6 minutes ago, Wino said:

I don't think the CAN wiring comes out to the diagnostic connector, but will check later. 

Not true, but I'm pretty sure if anything works via the K wire, everything should. The cable and VCDS side of things seems to be fine, in my undereducated opinion.

25 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

you may need to cycle the ignition or start the engine to communicate with it.

I just nipped out to try this. Unfortunately running the engine and cycling ignition made no difference. Same behaviour as in the video I posted.

 

11 minutes ago, Wino said:

 

The engine ECU is probably the one you most want to be able to chat with/recode in order to enable the cruise though, right?

 

Yes that and central electronics I think.

 

12 minutes ago, Wino said:

Is it the original engine ECU? 

As far as I know yes.

I was only guessing about cruise requiring a recode of engine ECU, maybe it's only Central Elec?

 

BXW rings a vague bell for a 1.4/16v in a mk2?

 

Big thanks from me for demonstrating that Lite does indeed seem to work on early mk2s. 

Just now, Wino said:

Big thanks from me for demonstrating that Lite does indeed seem to work on early mk2s. 

 

Always learning, eh?

15 minutes ago, Wino said:

 

I was only guessing about cruise requiring a recode of engine ECU, maybe it's only Central Elec?

 

 

Based on previous research and additional loom connection required to ECU I believe it is, but I’ll be happily proven wrong.

 

17 minutes ago, Wino said:

BXW rings a vague bell for a 1.4/16v in a mk2?

I’ll have a look at your guide and check at some point.

 

18 minutes ago, Wino said:

Big thanks from me for demonstrating that Lite does indeed seem to work on early mk2s. 

No problem, thanks for all the pointers, very happy to have a working VCDS for my vehicle 🎉 and at such a reasonable price point.

 

I’ll keep working at the ECU connection thing. Maybe someone else out there has seen the same problem. 🙏

Just found some FAQs around resolving the 'flaky' connection issues on Ross-Tech's site.

Going to leave it here for reference and try it out later.

https://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/faq_2.php#2.5

I'll be happy to hear that any of those fixes/workarounds work for you, but I can't help wondering if it isn't something like a poor connection between engine ECU and Central Elec unit, since everything else is 'unflaky'.

 

Edit: having thought about it for another minute, maybe it is just that the engine ECU exchanges more data with the diag port and VCDS than any other module, so it could still be selectively affected even with excellent wiring etc. if there's some bottleneck that doesn't matter for other modules' data.

Edited 29 October, 20214 yr by Wino

Well!

 

I just had a play with some of the com port settings via device manager, Win XP doesn't have a FIFO buffers checkbox so instead I just:

- Lowered the data transfer rates

- Switched to com4 instead of 3

- Switched the system appearance to Windows Classic Style.

 

Now when running VCDS connection test the latency shows 'excellent' instead of 'poor' as previously.

And the ECU module connection seemed very stable 🎉 I was able to happily open the 're code' section of both modules without any connection issues.

 

A great success in my books. now I just need to do some more research around which numbers to change for my cruise control retrofit plans.

 

 

Edited 29 October, 20214 yr by WezFab

Awesome, I think you've just taught me something. I'm pretty sure my latency has always shown as poor. Just assumed that was 'as good as it gets'. 

Most welcome 😆

Any recommendations on where to look for coding info on my modules? or do I just need to save my pocket money and pay ross tech $99?

With the registered version I see the following for engine ECU, Central Elec and Instrument cluster modules on my Polo, none of which show anything to do with cruise control, slightly to my surprise.

Maybe I don't have the right version of J519? Never thought of trying to fit it, so dunno really.

 

 

 

 

There will be various documents available via erWin if nowhere else that would give tables of coding for whichever is/are the relevant modules of your car, similar to these pop-ups. An example for my Polo engine ECU is:

 

Not sure how you'd work out which documents you'd need easily though, especially if not sure which modules are relevant..

 

I'll have a look at our Fabia tomorrow, see if that shows anything more helpful.

 

 

 

 

Thanks, yeah I guess the coding will be specific to my modules. May have to keep digging with my module part numbers.

 

On 29/10/2021 at 17:22, Wino said:

There will be various documents available via erWin

Ah yes, I did register here but seemed to hit a paywall for any information. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place.

Edited 30 October, 20214 yr by WezFab

13 minutes ago, WezFab said:

hit a paywall for any information. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place.

No it's all behind that wall, but I find it quite a low one.

If you look under the 'Individual vehicle information' tab, then 'repair info', you can get to info about absolutely anything to do with any Skoda model, in downloadable pdf form.

With a bit of planning you'll probably have downloaded everything you can possibly imagine might be relevant before a 1 hour 'flat rate' session expires; connection/bandwidth and storage space permitting.

 

Found some helpful info re cruise, I think.  

See post by Nathan G here: Vag-com cruise control programming - Skoda Fabia Mk I - BRISKODA

Follow the link in his post to the archived guide, then do the bit under the Enable Cruise Control using VAG-COM/VCDS

Looks like you go in via the 'log in' button, not the recode button.

 

Edit: when I say 'do the bit under...' I suggest you do plenty more research before just doing anything.   Not sure how specific that info may be to mk1 Fabia vRS, or whether that code is going to be applicable to your ECU.  Reckon it'll turn out to be doable though. 

 

Video that doesn't need the sound on! How to activate cruise control VCDS - YouTube

Edited 30 October, 20214 yr by Wino

Well speaking was a lifelong Mac user I'm in Windows hell trying to get the cable interface to install correctly.

 

Have tried with downloaded drivers and letting Windows XP find drivers, but each time the device manager shows USB serial interface with error symbol, and message that the driver is corrupted or can't work with Windows XP (error code 39). Trying to install on an old Acer 4211 netbook running XP.

 

The instructions from Gendan that came with the cable don't shed any lite. They imply the drivers should work fine with XP.

 

Upshot is that the interface doesn't appear as a virtual COM port, so I can't ry it out on Fabia.

 

Thanks for any advice on getting this to work. Meanwhile I'm going back to my Macs which never give these problems fortunately!

14 minutes ago, Stratfordade said:

Well speaking was a lifelong Mac user I'm in Windows hell trying to get the cable interface to install correctly.

 

Have tried with downloaded drivers and letting Windows XP find drivers, but each time the device manager shows USB serial interface with error symbol, and message that the driver is corrupted or can't work with Windows XP (error code 39). Trying to install on an old Acer 4211 netbook running XP.

 

The instructions from Gendan that came with the cable don't shed any lite. They imply the drivers should work fine with XP.

 

Upshot is that the interface doesn't appear as a virtual COM port, so I can't ry it out on Fabia.

 

I think there's a bit on Ross-Tech's website about being unable to use a COM to USB interface adapter due to the way they emulate serial connectivity or something to that degree. You'd need the real COM/DB9/Serial port.

 

15 minutes ago, Stratfordade said:

Thanks for any advice on getting this to work. Meanwhile I'm going back to my Macs which never give these problems fortunately!

 

You haven't tried my iMac G3 then

Thanks for that info. In which case I may speak to Gendan, and ask why their instructions say the usb cable should work with XP. 

2 hours ago, Stratfordade said:

The instructions from Gendan that came with the cable don't shed any lite. They imply the drivers should work fine with XP.

I’m also a Mac user and I had exactly the same problem with the ‘driver corrupted’ warning after using the drivers from Gendans link in their instructions. I called Gendan and they directed me to the correct drivers for XP which are working great.

 

I think the driver version you need for XP is 2.08.24 it wasn’t that obvious how to find the link on the FTDI website.

 

Chap on the phone also told me to manually choose the driver instead of letting windows find it.

 

hope you get it sorted 👌

 

3 hours ago, Wino said:

Found some helpful info re cruise

 

Thanks for this. That Nathan G thread looks awesome. And 100% yes I am not jumping in to make any changes. My wife has already made it know that she will not be happy if I brick the car. 😆

 

I will be avidly backing up any existing coding and making sure I have some thorough documentation on my specific modules before doing anything.

Thanks WezFab that’s excellent info. I’ll try that and report!

Fantastic WezFab I found the drivers thanks to your links and selected them manually. The interface now appears correctly under COM ports, and I've reassigned it to COM1 from COM8.

 

Will plug into Fabia tomorrow and see what happens!

 

Again many thanks — your info has meant I needn't wait till Monday to call Gendan, and has also made me grateful that I'm not a regular Windows user!

Excellent, you may also find these tips useful, tho some of them weren’t relevant to XP.

 

https://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/faq_2.php#2.5

 

My connection latency was. ‘Poor’ and I had trouble connecting to the ECU module consistently until I changed these bits.

 

On 29/10/2021 at 14:03, WezFab said:

- Lowered the data transfer rates

- Switched to com4 instead of 3

- Switched the system appearance to Windows Classic Style.

Edited 31 October, 20214 yr by WezFab

Just to wrap this up, the kit worked fine when plugged in. Could read airbag error code which was for "intermittent side tensioner" i.e. the seat connector. I'd still had seat out the car and so disconnected when I tested when I tested replacement voltage control module. With the module working OK I reconnected seat and bolted it in, so the module must have then seen connected tensioner and correctly flagged as intermittent. Cleared the code and got 'no faults' report but airbag light stayed on even after turning ignition off and on again. But it cleared after engine was run.

 

It tests OK as COM1 but I do get report of "poor latency". I can't see which parameter to alter to change data transfer rate, but will worry about that only if I need to use the software again in earnest. It seems completely stable with poor latency. 

 

 

Edited 31 October, 20214 yr by Stratfordade

Poor latency is standard, it's because you're not using a genuine interface and the software is nagging you.

9 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

Poor latency is standard, it's because you're not using a genuine interface and the software is nagging you.

Maybe as standard, but WezFab was able to improve it with a few tweaks.

17 hours ago, Wino said:

Found some helpful info re cruise, I think.  

See post by Nathan G here: Vag-com cruise control programming - Skoda Fabia Mk I - BRISKODA

Follow the link in his post to the archived guide, then do the bit under the Enable Cruise Control using VAG-COM/VCDS

Looks like you go in via the 'log in' button, not the recode button.

 

Edit: when I say 'do the bit under...' I suggest you do plenty more research before just doing anything.   Not sure how specific that info may be to mk1 Fabia vRS, or whether that code is going to be applicable to your ECU.  Reckon it'll turn out to be doable though. 

 

Video that doesn't need the sound on! How to activate cruise control VCDS - YouTube

 

I remember from days back the code 11463 was to enable cruise on "older" cars in the Engine ECU............not sure if it's relevant to the Fabia.

 

This page confirms that old code, but also shows more info..

 

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/Checking_Cruise_Control_using_Measuring_Values#Cruise_Control_Activation

Edited 31 October, 20214 yr by UrbanPanzer