Optimal car environment to deploy changes?

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dietcokefiend

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Picked up a new HEX-V2 last week. I've used VCDS in the past with the borrowed cable approach, and after buying another new VW figured it was time to invest in a cable myself. That has led to much more time in the drivers seat and a Windows tablet messing around with subtle tweaks and looking for immediate changes.

What is the optimal car condition to make changes, or should I say is there any risk in the car operating vs just with the ignition on?

I did start off on a good foot though, captured/saved auto-scans from both cars before I messed with anything. ;)
 
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jyoung8607

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Welcome to the forum!

I did start off on a good foot though, captured/saved auto-scans from both cars before I messed with anything. ;)
You're starting off right. You might add some controller channel maps to your collection as well. They'll take several minutes to run, but you may find the contents interesting and they'll be very helpful if you need to roll something back to stock. The way you do that got a lot easier in the most recent Beta 19.1, so I recommend downloading that. The instructions for whole-car channel map are right there on the same page:

http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds/download/beta/current.php

What is the optimal car condition to make changes, or should I say is there any risk in the car operating vs just with the ignition on?
You can LOOK all you want with the engine running.

Changes should ideally be done with just the ignition on. With the engine running, some changes may work, some will definitely not. The car generally won't explode either way.

The ideal environment for a newbie doing some time-consuming exploration is to have the ignition on with a quality battery charger attached.
 
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dietcokefiend

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Yea the only thing I really wanted to see as I worked through changes were from the headlights on one car with the voltage adjustment. I wanted to see it in real time to see if it was noticeable.

I'll give the beta version a shot tonight. I almost want to string along this active USB extension wire I have so I can poke around connected to the car while I watch TV in my reclining chair. :D
 
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Uwe

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The ideal environment for a newbie doing some time-consuming exploration is to have the ignition on with a quality battery charger attached.
This! :thumbs:

-Uwe-
 
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dietcokefiend

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On the auto-scan note, have you guys seen any 2018 or newer GTI scans floating around? A strange issue is brewing on the newer GTI Rabbits where they are cutting out and stalling when stopped. All the 6MT models (three reported in the past month alone on the GTI subreddit). Really weird issue, or a fluke. Hard to say right now. But I'm curious about looking for differences and since I have a VCDS cable (the other guys who have been reporting this do not) I'd like to start looking for differences between other scans. Maybe something stands out on these cars.
 
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Uwe

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On the auto-scan note, have you guys seen any 2018 or newer GTI scans floating around? A strange issue is brewing on the newer GTI Rabbits where they are cutting out and stalling when stopped. All the 6MT models (three reported in the past month alone on the GTI subreddit). Really weird issue, or a fluke. Hard to say right now. But I'm curious about looking for differences and since I have a VCDS cable (the other guys who have been reporting this do not) I'd like to start looking for differences between other scans. Maybe something stands out on these cars.
There's a Canadian-spec one here:
https://forums.ross-tech.com/showthread.php?14350

If anyone perceives this as a safety issue, it should be reported here:
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

-Uwe-
 
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dietcokefiend

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The dealer in two of the cases is saying no stored faults and they cant replicate or fix anything. Nothing stored in faults. I did send the reporting link to some of the folks though.
 
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