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Vagcom OBD Cable Where to buy?
MikeCapon - 31/1/11 at 12:01 PM

I need to get my hands on an OBD Hex + Can cable. There are what seem to be OE ones at £300+ and lots of dodgy looking ones at £50ish.

Does anyone have a recommended address to buy one of these at sensible money?

Thanks in advance,

Cheers,

Mike

bassett - 31/1/11 at 12:57 PM

Hi, Not sure if they are reasonably priced but gendan.co.uk are very good for cables/software for most cars.

MikeCapon - 31/1/11 at 01:02 PM

Thanks bassett. I've just been and had a look. £268

tegwin - 31/1/11 at 01:50 PM

Your kinda stuck with "official" cables because the software license key is held within the dongle... hence the price...


IMHO, worth paying for if you have a modern VAG... much cheaper than going to the dealers...


I am lucky with my 2001 polo that it is just before CAN-BUS so a £4 cable off ebay works pretty well with a slightly "fiddled with" version of their "demo" software :p

MikeCapon - 31/1/11 at 02:01 PM

What are these all about then? Counterfeit copies???

Are they possibly worth a try?

tegwin - 31/1/11 at 02:29 PM

hmm.... from their description it looks like it "should" work..... but I dont think it comes with the actual software.....

Not sure, something looks a little odd.... might be worth trying though?

nick205 - 31/1/11 at 02:50 PM

quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Your kinda stuck with "official" cables because the software license key is held within the dongle... hence the price...


IMHO, worth paying for if you have a modern VAG... much cheaper than going to the dealers...


I am lucky with my 2001 polo that it is just before CAN-BUS so a £4 cable off ebay works pretty well with a slightly "fiddled with" version of their "demo" software :p



Apologies for the hijack...

Tegwin, what kit do you need to read older cars? Can you do it from a laptop with softare an appropriate USB cable?

(never even looked at this before so assume I know nothing)

tegwin - 31/1/11 at 03:03 PM

Yes.... if you buy the USB OBD2 cable from ebay (mine is a blueish transparent thing)

You need to install a USB to serial driver first, and then the OBD2 port driver...

After that you simply download the vag-com software from somewhere and start using it.... it needs to be a registered version to be able to make changes.... you dont have to pay for that though

Its been a massive help over the last year dealing with friends vehicles including a Transported T4, Audi TT and my polo...

nick205 - 31/1/11 at 03:52 PM

quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Yes.... if you buy the USB OBD2 cable from ebay (mine is a blueish transparent thing)

You need to install a USB to serial driver first, and then the OBD2 port driver...

After that you simply download the vag-com software from somewhere and start using it.... it needs to be a registered version to be able to make changes.... you dont have to pay for that though

Its been a massive help over the last year dealing with friends vehicles including a Transported T4, Audi TT and my polo...



Thanks for that - worth a rummage me thinks!

MikeCapon - 31/1/11 at 04:33 PM

Is this dodgy? Seeing where it comes from I imagine that's a yes?

pgtips - 31/1/11 at 05:55 PM

I got mine from this guys. Not sure if you can get just the cable but worth a phonecall.

Very good tool.

[Edited on 31-1-11 by pgtips]

[Edited on 31-1-11 by pgtips]