Can vag-com read anything off non-vag cars ?

[muddyboots]

A colleague at work has a Nissan Almera (yeah I know ) DCI which is very low on power, from his description almost sounds like it's in some sort of limp mode.

Can vag-com be used to get any fault codes off non-vag cars ?

Obviously the bulk of the functionality won't work, but as all cars have to be OBD-II compliant I wondered if I could at least get something out.

Any ideas ?

Failing that - any software I could run on my laptop that would do the job with my interface cable ?

 

[mrcoyote]

Not wanting to appear stupid, but are the ports the same shape? I had a poke around my car and even though I think it's OBD-II, the diag port's a different shape to what was on my Ibiza.

 

[muddyboots]

I thought they all use a standard connector.

 

[mrcoyote]

Maybe my car's just odd then.

 

[prc]

They most all use a standardized OBDII, but what your trying to read will be in different places and probably with different communication protocols.

 

[cheshire cat]

I think it only checks for OBD11 compliance, and no further

 

[cheshire cat]

second thought, I think someone in the states does some software for non VAG, may be a clue on Ross Tech iirr

 

[sssstew]

yeah, ask uwe @ ross tech quick he will know straight away

 

[Uwe@Ross-Tech]

Current versions of VAG-COM support all major generic OBD-II / EOBD functions on most cars which use any of the ISO standards for OBD-II / EOBD. Note that generic OBD support was required on all cars sold in the US market since model year 1996, but in the EU, it's only been mandatory since 2001 (petrol engines) and 2003 (diesel). Generic OBD-II functionality (as opposed to a simple compatibility test) was introduced with VAG-COM version 5xx. See:

http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/tour/obd-2.html
(click the buttons in the screen-shot)

-Uwe-

 

[muddyboots]

Would I be right in thinking version 5xx won't work with my serial port interface ?

 

[Uwe@Ross-Tech]

Depends what kind of serial interface you have. It works just fine with our serial interfaces..

http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/interfaces.html#choose

-uwe-

 

[mrcoyote]

Did you ever get yours working Lee? I had a play with vagcom on my car this morning and it'll allow me to log a few blocks which is good.

 

[muddyboots]

I didn't actually try, now you've said that, I might give it a go.

Do the various "modules" (eg Engine) available in vag-com match up to those in your car then ? I'd assumed the module numbers would be vag-specific.