Rear leveling sensor, AFS module and wiring installed, Headlights installed.
No big issues but some time consuming detours as I discovered what doesn't fit with the Kufatec wiring kit and where the instructions don't quite match the North American Sportwagen.
Started mounting the AFS module in the stock location on the end of the glovebox which required removing the radio and part of the centre console to run the wiring.
Unfortunately the wire supplied by Kufatec doesn't reach to the Canbus gateway and I was doubtful the wires would make it all the way to the headlights. Instead of extending all the wires I mounted the AFS module above the headlight switch, securing it in place with a couple of zipties.
Plugging the power into the fusebox required removing the fusebox and unlocking the pink terminal block in the fusebox. I wish I had realized how easy it is to unmount the fusebox before I took the back cover off. Unscrew two machine screws and it hangs nicely in the footwell with good access to the back. I plugged the power into fuse 6, more on that later.
To connect the canbus wiring I soldered the high and low into the respective wires at the gateway connector after first removing the wiring connectors one at a time from the gateway plug. Before doing this I spent a few hours researching canbus to convince myself I wasn't going to really screw something up. Made very sure I had the right wires and put them back in the right slots. One at a time!
Running the wiring to the back wheel for the sensor was easy following the main cable bundle in the door sill. Its almost as if the designers considered the plastic bits as removeable, not one time install and forget it. Metal spring clips everywhere, just be careful and gently pry with a trim removal tool. The cover over the rear wheel arch is secured by a bolt at the bottom. Remove it and the cover lifts up, allowing access to more securing screws for the rear trim.
No need to to go further into the back - the Kufatec instructions are for a MKVI Golf which has a body plug near the spare tire well but the Sportwagen does not have that plug. At least I now know how to remove all the trim and plastic compartments in the rear. Follow the ABS wire, I drilled a new hole through the rubber plug for the 3 new wires going to the sensor.
Sensor mounts using rivnuts supplied in kit. You have to know how to install a rivnut, I used a bolt and a couple of washers just like the u tube videos, same way I installed an Evo skid plate years ago.
I had previously made a trip to the local wrecker and obtained a number of "repair wires", connectors and rubber boots so I was able to protect the connection to the sensor OEM style, using one of the rubber boots. The location of the sensor looks pretty unprotected so I also added a split wiring cover and wrapped it with friction tape back to the body plug. The sensor itself, I wrapped in a piece of mountain bike inner tube secured with tiewraps to keep the worst of the salt and grit out.
Wiring run to the headlights was straightforward, through the firewall plug and under the battery with the rest of the cables. From left to right headlight I ran the wire under the top brace for the radiator. Protected it like the undercar wiring at the back.
Removing the bumper was OK but clearly there was a different design team from the interior guys working on the bumper. Once screws are removed, pull out the sides at the back and off it comes. The car has been in the body shop twice for minor damage from idiots parking pickup trucks and the body shop had broken all the clips for the fog lights. Not too surprising the way they are designed.
I put Lamin-X on the headlights before install, clearly these headlights had been around since the minor pitting damage on them, although not bad, was worse than on my 10 year old MK IV lights.
Everything went back together more easily than it came apart, but I did remove the steering column covers to make fitting the plastic above the footwell easier.
I recoded the BCM to Xenons, first without touching Byte 18, and the LED's didn't work, no DRL. Then I set byte 18 to 4F which is supposed to be VW 362 North American Xenon with LEDS. All the lighting seems to work as it should and so far I have not found any problems. The LEDs are both City Lights or what would would be called parking lights in North America and Daytime Running Lights. They are bright when in the DRL mode and dim when the headlights are on. Since the front side marker lights are physically connected to the same output from the BCM, ie wired together, they come on with the DRLs and dim with them.
Coding the gateway and AFS set off a bunch of error messages, which I was able to clear except for the AFS module itself which didn't seem to be communicating with the slave modules at the lights. After a bit more research on the RossTech forums I realized the North American wiring harness is different than the ROW harness and the Kufatec kit is designed to work with the ROW harness.
As far as I can tell, the ROW harness assumes the headlights might have levelling motors while the NA harness does not allow for headlight levelling. The entire AFS system at the headlights is powered from the headlight levelling circuit which doesn't exist in the NA harness. The reason the AFS is not communicating with the headlights is no power to the slave modules at the headlights.
Next step is for me to take the lower dash apart again, pull the battery again, take the fuse box out again and run two wires from fuses 5 and 6 to the headlights, pin 1 IIRC.
