VCDS (VAG-COM) codes and programmable options for Golf Mk7

**Sootchucker** · 18-03-2015, 05:52 PM

DV52, as you seem to be the resident VCDS lighting genius

(hopefully flattery will get me everywhere), do you know if it's possible to active both rear fog lights on the Golf 7.

Mine is a UK GTD with the LED tail lights, and at present, only the right hand side illuminates, but some of the guys over on a UK Skoda forum say they have activated this for the MBQ Octavia III (but their adaptations channels look a little different) ?

Thanks

**DV52** · 18-03-2015, 06:39 PM

Scootchucker: Ahhh..........I can smell the whiff of flattery in the air! Who said that flattery is like cologne water, to be smelt but not swallowed? hahaha

Seriously, no flattery needed here - I'm glad to help if I can because I've learnt soooooo much from my very talented and extremely generous colleagues on VWW!

But enough of the platitudes - lets deal with your question. I'm really not too sure about the Octavia III, but I've dealt with your issue on VWVortex where NAR models there have no fog lights (at least in the UK, you appear to have one fog light).

Alas, the short answer to your question is NO - and this is why....

I'm not sure if you are aware of "Leuchte Programming" (I wrote a short a paper on the topic which you will find in my VCDS reference thread). In a brief few words - Leuchte channels are the way that the mk7 manages each of its 35 exterior lights (and the foot-well lights). In the BCM, there 665 Leuchte channels arranged in banks of 19 (which I call a Leuchte-set). Each Leuchte-set controls an individual light where that light is connected to separate PIN on the BCM. The BCM (also called - address 09-Cent. Elect, or on-board supply control unit, or J519, or CECM) provides the actual supply voltage to the lights on a mk7 (and in almost all cases, the BCM acts as the fuse/protection element for the light)

There is Leuchte-set called Leuchte26NSL LA72 which according to VW nomenclature translates in English to Fog-Light Rear Left-inside (Rear Lights)

However, there is no equivalent Leuchte-set for the right fog-light and the reason is simple: there is no separate PIN connection for a 2nd fog-light on the BCM in a mk7. Said another way, the two rear fog-lights on a mk7 (where fitted) are not separately wired back to the BCM. On models with two fog-lights, the two fog light sockets in the left/right tail-light assemblies are wired in parallel.

Here's a wiring diagram that I produced for a couple of VWVortex colleagues that show the Rear fog-light circuit arrangement on a mk 7 (note that the connection for the Left hand lamp on the BMC is Socket A PIN72 and that this lines-up with the Leuchte-set descriptor which is LA72 )

So, the answer to your issue about having a left fog-light on the mk7 is solved not by changing adaptation channels but rather by physically running a wire from your existing LH light to the other side of the vehicle. However, It's entirely possible that there will not be a socket in the fog-light position in the left-hand tail light assembly, so you might need to drill-out the blanking plate, or you can buy a tail-light assembly with the fog-light fitted.

Hope this all makes sense
Cheers Don

**Sootchucker** · 19-03-2015, 03:03 AM

Cheers pal.

Just a quick question though. Looking at the VW self study guide for the GTI / GTD (image below), it looks like the fog lights on these LED tail lights are themselves LED and not filament bulbs.

Does that mean the fog light LED's should be there but are just not activated ?

**DV52** · 19-03-2015, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by Sootchucker

Cheers pal.

Just a quick question though. Looking at the VW self study guide for the GTI / GTD (image below), it looks like the fog lights on these LED tail lights are themselves LED and not filament bulbs.

Does that mean the fog light LED's should be there but are just not activated ?

Sootchucker: I'm really not sure if the fog-light position on the LHS is populated on VW's LED taillights (mine are the halogen version). VW make so many different variants of these things with-and-without fog-lights!

But there are a couple of options that I can suggest for you to confirm if the LED is there. Incidentally, in the LED tail-light version, I don't believe that you can add the fog-light lamp if it's not there already - I'm fairly certain that the LEDs are moulded into the tail-light assembly.

Here's a pic of the two tail-light lamp covers (rear of the assembly) from my car which like yours has only one fog light on the RHS. The upper pics were taken by simply opening the hatch door and removing the plastic covers that hide the lamp connectors. I've also shown below the shots of my two tail-lights, a pic of the LHS tail-light from the GTI assembly in your reply above (I don't have a pic of the RHS GTI tail-light)

As you can see, I've notated on the picture the PIN 5 position (which is the fog-light) on the connector from the wiring diagram on my previous post. For the LHS tail-light on the GTI LED assembly, Pin 5 is the top-most pin when the tailgate is open (see lower pic above). PIN 5 on the RHS tail light of the GTI LED assembly will be the PIN with the yellow-white wire. You should confirm that there isn't a yellow/white wire connected to PIN 5 on the left side tail-light assembly on your car

There are probably lots of other ways of confirming whether the LED for the fog-light is populated on your LHS assembly, but the two that come immediately to mind are:

(1) If you have a multimeter and you are confident in its use, you could check the "resistance" of the RHS pin. The problem with multimeters is that there is no uniformity about which coloured leads are actually positive and which are negative in the "resistance" mode. But this doesn't matter in your case. If the LED is there, you should get an open resistance reading with one of the multimeter lead connected to the pin and the other connected to ground, and you should get a resistance reading (the value doesn't matter) with the multimeter leads reversed. This happens because the internal battery inside the multimeter is forcing the LED to conduct when the leads are connected in the correct polarity (and the LED won't conduct when the leads are reversed). If you get an open resistance when you test PIN 5 with the multimeter leads connected both ways, the LED isn't there!

(2) You could temporarily connect a wire from the yellow/white wire on the RHS tail light connector to the vacant PIN on the LHS tail-light connector. An easy way of doing this is to use two (small) sewing needles. Pierce the yellow/white wire with one needle so that the needle contacts the copper wire and connect one-end of the temporary wire to this needle. Turn-on the fog-light and with the other end of the wire connected to the other needle, insert the needle into the vacant pin on the LHS connecter. You may need to jiggle the second needle to ensure that it's actually touching the male part of the vacant pin.

**badufay** · 20-03-2015, 02:04 PM

If anyone runs into issues coding out LED errors on the license plate bulbs, I ended up having to select "40- allgemeine LED" instead of 41 or 43. US Spec 15' Golf TDI S model... No errors or DTC stored.
Ben

**Idle** · 20-03-2015, 07:02 PM

A week or so ago, my MY13 TDI started reminding me of imminent service due, which seemed odd, since it's not due 'til late October on time and over 13000K on distance, and the time has been counting down daily.

Today it was down to 13600K/3 days.

At first I thought maybe the dealership hadn't reset the counter at the last service, so reset it by the method given in the manual — hold down the reset button on the MFD, turn ignition on, release and press again, switch off (a clumsy procedure that doesn't always work, BTW, but succeeded after several tries.)

The popup now reminds me that it's due in 15000K/3 days.

Checking the details in the centre display (which doesn't give you any options to change) shows that the change was indeed made (at least in part) — it now shows "oil change due in 15000K/365 days", which is what you'd expect to see following a reset.

Beneath that line there's another: "Volkswagen inspection due in 26400K/3 days" which, so far as I can see doesn't chime with any date in the car's history, but obviously is where the popup is getting the number of days.

Clearly something's not right — but what?

Before I start with VCDS, has anyone else encountered this one?

**Eaglehawk** · 20-03-2015, 09:22 PM

Yes, me. The reset doesn't do anything either for me. Says it resets it, but the Service Now! message just displays again. So I'm in the same boat as you. Next service is due in May.