to find a VCDS owner near by. (I am not condoning you pull the wool BTW)

If you aren't technically minded, ask one of your REME techs / VMs to do it for you.

[blahde2]

Thanks for quick replies!

Andyvee if you are in the Kent area it is do-able, but I think the Gutersloh dealer may be my best option as the one in Paderborn is never much help.

The Paderborn dealer is pants and Andy is way up north UK, so that dealer or Gizmo down Dover way would be your best options, find him on the VCDS owners map & PM him. It takes no more than 20mins (if that) to do so if you can arrange a time suitable for you to stop off, you'll be able to recode the car and still make you ferry /Chunnel in good time,

To find VCDS Details, look for the adaptations thread pinned to the top of the OCTY 3 forum and look for a post where VCDS Owners map is in the signature block.

[Black_Sheep]

You have it all wrong good sir, I "am looking at buying one" but don't have one currently.

If you pick the car up from the UK dealer as I did, see if some of the VCDS owners on the way back to Dover could do it for you. Alternatively (& as a last min bodge) you could string a wire across between the fog lights, technically slaving the left hand fog light. That will allow you to register it & give you time to find a VCDS owner near by. (I am not condoning you pull the wool BTW)

If you aren't technically minded, ask one of your REME techs / VMs to do it for you.

Sorry for the confusion...

With respect to the slaving the wire across, I remember posting on here previously that this was virtually impossible to do without damaging the loom or light unit as the connections on the back of the led lights on the VRS are sealed - unlike those on previous generations of VAG cars. You also risk a bulb out warning on the dash if you just slave the wire and then the car will not pass BFG test.

Some more info here:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/282524-rear-fog-swap-r-l/?p=3473545

Edited 11 September, 2014 by Black_Sheep

[john96]

Yes, I will either see if Gizmo can do it, or the gutersloh dealer.

But I still can't believe that a dealer who sells cars for the BFG market cannot Or will not give the customer the option to change the lights.

Again, thanks for all the informative replies!

[andyvee]

It is because the factory tools are limited - unless there is a guided function for doing it, they can't do it.

 

On the MY15 cars Skoda haven't assigned any brightness values or function to the near side fog light channel. On MY13 and MY14 the brightness was set and it was already configured as a fog light for cars built for the right hand traffic markets. At a wild guess, all the did was change the car to be native right hand traffic and voila the fog light changes over.

 

The majority of dealers don't take anything like the level of interest in the coding as some of us on here do, so don't know how to get round it.

[john96]

Update. Just been to Thiel skoda Bad Driburg. 15km from Paderborn. I was charged 25 euros for the recoding, which I am very happy with!

Again, big thanks to the forum + Andyvee (!!) as I showed the mechanics the VCDS thread. They used that to change the fog!

[faarn]

john96,  is your car a MY2015?  I am trying to get my rear fog reprogrammed but the local skoda here in Bremerhaven says they can not do it as it might throw faults and they are not willing to risk it.  I have asked them to call Thiel skoda and will hopefully hear back tomorrow.  Also running out of time to register the car so if anyone has the know how and equipment to do this around the Fallingbostel/Hohne Bergen area let me know.

 

Thanks

 

edit: just seen that the thread title states MY2015, Will PM you.

Edited 16 March, 2015 by faarn

[faarn]

Well just been to the 3rd Skoda Garage and they are still unable to change the fog lights over.  They followed the instruction as per the link above and it turned all the car lights off.  They suggested getting a German BCM and trying to program that as they are having no luck but on looking up the part numbers they are exactly the same as UK.  They are going to speak to Skoda and see what they say.  I am not looking good to get this sorted within the 40 day period but if needs be will get it hard wired by them as am sick of all this ar*ing around.  I will definitely be contacting the group who sold me the car as they were supposed to sort this out before I exported it but didn't due to a
"misunderstanding".

 

Anyway, heads up for anyone buying to export to Germany.  

[Black_Sheep]

Don't get it hard wired - that will throw up more faults and you will have to pay to return it back again when you sell the car back in the UK, further increasing the likelyhood of faults as you will have had to cut into wiring looms or looms on back of light units.

Write a grovelling email to SO2 BFG VLO requesting a further 30 day extension so that you can sort out the issue, clearly explaining that it was not done by supplying dealer in UK and that Skoda.de have not supplied info to local dealers. In the meantime book the car in to the Skoda dealer John96 mentioned or the one in Isslehorst near Gutersloh.

A couple of hour return journey to a competent dealer is far better than the hassle of a BFG ban.

[Black_Sheep]

Duplicate post!

Edited 23 March, 2015 by Black_Sheep

[andyvee]

Well just been to the 3rd Skoda Garage and they are still unable to change the fog lights over.  They followed the instruction as per the link above and it turned all the car lights off.  They suggested getting a German BCM and trying to program that as they are having no luck but on looking up the part numbers they are exactly the same as UK.  They are going to speak to Skoda and see what they say.  I am not looking good to get this sorted within the 40 day period but if needs be will get it hard wired by them as am sick of all this ar*ing around.  I will definitely be contacting the group who sold me the car as they were supposed to sort this out before I exported it but didn't due to a

"misunderstanding".

 

Anyway, heads up for anyone buying to export to Germany.  

In which case they are idiots and didn't do it correctly.

 

I haven't come across an O3 that it can't be enabled on, I have done quite a few now

 

Shame you aren't in the UK as it takes all of 2 minutes to do.

 

If they didn't realise that the BCM part number would be the same and the only difference would be in the adaptations between different countries, then there is no wonder they can't get it to work!

[john96]

just PM'd faarn.

Another update from my original reply which I should have added at the time.

Gutersloh were not willing to do it as it's a MY15 and according to them it couldn't be done...

so on the way home from there I popped into Thiel in Bad Driburg (15km) from paderborn. They were willing to have a play, so got it booked in and it took about 30 minutes with me next to them using Andyvee's thread.

There were a few funnies, involving both fogs coming on and staying on even with ignition off and then the same with the lhs fog. However they eventually got it! I was very happy paying 25 euro.

[john96]

faarn, I know that sick feeling when you haven't got it sorted. I was seriously thinking about driving back to UK and use one of the lads on here to help me!

[faarn]

Thanks for the replies, will keep battling on with the program settings.  If no joy by Wednesday (I have also got it booked into another Skoda) I will have to think about the drive to Driburg (a nice 7 hour round trip although at least I can bomb down the Autobahn).  Annoyingly I have suggested 3 or 4 times they speak with Thiel Skoda but they clearly haven't.  

[blahde2]

Now i am getting worried, I change mine again in late April! Let's hope that the car arrives when scheduled and that i can arrange a rendezvous with a talented coder.

I was planning on purchasing a cable myself and learning to do all the coding myself, however not confident especially when i have no expert next door/up the road to call upon if I were to balls it up. For the coders on here, what do you reckon, can you teach yourself simple coding (or maybe not so simple) such as fog lights or is it beyond the novice?

I am no über computer geek but I'm not an idiot either. Advice please as i could solve this issue for many forces guys in the future.

[andyvee]

Just get one of us in the UK to do it

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