Hi from Northern Ireland.

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pascal

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Hey everyone, Im Pascal from Ballymoney, Northern Ireland. Im planning to move from my dead clio 1.2 1998 to a Passat 1.9TDI (130) 2005 Estate Highline, (my uncle has the saloon and its a great car). Ive always done my own servicing as a DIYer and I plan to use ross-tech diagnostics to read and clear faults, diagnose problems etc, and with the help of a trusty haynes manual be able to do everything on my car and my uncles. I plan to check out my car before buying it, What would be the most important things to check for using the software? Im assuming something along the lines of... actual mileage, code history?.. timing? I really am a complete nube when it comes to car diagnostics, so any information is much appreciated.
Thanks, David
 
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Uwe

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I wouldn't put too much credence in "actual mileage" as read by VCDS from the ECU anymore. It wasn't long after we introduced that feature back in 2006 that the fraud artists who roll back odometers decided they'd better do make the ECU show a similar reading. I would do a complete Auto-Scan of the car to see if it thinks anything is wrong with it both before and after a good test drive. Just because it doesn't have any fault codes in it when you first see it doesn't mean it doesn't have detectable faults; other people know how to clear fault codes too. ;)

-Uwe-
 
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pascal

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Class, thats great to know. Yeah, I got caught out by that on my mums clio when I bought it, the dirty crook cleared a fault before we viewed it then the light came on a few miles down the road, our local renault mech clears the fault but the light always returns!
Is there certain performance figures that the car should meet that could be viewed real time, like... timing and revs or temperature, or will vcds pick up on everything of importance automatically?
 
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Dana

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Hi David,

You may need to drive the vehicle before Engine or Auto transmission (assuming it has one) faults reoccur. The exact time and conditions vary by each and every module in the vehicle but anything serious should reoccur after a short drive. If you aren't sure about fault codes in either scan post them for review.

-Dana
 
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pascal

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That's great,Thanks for all your help. I bough the software yesterday, I'm looking forward to trying it out on my uncles car.
 
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