Hello all - had a read through of quite a few threads and still struggling to fully understand the diagnostic scanning clearly:

VCDS Lite is free, requires an OBD to USB cable from EBay, the software is downloadable from 'Ross-Tech', however it is only capable of scanning for error codes and cannot reset them?

The full VCDS is ~£200. Does the full VCDS work for all ages of Vag cars?

Is Vag Com the same device/software/cable, or is vag com an older system?

The cable and device I need for my mk1 fabia, will not be compatible for a mk2 Fabia, or vag group equivalent, is that correct?

What is the code of the lead that I need to connect the car, OBD, to a diagnostic device?

Are vag com and VCDS the same thing?

:confused:

Thank you in advance for any clarification on the subject!

JRJG

Vcds hex can covers all cars and will update to cover all future cars too. Had mine for years now

There is VCDS Lite registered and unregistered.

 

If you're just planning on doing bits on the Fabia then the registered version of Lite will do (code resets, logging etc) and is £60 but there are some conditions like you can't move it from one laptop to another more than once etc. You then need an ebay cable.

Vcds hex can covers all cars and will update to cover all future cars too. Had mine for years now

Okay, I assume this has quite a premium price tag to it though as well? I am no mechanic so wouldn't need the top of the range spec device. Thank you for clearing it up though.

There is VCDS Lite registered and unregistered.

If you're just planning on doing bits on the Fabia then the registered version of Lite will do (code resets, logging etc) and is £60 but there are some conditions like you can't move it from one laptop to another more than once etc. You then need an ebay cable.

This sounds more like the type of setup I would need. Does the Lite version scan codes from the same 'generation' vag cars (Mk4 Golf, 9N Polo etc)? Or is the software specifically for the Mk1 Fabia?

JRJG

Got the scan sorted - turned out to be an intermittent electrical fault in one of the glow plugs so nothing particularly important. But quite a fun little tinkering project for me at some point this winter.

The scanner we used was a £1400 Snap On Diagnostics scanner... A bit out of my price range.

JRJG

This sounds more like the type of setup I would need. Does the Lite version scan codes from the same 'generation' vag cars (Mk4 Golf, 9N Polo etc)? Or is the software specifically for the Mk1 Fabia?

 

It will cover all VAG cars of a certain generation. There's a chart on the RossTech site with features and info on which cars you can do with which version...

The unregistered version of vcds lite will let you see and clear fault codes. It will only give a detailed description of the first few codes, but you can just look up the others on the Ross Tech wiki. It won't do a full auto scan but you just go into each controller manually.

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Thank you for all of your replies and information. Much appreciated.

JRJG