VAG401 instructions and codes

classy_gene

Active member
Joined
Jan 18, 2016
Location
East Central KS
TDI
2002 Jetta
I bought the VAG401 to reset some items on my 02 Jetta. Is there better instructions to be found out there in regards to how operate the the analyzer and using the codes? I need to reset some things and it asks to enter channel numbers and security number??? Where am I suppose to get those from? Thanks in advance.
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
Exactly.

It appears you're asking for help for a pirated version of a product designed and sold by a supporter of this board... it's unlikely to be forthcoming.
 

Fixmy59bug

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, NV
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SE
Guys, just to play devils advocate here, have you even checked into what the Vag401 is?

It looks nothing like a VCDS and looking at the pics of the scanner, it doesn’t appear to function even remotely similar to VCDS.

Don’t get me wrong here, I am not affiliated with this company any more than I am with the Ford motor company because my last name is Ford. I would never use this system because I love my VCDS, the user interface is much easier to follow, and the customer support is phenominal.

But to assume something is a knockoff and therefore will offer no support to a new user kinda makes the veteran users here look bad.

And just a bone of contention for me, no one from Ross-Tech has posted on these forums in a few months.

They have their own forums now. I tried asking a question and they told me “Come to our forum and we will be glad to help you”.
 

Tdijarhead

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
I have one of those, I bought it off eBay maybe 6-7 years ago, before I even knew about vcds. There are a couple of you tube videos and that’s about all the support you’re going to get. Even if there was support you wouldn’t understand, unless you speak Chinese.

I use the 401 if I just want to see what code has popped up. It does give the vag code instead of the generic version. It’s quicker to plug that little scanner in than to break out the laptop. However if you’re planning on driving your car for any amount of time though get the vcds.
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
Fair point, hence the word "appears". :) The 40x's I'm familiar with were rip-off clones of Vag-com software and a cloned hardware dongle.

If this is not the OPs case... carry on. If it is a pirated clone then I'd stand by an assertion that help on this forum may be tricky to obtain... and that's all I'm suggesting. :)
 

JSWTDI09

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2009 JSW TDI (gone but not forgotten)
VAG401 is a handheld tester designed for VAG products. It looks like most other Chinese ODBII testers but it does speak VW's proprietary language. It can talk to individual controllers, it can do coding, adaptations, measuring blocks, and output tests just like VCDS. The Chinese may well have used VCDS to learn about VW's communications protocols, but this product is definitely not a VCDS clone.


However, as the OP has learned, it can do all of that stuff but it doesn't tell you how to do it or what to do. You are on your own to try to figure it out for yourself. Instructions are minimal and support is pretty much non-existent. A lot of VAG401 users probably rely a lot on the Ross-Tech wiki, but that is no substitute the adaptation maps and long coding helper functions built into VCDS. A VAG401 can be purchased on eBay, Amazon, and lots of other places. Compared to VCDS it is cheap, but you get what you pay for.


Have Fun!


Don
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
The channels are listed in MoGolf's sticky in this for "measuring blocks and groups". The security code is something dumb like 1234, search it up.
 

BeartheBruce

Vendor
Joined
Dec 22, 2005
Location
Southeastern PA
Guys, just to play devils advocate here, ....

And just a bone of contention for me, no one from Ross-Tech has posted on these forums in a few months.

They have their own forums now. I tried asking a question and they told me “Come to our forum and we will be glad to help you”.

The long and short of it is that we cannot be in all places for all people. We created our forum to help us help users. We were trying to participate in 15 forums with a small staff. We handle nearly 1500 support emails a month. We handle nearly 1000 phone calls a month. And none of that represents all the work we do support our partners around the world who also trying to support users.


So yes, we made a decision that we would have our own forum - one place - where we would be more mindful and timely in answering users questions.


Ross-Tech has always supported the TDiClub and we continue to do so. However, we don't have the resources to be in the forum as much as we did in the early years.



Sorry you find that a point of contention. We cannot be all things to all people.



Concerning the VAG401 - yes, they used VCDS to build their tool. No, it is not a knock-off. It is a decent code reader. As with many Chinese products, language is a problem and support is also a problem.
 

borntofli

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 23, 2018
Location
Texas
TDI
1998 jetta tdi
200 bucks for the new hex-v2 is a great investment.... good for 3 cars, that should be about 60 years of vw ownership if you just use it yourself....

I just bought one, and guaranteed im the poorest member here...
 
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