bluetooth question

okay so i have a 2012 jetta sportwagen tdi. Fully loaded. sat, nav, pano, 17", kessy. and the connector in the arm rest for an iphone.

It has the microphone in the overhead console but not the 3 button in the controler. it had the 10 button steering wheel even says bluetooth in the mfd. But for the life of me i cant connect my phone to it. So i figured the module is either bad or needs to be reset. But i can not find the dag gon module. its not under either seat, behind the glovebox, nor under the arm rest. i Went through the options list that was on the sticker in the spare tire well. everything on the car was factory installed.

There is a dealer warranty on the car and they are aware of my issue. Because of my distance from the dealer they are having me troubleshoot a few things. annoying but its alright. They are sending me a new starter because they sold the car with a weak battery and the starter froze on a -10f morning. so i cant complain... much. any help is appreciated

Do you have the RNS 315 radio that is the nav radio model in my 2012 Golf Wagon/JSW?
I think those radios don't have a separate BT module, but I haven't investigated in my car, yet.
I don't know what you mean by '3 button on controller'.
If you have that RNS 315, a search ("RNS 315 Bluetooth") will pull up a lot of info.
Here's a video that might help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlqaX4Jebb0

Did some more looking, and apparently some RNS315 had BT, others didn't.
Let me know what you find, please!

..Later that same evening...
Went out to the car and the radio does work with my iphone.
Phone: BT on
Radio- Setup-Bluetooth-Find devices...

VicGuy said:

Do you have the RNS 315 radio that is the nav radio model in my 2012 Golf Wagon/JSW?
I think those radios don't have a separate BT module, but I haven't investigated in my car, yet.
I don't know what you mean by '3 button on controller'.
If you have that RNS 315, a search ("RNS 315 Bluetooth") will pull up a lot of info.
Here's a video that might help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlqaX4Jebb0

Click to expand...

yes i believe i have the rns 315. by the 3 button controller. overhead console. behind where the sunroof knob is. some have a 3 button bluetooth control. my other one had the box under the passenger seat. so your saying the newer ones might be within the radio?

VicGuy said:

Do you have the RNS 315 radio that is the nav radio model in my 2012 Golf Wagon/JSW?
I think those radios don't have a separate BT module, but I haven't investigated in my car, yet.
I don't know what you mean by '3 button on controller'.
If you have that RNS 315, a search ("RNS 315 Bluetooth") will pull up a lot of info.
Here's a video that might help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlqaX4Jebb0

Did some more looking, and apparently some RNS315 had BT, others didn't.
Let me know what you find, please!

..Later that same evening...
Went out to the car and the radio does work with my iphone.
Phone: BT on
Radio- Setup-Bluetooth-Find devices...

Click to expand...

well i pulled the unit and what did i find?? looks like it someone had a different radio in it maybe. i found wires. if i could see the picture of the plug at the back of the radio. looks like a wire was pilled from it and idk where its supposed to go. if looking at the wires at the back of the unit. there are 6 wires that are together. there is a small yellow, green, purple, black wire from a 4 wire tube, there is also 2 brown and a red w?/ white stripe that follow on the outside of those wires. the 2 brown are cut ad the black was taped to the 2 brown. it was not oem tape so i know something is fed up.

the person in the house who has vcds is out of state atm.

DivineChaos said:

well i pulled the unit and what did i find?? looks like it someone had a different radio in it maybe. i found wires. if i could see the picture of the plug at the back of the radio. looks like a wire was pilled from it and idk where its supposed to go. if looking at the wires at the back of the unit. there are 6 wires that are together. there is a small yellow, green, purple, black wire from a 4 wire tube, there is also 2 brown and a red w?/ white stripe that follow on the outside of those wires. the 2 brown are cut ad the black was taped to the 2 brown. it was not oem tape so i know something is fed up.

Click to expand...

That's irritating! Looks like a lot of work to figure out what's happening. Was there aftermarket amp or subwoofer added?

I was reading a lot of 'backup camera' threads last week, and some of them have good pics of the back of the radio and the connectors.

Other than that, searching on RNS 315 connector will pull up some info, though most of that is just what's on the sticker on the radio already.

Or a new question thread here, on the connector and wire color codes?

It would be much easier if users could upload pics to the forum. Messing with hosting sites is a PITA, and very often older thread pictures are 'dead'.

ive found maybe 3 that show the connector. i see the 3 smaller wires. it does look like the 2 brown are looped back together. so maybe they are all supposed to be together. im wondering if the radio had been replaced with either an incorrrect one or just never coded. because the ones with the seperate bluetooth module have more wires.. if all else fails. Aftermarket can bus radio with nav, sat, and a bigger screen. i would post a pic bit i forgot how to on here.

DivineChaos said:

i would post a pic bit i forgot how to on here.

Click to expand...

Apparently there is a way to post pics, but it is quite cumbersome (to be polite) compared to other forums I visit.

https://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=286691&highlight=picture+posting

VicGuy said:

Apparently there is a way to post pics, but it is quite cumbersome (to be polite) compared to other forums I visit.
https://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=286691&highlight=picture+posting

Click to expand...

thanks for that. okay so i got it working. here is what i believe. if you can search and connect to a bluetooth device through the mfd you have a stand alone module. if you can only connect to your phone through the rns315 directly. the radio has internal bluetooth and the car does not have a separate module. Thhis ended up being something i was doing. My other 2 mk6 jsw and my dads you can connect to the phone through the mfd, and they all have the box under the seat. Again this is what i believe and what i have found.

So no need to do VAG-com coding or organize the wiring on the back of the radio?
Sounds good!

VicGuy said:

So no need to do VAG-com coding or organize the wiring on the back of the radio?
Sounds good!

Click to expand...

it may have been a combo of that wire not making full contact and the way to connect is different. still have no idea why the wiring was messed with to begin with. But i do have to use vcds to do some coding tweaks. i would love to have an oem reverse camera. anyways, i figured out my problem.

VicGuy said:

It would be much easier if users could upload pics to the forum. Messing with hosting sites is a PITA, and very often older thread pictures are 'dead'.

Click to expand...

I have to go to "pictures" , it always has me log in again. Then to members albums where you can save your pictures. Copy and paste the link.

Heres some good O.E. BT links
https://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/bluetooth-9w7-module-voice-control-retrofit-swap-install-and-faq/
https://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/backup-camera-installation-jetta-sportwagen-golf-wagon/

Thanks, Jellow.
I'll get organized for pics ...soon!

VicGuy said:

Thanks, Jellow.
I'll get organized for pics ...soon!

Click to expand...

and there was some sord of server fsilure. many pictures were lost. from 2017 onword.