I made this draft post a while back but never "published it". We can merge my stuff together with Jef's stuff to make a mad goulash with it:
This thread is intended to address frequent questions from customers about control modules that use the "new" / protocols. These first appeared circa 2008 in cars like the 8T/8K Audi A4/A5. Before ("Unified Diagnostic Services"), Measuring Blocks used somewhat standardized numbers (like group 115 shows requested and actual boost pressure in many drive by wire gasoline engines) and fault codes had fairly consistent numbering. For example, in a 1993 Golf 2.0 ABA, if you got a fault
00532, would interpret that as "Supply Voltage B+: Signal too Low" or something like that. In a 2006 Audi A8L, the same fault would have the same meaning. The scan tool didn't need to know anything about the type of car in order to give you the fault code meaning.
That all changed once came along. My understanding is that the big European automakers, along with their suppliers, decided to get together on some common diagnostic "language" that would reduce differences for example, in what Bosch would need to do for control modules going into Volkswagens compared to the same type of modules going into Mercedes. In theory this could have resulted in our software being really useful (beyond just Generic OBD-2) on other brands, right? Wrong! What the ISO 15765 () did instead was to put in an extra layer of translation that was needed to interpret fault codes, measuring data, etc. So now when you get a fault code there is no way to know what it means unless you have a special translation file UNIQUE TO THAT SPECIFIC TYPE OF CONTROLLER. This is a colossal PITA for scan tool manufacturers like us since we need to maintain special files for every type of control module.
Anyway, on to practical matters, this is what it looks like when you are communicating with a control module that uses :
Notice the top left corner shows "Protocol: " and there are some functions that are simply not available like Measuring Blocks (since there are no longer any measuring block numbers). Instead you will need to use the Advanced Measuring Values function where you pick from a list of possible things to measure:
http://ross-tech.com/vcds/tour/adv-meas-blocks.html
If the Advanced Measuring Values button is grayed out then that means there is no file (the translation file needed for that specific type of control module). If that happens, the first thing to do is to ensure you are running the LATEST version of :
http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds/download/
If a Beta is available then use that:
http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds/download/beta/current.html
If the file is still missing and you see some message like ' No data for: "EV_ECM14TFS01104E997016B" (VW37) ' and you have made sure you are running the latest version, then please send us an AutoScan.
Many of you are (or should be) familiar with the process used on older pre- control modules when you found ones with no label files:
http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/Control_Module_Maps
Sending us PLA and PLB files for those old style controllers is a great way to help us to incorporate documentation for the missing stuff in new versions of . Unfortunately, with , no such files are possible since a file is needed to even READ any of the data at all. That means as much as you'd like to help, the only thing you can send us is a regular AutoScan:
http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds/tour/main_screen.html
On a related note, modules still have label files as well, for things like Coding and Security Access. If you come across a control module that uses but has no Label File, then again no PLA or PLB would help us to create one. Just send us an AutoScan instead.