2010 Audi A4 Service Interval Reset - there's more to it than VCDS knows

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PanEuropean

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Last weekend, I was assisting the staff at my local VW dealer, and as part of that work, I was asked to reset the service interval reminder on a 2010 (I think it was 2010 - maybe 2012?) Audi A4, NAR specification.

I ran the VCDS macro that automates this task by pressing the 'Service Interval Reset' button, but the service reminder remained present in the instrument cluster. After a fair amount of digging and looking at adaptation channels, I discovered that this vehicle actually has two different reminder systems, one for oil changes and the other for scheduled service. It appears that each of these two reminders needs to be reset individually.

VCDS (the current 12.x release) documents the presence of these two different reminders very well in the adaptation section of the label file, but the macro for 'Service Interval Reset' appears to only reset the oil change timers, not the scheduled service timers.

This was the first time I have discovered a car that has two different reminders (one for oil change, the other for scheduled service). Perhaps there might be more cars out there like this, or perhaps this is something that VW AG is introducing to other product lines. In any case, I think it might be worthwhile to modify the 'Service Interval Reset' button application so that after this button is pressed, it presents the option of resetting the oil change interval only, the service interval only, or both the oil change and service intervals.

Michael
 
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DrPeter

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Hi,

That has been common procedure for Audi vehicles for a long time.

- Service reminder = Oil change (every 5k or 10k-extented service intervals)
- Inspection Service = Major Service (35k, 55k,75k, etc)


Use the drop down menu to choose the service for all non UDS controllers

SRI_Reset.PNG


Service Reset - Ross-Tech web link

The label file contains the set of Adaptation channel instructions and their value that will be reset from the pull-down menu.



For UDS controllers, it is necessary to use the Adaptations channels in the pull down menu in the [17-Instruments]

Oil change

ESI_w-options.png


Major Service

Distance_covered_since_last_mileage-dependent_inspection.png


and

Time_since_last_time-dependent_inspection.png


UDS SRI Reset procedures - Ross-Tech web link


Volkswagen Touareg UDS SRI Reset procedures - Ross-Tech web link


drpeter
 
   #3  

PanEuropean

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Hello Peter:

I appreciate what you are saying, which is that the VCDS application has the capability to reset both the oil change interval and the service interval. But I think you are missing my point.

The existing button 'SRI Reset' in the current (non-beta) release of VCDS is described as "Automatically reset the service light for oil and inspection" (my bold). Well, as I noted in my first post above, if you push the button, it doesn't do what it says it is supposed to do. All it does is reset the oil change interval. It doesn't reset the service interval.

What I suggest as a fix for this is that after the user presses the 'SRI Reset' button, a dialog be presented with three options to choose from: 1) Reset Oil Change Interval, 2) Reset Scheduled Service Interval, and 3) Reset Both Intervals. The user then chooses which one of the three actions he or she wants, and presses "Do It". The VCDS application would then programatically (by way of macros) carry out whatever actions the user selected.

I fully appreciate your explanation of how to accomplish this by way of the step by step procedure you described above. But, it sure would be a timesaver if the application could automate the task for the user.

There may be some vehicles out there that only support one interval. In that case, you could design the macro so that if an error was encountered running the macro, it returned a plain language message to the user such as: "Scheduled Service interval not supported on this car, Oil Change interval was reset" (this if the user selected 'reset both' on a 2004 Golf), or "Scheduled Service interval not supported on this car, do you want the Oil Change interval reset?" (this if the user selected 'reset Scheduled Service only' on a 2004 Golf). Perhaps you could get the application to check and see if the vehicle supports all the various adaptation channels required for oil and/or service interval reset immediately after the user presses the 'SRI Reset' button, and only present options that are supported by the vehicle. In other words, if the connected vehicle is a 2004 Golf, after pressing the 'SRI Reset' button, the choices for Reset Service Interval and Reset Both Intervals would be dimmed out, and the Reset Oil Change Interval would be the only one available (and thus selected by default), this because the 2004 Golf does not support two different intervals.

What I am drifting at here is that the overall objective of the original suggestion is to make the VCDS application as easy to use as possible. Sure, the user can get the job done step-by-step, and the user can generally figure out how to do it on their own. But, it took me about 20 minutes to figure it all out the first time I came across an Audi that had two different intervals to reset. It would have saved me 19 of those minutes if the VCDS application had prompted me through the process. For a recreational user like myself, losing 20 minutes is not a big deal. But, to an automotive tech who gets paid by piecework, and who has a customer waiting to pick up the car from the promised "quick oil change and scheduled maintenance job", 20 minutes to figure it out on their own might not result in happiness for all concerned.

I believe that the key selling feature of VCDS is that it enables a VW technician to get work done faster and easier than the VW diagnostic scan tools that the dealership already has available. Therefore, every little bit of 'faster and easier' that can be added to VCDS will directly support increased sales of Ross-Tech products to technicians who work at VW dealerships... and I think that group of people is, perhaps, the single largest target demographic that are potential customers.

Michael

What the application promises to do:
 
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Uwe

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Yep, we're aware that the SRI resetting stuff needs an overhaul. It needs to incorporate UDS clusters. It needs to show the user what service or inspection jobs are due, and how long it will be until those that are not due yet will be due. That stuff is definitely on our To-Do list, but none of it is all that simple, and right now, most of our efforts are dedicated to to getting the HEX-NET working right.

-Uwe-
 
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PanEuropean

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OK, well understood, now that I know you folks are aware of the issue, I will say nothing more about it.

Michael

PS: What does the acronym 'UDS' stand for?
 
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NEtech

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Unified Diagnostic Services protocol (ISO 14229)
 
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