But Denis who'd ever want to pay

You say the 17705 could be anything causing the pressure drop then surely the Skoda diagnostic machine will be the same, they will still have to take a guess at whats causing the code and report of pressure drop. Or are you saying that VAG-COM will only report the code and whats caused it but the Skoda diagnostic machine will accurately pinpoint the exact component that has failed and caused the error so they wont have to look they will know immediately what needs replacing? If it wont pinpoint the component then its no different to reading from the VAG-COM report is it and will still cost time in labour to find the faulty component?

The VAS 5051 has a test procedure facility which will guide the technician through a fault indicating where he/she should make his/her tests and record the results. It doesnt instantly tell you what is wrong but it does help in the mass of electrical sensors and wiring that is the modern motor car. This however doesnt do the job for us, we still need to know what the machine is telling us and apply it. This test takes time and I intend to get paid for it so you get charged as mentioned before.

But Denis who'd ever want to pay

Indeed denis, but even still there is a difference as shown in having a fault code and knowing what is wrong with the car

Indeed denis, but even still there is a difference as shown in having a fault code and knowing what is wrong with the car

Exactly my point. VAG-COM is an excellent tool, one which I fully advocate the use of.

What you can't expect to do is walk into a dealers, throw the printout on the desk and expect answers. If you get help it's nice, if you don't then you really have no grounds for camplaint.

I've just been reading a post where it looks like a dealer wanted to charge that person an hours labour for diagnostics, so I think the £32.50 mentioned here is very reasonable.

Well my local Skoda dealership is a fat load of use, ******* said they wont tell me anything to do with the codes or how much it will be to fix as they will only go on their own diagnostics which will cost £32.50 before they even start fixing anything. They can go poke it up their ar$e

My 'gripe', if that's what you want to call it, with this post is the OP complaining when I really don't think the case for such a complaint is founded. We all know some dealers can take advantage of it's customers but in fact some (and in my view this may be one of them) are very reasonable.

I read a recent article concerning the Electric Handbrake on the new Passat which explained how the rear caliper pistons cannot be wound back in the usual fashion and thus it must be done electronically. How many people will fall foul of something like this and cause damage? The information and knowledge is what you pay for in these situations. (Or in the case of the OP you don't. In this thread he has the attention of three moderators and two very well respected VAG technicians - all FOC and without a freedom membership in sight!!!)

The VAS 5051 has a test procedure facility which will guide the technician through a fault indicating where he/she should make his/her tests and record the results. It doesnt instantly tell you what is wrong but it does help in the mass of electrical sensors and wiring that is the modern motor car. This however doesnt do the job for us, we still need to know what the machine is telling us and apply it. This test takes time and I intend to get paid for it so you get charged as mentioned before.

Thank you for that helpful explanation. So in that case does that

Surely getting VAG-COM to justify its purchase price comes first? :(

PS: I came out more than

So in that case does that

Personally I would think £32.50 gets you half an hours diagnostic time in the workshop. If after the half an hour the technician has found a fault then you will get a price for replacing the component(s) including labour and VAT.

However if after the half an hour the technician hasnt found the fault you may well get a call updating you of the situation and a request for further diagnostic time may well be made. Not everything can be diagnosed in half an hour but they should ask you permission to carry on.

VAG-COM is an extremely powerful tool and is much, much more than a code reader. I think perhaps you underestimate it's usefulness.

Make your mind up, you were saying earlier in the thread it was not good enough for the Skoda technicians to work from!

I bought VAG-COM so I could clear codes/warning lights and most importantly get diagnostics on what is wrong with my car. I believe the report it gave was good enough to take to a mechanic and say right there are the codes/descriptions of what the ecu has received as problems with my car now please fix it. IE it tells you there is a pressure drop between the engine and turbo please look at that and tell me whats broken and how much it will be. Skodas immediate response with no explanation was no we wont touch it without charging you

Fact is we dont need to work from it, and VAG wouldnt allow us to anyhow. They supply us with a machine that records diagnosis and sends it to the facotry for warranty purposes.

I have VAG COM myself for at home, but although it is very usefull I find the dealer equipment far more useful, but that might be due to years of training on it.

I will not go to a garage and pay £32.50 for them to tell me the same as I what I have already printed out from VAG-COM.

But here we go again, same post as plenty of times before. You have nothing on that bit of paper. An intermittant fault code that proves nothing. Its only fair that the dealer would want to 1. Verify the fault code and 2. bill you for the time in the workshop.

But this thread is going nowhere really, few more posts I think and i'll close it.

The end result is go elsewhere, to another garage if you dont want to pay a diagnostic charge thats your choice. I wish you sucess and I hope your car gets fixed.

So what do people buy VAG-COM for then? Are you saying its only any good for people that can do the fix themselves? Its a waste of time and money if the info it gives you can't be used by garages.

So what do people buy VAG-COM for then? Are you saying its only any good for people that can do the fix themselves?.

Have you downloaded and read the user manual from the RossTech website?

Its a waste of time and money if the info it gives you can't be used by garages.

Not at all. You rocking up at a garage and presenting them with a list of fault codes isn't what it's about. As helpful as you may think you've been, that's kinda trying to tell them how to do their jobs. As has already been pointed out the franchised dealers use an entirely different system that bears little resemblance to VAG-COM and they will not have been trained to use it and have maybe never seen it.

Actually, here in the USA we've sold several hundred systems to VW of America. Their regional tech specialists (the guys who help dealers fix problems the dealers can't handle) demanded it because it can do stuff like data logging which the factory's tools can't. VW of America was also using VAG-COM to scan all the Mk.5 cars and B6 Passats as they were coming off the boats when they were first introduced. Talk about a torture test for our interfaces -- each one of them was being used on approximately 150 cars a day -- and yes, there were some changes as a result.

Although VAG-COM's user interface is quite a bit different than the factory's tools, it gives you all the same data from the cars, and lets you make almost all of the same changes(*). And we've got dealer techs here who prefer VAG-COM over the factory's tools because it's faster and more straightforward. Unfortunately, they're not allowed to use it for warranty work anymore because, as Lummox alluded, the factory's tool now track everything they do and how much time they spend doing it.

-Uwe-

(*) Exceptions:

- You can't update the firmware in control modules with VAG-COM.

- You can't do certain Immobilizer and Component Protection related things for which the factory's tool require real-time date from a server run by VW. But Skoda doesn't do much of that yet.

Make your mind up, you were saying earlier in the thread it was not good enough for the Skoda technicians to work from!

Where did I say that?

I have already said that VAG-COM in an excellent tool and well worth what you would have paid for it. I don't think you'll find many other marques of car that are supported with software as powerful as VAG-COM.