5.4.

2020 Ross-Tech: VCDS Tour: Auto-Scan

Diagnostic Software for VW-Audi Group Cars 881 Sumneytown Pike, Lansdale PA 19446, USA

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Online Demo / Manual - Auto Scan Screen

This function scans each controller in the vehicle to retrieve controller information -- Part Numbers,
Component number, Soft. Coding, WSC, and Fault codes.

First, you must Select Chassis:

There are dozens of different control modules that exist across the entire range of VW/Audi vehicles. No one
car has all Modules! Newer cars have more, older cars have fewer. Because of this, you must select a Chassis
Type that contains only those modules that are plausible for a given chassis. There are some exceptions but in
general, the Chassis Type is the 7th and 8th digits of the VIN number. For example WAUZZZ4F36N111022 has
7th and 8th digits of 4F and is a "4F,Audi A6 C6". You can use the Search box to narrow down the choices for
example by typing in "touareg". For additional help determining chassis type, see our Vehicle Application
Charts.
If you select Auto Detect (CAN Only) as the Chassis Type on newer cars which have a fully CAN-based
diagnostic system, VCDS can automatically determine which modules are installed in a particular car and
perform an Auto-Scan of exactly those modules. This can make the Auto-Scan considerably faster.
There is a file in the VCDS directory called MyAutoScan.TXT, which can be edited by simply clicking on the
hyperlink above the Chassis Type selection. This will open the file in your default Text editor (like Notepad) to
create a custom profile for your vehicle. To help you figure out which controllers are in your car, you can run the
Control Module Finder.

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The UDS Aggressive Mode box is checked by default. In this mode VCDS will try to retrieve all fault codes,
even ones that may not be shown by the factory scan tool, depending on which mode the factory technician is
using. You can uncheck this box to more closely correlate your results with what would be seen by the factory
scan tool in "Self Diagnostics" mode compared to their more aggressive checking in "Guided Fault Finding"
mode.

The Display Freeze Frame Data checkbox adds Freeze Frame data for Fault Codes on control modules using
the KWP-2000 protocols. Note: Not all control modules support this freeze-frame data. As a rule of thumb, cars
which were re-designed after 2003 will likely have some control modules which support it, and older designs
will not. There's no harm in leaving this enabled in any case. However, un-checking it can make the results less
cluttered in a scan which contains many fault codes.

[Start]
This begins the Auto-Scan. Beware; this process can take several minutes.

While the scan is running, VCDS will cycle through the Open Controller and Fault Code screens for each
controller before returning to the Auto-Scan screen. On newer control modules which have different Hardware
and Software part numbers, Auto-Scan includes the Hardware Part Number as shown in the screenshots. The
AutoScan also shows the applicable ROD files (used by UDS modules) and Label Files.

If you see a * in front of the label (for example Labels:* 4G0-919-158.clb), it means there is only experimental
Coding for this module. If you see a . in front of the label (for example Labels:. 4H0-920-xxx-17.clb) it means
theres is only Coding from the label available. If you see a | in front of the label (for example Labels:| 4H0-959-
655.clb) it means theres is both Coding from the label as well as experimental Coding available (which requires
a HEX-NET or HEX-V2 interface). If you see nothing between the colon and the label name (for example
Labels: 4H0-959-655.clb) it means there is no Long Coding info in the label file or experimental coding.

Once the scan completes, double-clicking on any of the Control Modules highlighted in RED will open the Fault
Codes screen for that controller and allow you to clear the codes.

[Stop]
This stops the Auto-Scan.

[Gateway Installation List]

Only available only on Gateways in cars using a direct CAN connection for diagnostics. This function is also
accessible from the Applications Screen. This very fast function takes about 3 seconds to query the car's
Gateway to find out what modules are installed in the car and what their status is. Any modules having fault
codes should show a "Malfunction" and will be highlighted in RED. Modules are directly accessible from this
screen by double clicking on the appropriate line. Changes to the Gateway Installation List can be made using
the Gateway Coding function. The following screen-shot is from an Audi A6 (C6/4F):

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The Auto-Refresh box can be handy because it can show when a fault code appears in a particular system.

[Clear All DTCs]

This function is only available when using a HEX Interface and is implemented in two ways. On pre-CAN
vehicles, VCDS will access each control module and clear DTCs from each one individually. On vehicles
using CAN for diagnostics, VCDS performs this function without accessing all the control modules individually
if the Use CAN Command box is checked. If you are not using a HEX Interface then you'll need to go into
each module that has faults to clear them individually. This function is also accessible from the Applications
Screen. The following warning will pop up:

The VIN should be retrieved automatically from all cars which "know" their VIN. Also in control modules that
provide it, engine codes and Jxxx component identifiers are shown as well.

Results:

The output from looks like this autoscan-result-A6-11114.txt

If you close the Auto-Scan dialog, any data in its output box will be lost. If you would like to keep a record, click
the [Copy] button first, then you can paste the results into the application of your choice, such as MS Word or
Notepad. Update: VCDS now has a Scans folder (typically C:\Ross-Tech\VCDS\Scans ) that should save a
copy of the Scan even if you don't explicitly Save or Copy it anywhere. "Even if you don't believe in Saving
Auto-Scans, Auto-Scans believe in saving you!" :-) We still recommend you save scans somewhere so they
don't get lost in computer moves or updates.

[Print]
This function sends the results to your printer.

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[Save]
This saves your results to a file in your VCDS\Logs directory like this: autoscan-result-A6-11114.txt

[Clear]
This erases your results. This does NOT erase the fault codes from any of the controllers. You'll need to go into
each controller to Clear Codes or use the Clear All DTC's function for that.

To return to the Main Screen, click [Close]

VCDS Auto-Scan, part 1 of 2

VCDS Auto-Scan, part 2 of 2

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Online Demo / Manual - Auto Scan Screen

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"VCDS", "VCDS-Mobile" and "HEX-NET" are Registered Trademarks of Ross-Tech, LLC.
Ross-Tech is not affiliated with the Volkswagen Group in any way.

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