OBD2 for Bora TDI 2000 (Jetta)

hey everyone.

as the title says, i own a VW Bora (Jetta) 2000 TDI.

for starters, we barely have VAG-COM's around here. only in garages and they take $50 from you for every time they pluf it in.
normal ppl dont have it. not around here at least...

so instead of trying to find one that would be willing to help out, i thought i'd just buy something like that myself.

ive searched EBAY and found tons of results, and i have no idea what to choose!

can someone help direct me? is regular OBD2 good for my car or it HAS to be VAG-COM (i dont really know the difference)? anything special i need to know? do i need to purchase software or is there a downloadable version? how much should something like this cost? will it be able to just show me error codes or will it have the option of resetting them as well?

in short, i have no idea what's the difference between regular OBD2 scanners and VAG-COM but i wanna buy one of them. help me.

thanks

Mozes.

Mozes OBDII is the generic diagnostic connection. Ross Tech's product now called VCDS has been designed to work with VW's specific codes. The generic obd will read a range of diagnostic codes but the VCDS will read the entire range of VAG specific codes. Basically it is the equivalent of the tool a dealer uses to scan a VW but at a fraction of the price.

Unfortunately your car being somewhat older probably doesn't use the CAN bus (afaik) so you will need a HEX-USB+CAN http://store.ross-tech.com/shop/VCHUC.html

You should be aware there are cheap and nasty rip offs out there by Chinese pirates which work with an old hacked version of Ross Tech's software, and there is the option to buy a cheap Ebay cable which works with VCDS Lite. You can download this from Ross Tech's site. If the cable works you can register the software for $100 which will activate a number of functions and Ross Tech will credit this toward a purchase of the full product if you decide to buy their cable. The genuine cable acts as a dongle so the software download from the Ross Tech ste is activated by the cable.

The cable is an invaluable tool and at $50 a time to have your car scanned by a dealer it soon pays for itself.