What did you do to your MK7 today?

Cuzoe

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2017
Location
Los Angeles
TDI
MK7 Golf S
This was done in the last few days, but I "finished" my custom driving profile dataset, using @Chillout's work here of course. Car is a 2015 Golf TDI S 6MT, DCC retrofit, ACC retrofit, Soundaktor (internal) retrofit with Audi TT-RS firmware courtesy of @Chillout again, Soundaktor (external, exhaust mounted) wiring is in place and parts on order, 3Q0 highline gateway retrofit, RGB ambient lighting coded (working, though not installed, and not as full featured as on a facelift Mk7). I have the following modes, set as follows...
  • Eco Mode
    • Engine - Eco
    • Steering - Comfort
    • DCC - Comfort
    • ACC - Eco
    • HVAC - Eco
    • Interior Engine Sound - Eco
    • Exterior Engine Sound - Eco
    • Background Lighting - Eco
    • Automatic Belt Pre-Tensioning - Normal
  • Comfort Mode
    • Engine - Normal
    • Steering - Comfort
    • DCC - Comfort
    • ACC -Comfort
    • HVAC - Normal
    • Interior Engine Sound - Comfort
    • Exterior Engine Sound - Comfort
    • Background Lighting - Comfort
    • Automatic Belt Pre-Tensioning - Normal
  • Normal Mode
    • Engine - Normal
    • Steering - Normal
    • DCC - Normal
    • ACC - Normal
    • HVAC - Normal
    • Interior Engine Sound - Normal
    • Exterior Engine Sound - Normal
    • Background Lighting - Normal
    • Automatic Belt Pre-Tensioning - Normal
  • Sport Mode
    • Engine - Sport
    • Steering - Sport
    • DCC - Sport
    • ACC - Sport
    • HVAC - Eco
    • Interior Engine Sound - Sport
    • Exterior Engine Sound - Sport
    • Background Lighting - Sport
    • Automatic Belt Pre-Tensioning - Sport
  • Custom (Individual) Mode
    • Engine - Normal/Sport/Eco
    • Steering - Comfort/Normal/Sport
    • DCC - Comfort/Normal/Sport
    • ACC - Comfort/Normal/Sport/Eco
    • HVAC - Normal/Eco
    • Interior Engine Sound - Comfort/Normal/Sport/Eco
    • Exterior Engine Sound - Comfort/Normal/Sport/Eco
    • Background Lighting - Comfort/Normal/Sport/Eco
    • Automatic Belt Pre-Tensioning - Normal/Sport
Lots of pictures, but I'll just post a link to my Flickr album... here.
  • I'm not sure if I can (or how to) change the order of the options on the screen. In the dataset I have Engine, Steering, DCC, ACC, HVAC, Interior Engine Sound, Exterior Engine Sound, Background Lighting, Automatic Belt Pre-Tensioning. In the car the order is DCC, Steering, Engine, ACC, HVAC (Climate control), Interior Engine Sound, Exterior Engine Sound, Automatic Belt Pre-Tensioning (Belt Tensioner), Background Lighting (Ambient Lighting).
  • In Individual Mode Ambient Lighting shows Eco+ if I reset the mode but when I manually select Eco it does not have the "+" anymore
  • My dataset was mostly built based on a GTI dataset, but I added Comfort mode for steering, which only the Golf R has (so I've read)
  • Belt tensioner (normal/sport) does change in the GTI, but the setting is not shown on the driving profile pages (that I've seen)
  • I can configure DCC to show a 15 position slider in custom, but in doing so DCC seemed stuck in "Sport" in all modes except custom, where the slider worked
    • This I will work on figuring out later, I'm sure it can be fixed in the dataset but I don't know how, yet.
    • It might also require updating the DCC Module to SW Index C
  • The GTI also has things I removed from my dataset, like VAQ front differential, DSG Coasting, Motorway Lighting (for LP cars)
  • Stock datasets also has some things in groups, I ungrouped all settings so I can see them, even where they can't be changed
    • On the GTI a group called Drive includes Gearbox (DSG), Engine and Start/Stop
    • On the Golf R a group called Engine Sound includes Soundaktor and Exhaust Valves
      • A custom dataset for the Golf R could ungroup these, and set exhaust valves to be open in all modes, if desired
  • I also think there's a way add an Off (or Deactivated) option to the Soundaktor custom selections, but I haven't got that figured out yet either
 

GolfSW98

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Location
USA
TDI
MK7 TDI
Still waiting for my MIB2 parts to come in, so I have nothing better to do. I was watching a video of the New Taos. It comes in FWD and 4motion, the FWD vehicles being equipped with a torsion rear end like the GSW. I wonder if this aero cover will fit the GSW... In fact many parts from the Taos could be swapped like the rear dampers, they might have more travel for lifted GSWs. Part numbers are hard to find for the Taos, might take time.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
should have gone with 8" glass screen, but still a worthy upgrade.
 

Cuzoe

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2017
Location
Los Angeles
TDI
MK7 Golf S
should have gone with 8" glass screen, but still a worthy upgrade.
Is there silver (standard Golf) trim available for the 8" glass screen? I've never seen it if so, which means trying to get the trim piece wrapped in something that's a close enough match or doing a black trim conversion.
 

GolfSW98

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Location
USA
TDI
MK7 TDI
I was debating the glass screen but I settled on the screen the 2016 golfs came with because it mimics the original look closely, and on price. The screen was $65 shipped, and used original trim. I really like the brushed silver trim look. Then again, I have not seen the other colors in person. Gloss black looks fancy, might not keep clean so easily. I might be doing the H6 battery upgrade soon, the larger cloth cover arrived from China.
 

Cuzoe

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2017
Location
Los Angeles
TDI
MK7 Golf S
Go smaller on the battery, I need more people running Lithium, haha. The 8" matte screen is the sweet spot. Same shape is original, no glare, and bigger. That and you can get brushed silver trim that matches the interior if you have a Golf S. That screen (especially non-nav) and trim isn't easy to get though. A couple months from Europe when I got mine, and that was at least 2 years ago. Might be longer now.

The glass screens look good in the car once you also have the black trim all around, but they are not easy to keep clean. I have a semi-matte screen protector on my glass screen and it's okay but still picks up fingerprints. The black trim is forever dusty but not a huge deal, microfiber cloth in the door makes quick work of it.
 

GolfSW98

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Location
USA
TDI
MK7 TDI
Go smaller on the battery, I need more people running Lithium, haha. The 8" matte screen is the sweet spot. Same shape is original, no glare, and bigger. That and you can get brushed silver trim that matches the interior if you have a Golf S. That screen (especially non-nav) and trim isn't easy to get though. A couple months from Europe when I got mine, and that was at least 2 years ago. Might be longer now.

The glass screens look good in the car once you also have the black trim all around, but they are not easy to keep clean. I have a semi-matte screen protector on my glass screen and it's okay but still picks up fingerprints. The black trim is forever dusty but not a huge deal, microfiber cloth in the door makes quick work of it.
Something comes to mind, driving modes! Is that a big rabbithole? My unit has CP off and FeCs taken care of, is there long coding needed on the BCM or does that need to be a highline version?
 

Cuzoe

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2017
Location
Los Angeles
TDI
MK7 Golf S
Something comes to mind, driving modes! Is that a big rabbithole? My unit has CP off and FeCs taken care of, is there long coding needed on the BCM or does that need to be a highline version?
Driving mode retrofit consists of several things...
  • Install of button... relatively straight forward, wire connections as follows:
    • Ground - used for the BCM and as ground for button lighting
    • BCM - gets momentary ground to switch modes when Mode button pressed
    • BCM - also has connection for ground out to light Mode button orange when not in "normal" mode
      • You can code this active/not active if you don't want to the button lighting up orange
    • Interior lighting (can tie into cigarette lighter surround) for the background lighting of button
  • Install of FEC (function enablement code), you'll have to get this done via one of the remote retrofitters/companies
    • This is required because Driving Modes are a software feature
  • Adaptation and parameterization of 5F - Infotainment (remote coder should take care of this)
  • Coding of 09 - Central Electronics/BCM (remote coder should take of this also)
  • Loading of driving profile dataset in 19 - Gateway (again, remote coder should take of this)
    • Comfort Mode is a separate FEC that most cars won't have
    • Race Mode is also a separate FEC that only a Golf R will have, instead of Sport
One issue with some of the not as competent/thorough retrofitters is that they half do the (free-ish part) driving profile retrofit, enabling all the menus and loading a gateway dataset but without the FEC (the part that costs money). The result is you can have the modes show when you press the button and you can even change things, but those changes are not sent to the respective module so nothing actually changes.

It's up to your retrofitter to find a dataset that is close to the configuration of your car (DSG, LP, etc). This helps you to only have features showing in the driving modes that correspond to something in your car. However, having additional things show doesn't really matter as they will have no impact. The way it works is the gateway driving mode dataset has "request" values that it sends to the module in question. If that module accepts the request (meaning the dataset is sending a valid request) the module changes mode. That could be Steering Module to sport, Engine to Eco, HVAC to Normal, etc.

If you do all the above and upgrade to facelift (Mk7.5) highline gateway you can customize your driving profile to exactly match your car and have the options you choose... but that's deep into the weeds, ala post #2431. (where I've built a home, haha).

As far as module versions. I suspect your BCM is at least a mid which should be good. The concern would be your gateway which should be at least a mid as well.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Is there silver (standard Golf) trim available for the 8" glass screen? I've never seen it if so, which means trying to get the trim piece wrapped in something that's a close enough match or doing a black trim conversion.
Sounds like its time to upgrade all the plastic trim area, it's like 5 pieces right? ;)

Our 2017 alltrack is similar in that is a charcoal gray that was a one year off, if i were to upgrade to an 8" glass i'd have two tone trim, wrap of plastic trim, or conversion. as my options
 

Cuzoe

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2017
Location
Los Angeles
TDI
MK7 Golf S
Sounds like its time to upgrade all the plastic trim area, it's like 5 pieces right? ;)

Our 2017 alltrack is similar in that is a charcoal gray that was a one year off, if i were to upgrade to an 8" glass i'd have two tone trim, wrap of plastic trim, or conversion. as my options
Somewhere I have part number list, will have to dig if you really want to do the conversion...

Left Vent, Instrument Cluster, Infotainment Area, HVAC Surround, Cubby Cover and Shifter Surround at minimum.

If you want to be thorough you'll also want Headlight Switch Surround, Right Vent and Passenger Dash Strip.

I did everything except the dash strip which I left as-is. It ties into/matches the door cards which I didn't want to change at the time. That has changed since I will be doing RGB interior lighting and those trim pieces only come in gloss black... but that's a story for another time, haha.
 

tdidieselbobny

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Location
Stafford,NY (WNY)
TDI
'03 Galactic Blue Jetta TDI, '15 Silk Blue Golf Sportwagen TDI
Discovered another goddamn water leak in this car:mad::mad::mad:. When I opened rear hatch to put groceries in, the cardboard and carpet were wet on driver side, saw water coming from underneath top plastic trim piece of hatch....
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
check the wire loom boots
 

leicaman

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2004
Location
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
TDI
2015 Golf TDI SE, 2005 TDI GLS, RIP
Well today I changed the oil on my Golf. Oil change went splendidly as I am finally used to that goofy filter location. However, when I pulled down my belly pan, I found splinters of a serpentine belt. Argh! Belt still intact but running on a prayer. I have heard that the newer tensioners are of an improved design. But as she has 138k I feel the serpentine tensioner should be replaced and the alternator pulley inspected at the least. I had Jason TDI do my timing belt job with rollers, tensioners etc and a DSG service at 117k, so I am pretty sure I am good there. He replaced the serpentine belt at that time but not the serpentine tensioner from what I can recall. I use fwiw, OEM VW oil (0w30) 507 oil, VW oem filter as my dealer sells them to me at a decent price point. Last week one of my snows got roasted when a chunk of metal punctured the sidewall. So my summers are on now. April has not been kind to my Golf it seems.
 

Cuzoe

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2017
Location
Los Angeles
TDI
MK7 Golf S
If there's a retrofit for cooled seats, I'd be very curious. Though, I love my SEL seats and would hate to ditch them.
I would bet good money that the MK8 heated/cooled seats will bolt right up. I would bet nearly the same amount of money that any of the similar sized MQB based Audi heated/cooled seats would bolt up too (although I don't know which of those cars was offered with them). Now of course you have to deal with plugs that won't be the same and wiring but you're doing engine swaps so I suspect you're not concerned with that.

One thing to note is that pre-facelift MK7 BCMs (or at least my BCM high, which was a retrofit and is still the latest called out in ETKA for our cars) do not support cooled seats. The BCM may or may not have the pins (I haven't looked at a cooled seats schematic) but it for sure doesn't have the adaptation channels.

I know this from my ongoing facelift BCM retrofit project. The channels for cooled seats are in my list of channels present in the facelift BCM with no corresponding channel in my current BCM.

It's something I took note of, thought about a retrofit... then decided my EU GTD Art Velour seats are rare-r than Mk8 seats will be. Secondary is that it will be years before Mk8 seats will be available for a half decent price. Tertiary is that my Golf S has manual climate control and I can't find a manual climate control panel with the heated/cooled seats buttons. I suppose cooled seats wouldn't be an option on a car without climatronic, haha.
 
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Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
Nicely done! Which front radar unit did you go with?
When do you get to the lane assist? Blind spot monitoring? Virtual Cockpit? Heated steering wheel? ;)
 

Trfytoy

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 22, 2021
Location
Camano Island, WA
TDI
2015 Golf
VAG retrofit guys are awesome to work with! My car is a SEL so we used the factory radar. I did have to replace both rear wheel speed sensors and had a real tough time finding the steering wheel buttons. 3 week shipping from GB.

I'm going to look into the heated steering wheel, and hopefully vented seats. This is my commuter, put ~40k miles a year on it, so if it doesn't add mpg or make my drive more comfortable, I've decided against it.


Nicely done! Which front radar unit did you go with?
When do you get to the lane assist? Blind spot monitoring? Virtual Cockpit? Heated steering wheel? ;)
 

Cuzoe

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2017
Location
Los Angeles
TDI
MK7 Golf S
VAG retrofit guys are awesome to work with! My car is a SEL so we used the factory radar. I did have to replace both rear wheel speed sensors and had a real tough time finding the steering wheel buttons. 3 week shipping from GB.

I'm going to look into the heated steering wheel, and hopefully vented seats. This is my commuter, put ~40k miles a year on it, so if it doesn't add mpg or make my drive more comfortable, I've decided against it.
See my post above yours regarding vented seats. You will need to retrofit a facelift (Mk7.5) BCM, ours does not support cooled seats. And you may have to get the touch HVAC controls on Ali-Express to give you cooled seat option (unfortunately you'll also get a non-functioning "clean air" button unless you want to retrofit the sensors for that as well).

That is unless you can turn cooled seats on after pressing Menu on the HVAC panel. But there's not going to be a way to see if that's possible until you set cooled seats to "installed" in the adaptations of the facelift BCM. Can you guys with climatronic turn on the heated seats from the infotainment screen?
 

drmark50

Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2022
Location
albany, NY
TDI
2015 Golf Sportwagen TDI
I am a new owner of a 2015 GSW TDI, S trim. Bought it just over a week ago. I have owned many early year VWs (my first car always a '78 Scirocco - same year I was born). My first diesel was a Jetta 99.5 - which hooked me on diesels. I had it tuned (@ 110K miles) and could not believe the difference in power/performance). My next car was a '95 Passat, VR6. I should add, all my cars were manual. The bigger motor was fun and I was commuting short distances for school and work so fuel economy was not a big concern for me. When I was finished school and making a little bit of money (I am an ER Doctor and I was in residency, so I was making very little money but would have a significant jump in earnings in the near future) - I bought a 2006 Touareg TDI. I wanted to go back to the TDI and was going to be starting a family. I got a great deal since ULSD wasn't widely available and VW was offering great incentives. But that family came and the Touareg was not ideal for child sears (we had two kids at this point and plans for a third). So, I am ashamed to say, I sold the Touareg and bought a minivan. Not going to bore anyone with make model and trim of it. It was functional and great, but never ever looked forward to driving it.

Fast forward about 7 years. No more car seats or strollers and addition of a big 5th wheel camper. I got a beautiful GMC Sierra 2500 Denali Duramax. Tows like a dream and all the comforts. I do not enjoy driving it unless I am towing our camper. It's a luxury towing machine. But I progressed into administrative work with my career, plus the pandemic, so I was not driving much.

After 2 years of a pandemic that really rockednthe healthcare system, especially front line care in urgent care and EDs I decided to exit administration and focus on clinical work (and medical malpractice expert witness work).

So, long story short I was going to be traveling more and greater distances and decided to look for another TDI. Absolutes for me we're wagon and manual transmission. So I spent months monitoring North America for that car. I decided on getting a 2015 largely due to the change in engine that came with the longer diesel gate warranty. So finally, about two and a half weeks ago, one came available about an hour and a half from my house.

I am so happy to be "back". I love my simple sporty efficient practical absolute joy to drive car.

Today I installed a dieselgeek short shifter and H15 deautoled LED headlights.

I have many more mods planned.

I have read through about half of this thread and found it immensely helpful!! Really appreciate everyone's posts.

I will post pics.

Best,
Mark
 

Cuzoe

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2017
Location
Los Angeles
TDI
MK7 Golf S
🤤🤤🤤🤤

Is the mk8 steering plug and play?
You need to have retrofitted a facelift high gateway (3Q0, not 5Q0 high, which I had previously retrofitted) otherwise you won't have the adaptations for the new buttons..
My gateway is PN 3Q0 907 530 C, SW 3Q0 907 530 AG (software has to be at least AC)

Besides that yes, it's plug and play. If you want it heated you need to follow @Nuje's guide here. If you don't want heat then it's just like replacing a steering wheel of the same type.

You will need a new airbag though, some "MK8" wheels have airbags with two clips some with three. Mk8 touch buttons have a 6 pin connector, while MK8 non-touch buttons have a 5 pin. The button connector is on the airbag harness. To save yourself worrying about anything in this paragraph, just buy a wheel with airbag included, haha.

And if your car is a DSG, VW cost cutting means your shift paddles are no longer illuminated :LOL:.
 
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Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
It might just be the lighting, but the steering wheel "leather" looks like a nice match with your alcantara seats. 👍
(And I gotta say, maybe I've just seen too many of the Mk7 MQB steering wheel, but I am liking the looks of that Mk8 setup!)
 

Nickmk7

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2019
Location
SoCal
TDI
Mk7.5 GTI SE DSG 2002 Jetta TDI GLS M/T
You need to have retrofitted a facelift high gateway (3Q0, not 5Q0 high, which I had previously retrofitted) otherwise you won't have the adaptations for the new buttons..
My gateway is PN 3Q0 907 530 C, SW 3Q0 907 530 AG (software has to be at least AC)

Besides that yes, it's plug and play. If you want it heated you need to follow @Nuje's guide here. If you don't want heat then it's just like replacing a steering wheel of the same type.

You will need a new airbag though, some "MK8" wheels have airbags with two clips some with three. Mk8 touch buttons have a 6 pin connector, while MK8 non-touch buttons have a 5 pin. The button connector is on the airbag harness. To save yourself worrying about anything in this paragraph, just buy a wheel with airbag included, haha.

And if your car is a DSG, VW cost cutting means your shift paddles are no longer illuminated :LOL:.
If I retrofit mk8 wheel with normal clicky buttons will they work?
 

Cuzoe

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2017
Location
Los Angeles
TDI
MK7 Golf S
If I retrofit mk8 wheel with normal clicky buttons will they work?
You will need a facelift (3Q0) gateway still, but yes they will work. The adaptations for the Mk8 buttons are only present in 3Q0 gateways with software AC or later.

Some of the buttons may work without coding, volume and track select, but I wouldn't personally risk it with the old gateway. On the other hand, you could try it, plugging in a new wheel is simple. But have a new gateway and plans to get it replaced (you'll need a remote session with someone probably). I bought my 3Q0 on eBay for under $50 shipped.
 
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