MK7.5 Digital Cockpit retrofit

[Reaper1]

Thanks for the replies.
So after matching the cockpit with my car the equipment i need to perform the mileage correction is:

1. VCDS cable, original or clone.
2. mileage correction program.
3. harness that has a plug for the cluster, power and OBD? or does it need a gateway plug also?

 

[Lokgolo]

(@Lokgolo not sure where in VA you are but this was at King VW in MD if you're closer to NoVA/DC.)

Here in Lynchburg, I have a local dealership down the road from my work. Sales side has been ass, but the service guys I worked with were amazing, actually worked with one of them at Best Buy years ago. Unfortunately, they both left the service shop to start a business together so I'm now left talking to people who I get the impression have no clue what's going on. I'll push a bit, see if I can talk with one of the techs and come to an accords.

I have my 100k service coming up (hit 99k this morning), which would be a good time to add in CP/immobilizer removal if I can get an AID and figure out what direction to take for MIB2. Still hung up on deciding if I wanna patch that unit for Nav to display in AID or get a Delphi unit, but that's for the MIB2 retrofit thread

@Cuzoe, the BCU I mentioned should have been BCM (Body Control Unit vs Module, tomato, tomaato). I swear I saw you mention it as a bench requirement when trying to flash your 791A AID to B software.

 

[Cuzoe]

Thanks for the replies.
So after matching the cockpit with my car the equipment i need to perform the mileage correction is:

1. VCDS cable, original or clone.
2. mileage correction program.
3. harness that has a plug for the cluster, power and OBD? or does it need a gateway plug also?

For the cable I would only try a clone. I have both a current (HEX-V2) and older (HEX-CAN) can cable and neither seem to work with the mileage program. The HEX-V2 was guaranteed to not work although I did try. But the HEX-CAN can be put in "dummy mode" which may or may not work. Did not work for me.

Yes for 2 and 3.

Here in Lynchburg, I have a local dealership down the road from my work. Sales side has been ass, but the service guys I worked with were amazing, actually worked with one of them at Best Buy years ago. Unfortunately, they both left the service shop to start a business together so I'm now left talking to people who I get the impression have no clue what's going on. I'll push a bit, see if I can talk with one of the techs and come to an accords.

I have my 100k service coming up (hit 99k this morning), which would be a good time to add in CP/immobilizer removal if I can get an AID and figure out what direction to take for MIB2. Still hung up on deciding if I wanna patch that unit for Nav to display in AID or get a Delphi unit, but that's for the MIB2 retrofit thread

@Cuzoe, the BCU I mentioned should have been BCM (Body Control Unit vs Module, tomato, tomaato). I swear I saw you mention it as a bench requirement when trying to flash your 791A AID to B software.

I will not stand for BCU . We don't have one of those on our car, haha. And yes I did need a BCM connected for the dash to wake up. For what it's worth the only reason I updated from A > B was so the VIEW button my MK8 steering wheel would work. Outside of that the A software is "correct" for our early Mk7's (as opposed to later Mk7/7.5s like @bobloblawGTI was mentioning)

I should also note that all of us TDI folks with AID are seeing fairly regular CEL for "Glow Plug Indication" and it's pretty annoying. It can be avoided but that's another discussion.

 

[brentgti]

For the cable I would only try a clone. I have both a current (HEX-V2) and older (HEX-CAN) can cable and neither seem to work with the mileage program. The HEX-V2 was guaranteed to not work although I did try. But the HEX-CAN can be put in "dummy mode" which may or may not work. Did not work for me.

Yes for 2 and 3.

I think I might have missed this, but do you have an ignition simulator on your bench? (I might be confusing myself on the bench power - might be a silly question)

 

[Lokgolo]

I should also note that all of us TDI folks with AID are seeing fairly regular CEL for "Glow Plug Indication" and it's pretty annoying. It can be avoided but that's another discussion.

I noticed this echoed in several places, figured I'd tackle it when I get there, but since it's come up...
I thought another user tagged you in another thread about some fix he developed and didn't want to openly share it. Did that solution not work? If not, how can it be avoided?

 

[Cuzoe]

I think I might have missed this, but do you have an ignition simulator on your bench? (I might be confusing myself on the bench power - might be a silly question)

My bench setup has the connector for an ignition switch (in case I needed to do something where I needed a key). But the setup powers up in the ignition on state.

 

[Cuzoe]

I noticed this echoed in several places, figured I'd tackle it when I get there, but since it's come up...
I thought another user tagged you in another thread about some fix he developed and didn't want to openly share it. Did that solution not work? If not, how can it be avoided?

I won't talk about how (peterdna on Instagram) said he had figured out a fix. I definitely won't discuss where he posted saying it took him hours to track down the coding but wouldn't share it. Or that maybe in a chat alleged it in was in 01 - Engine module and 17 - Instruments. Or that we had a remote session where he attempted to do this "fix" on my car although it did not work. I would never put it out there that he claimed he needed to "generate activation for glow plugs" or that during the remote session the only change I noted was in 17 - Instruments, where Byte 2 went from (hex value) 11 to 79. This byte denotes Fuel Tank and Model Variant. I will note that I paid him for his time (not a big deal, time is time). I may have commented on his Instagram post where he claimed to have solved the problem, and he may have never responded and that post may have been removed from Instagram.

Now that I haven't said any of that, it does seem to be a software issue. I get the CEL less now that I have updated to 791B. But it's worth noting that the GTD in EU was delivered with 791A and I suspect they were not delivered with intermittent CEL's, haha. Of course that's also different ECU software. Also worth noting my TDI does not have the most current ECU software, as I'm still on Phase 1. Since the AID (NAR or EU spec) was never paired with our NAR spec ECU's this problem may exist forever. Or maybe a fully updated NAR ECU with a fully updated AID will have no problems. Or maybe if I could figure out how to run the Glowplug Module Basic settings that may also solve the problem. I did replace my Glowplug relay (which has software) with the latest version, which did not change anything.

As for avoiding it... I turn the key from Off to On very slowly which (weirdly enough) seems to allow more time for the glow plug indication light. By doing this I clear the CEL after a few starts. And I can keep the CEL away for weeks/months on end. Keep in mind I'm in SoCal and my car is garaged so the car practically never needs to run the glow plugs. I'm 100% confident it's just a software issue that the glowplug module doesn't seem to know the glowplug light in the dash is working. I first got this fault as a pending code when I got home from having the AID installed... and later found that other NAR TDIs with AID (few though they may be) see the same thing.

 

[Lokgolo]

Damn, that wasn't a roast either.

I hadn't thought of touching the ECU, but I assume there's a significant amount of risk since that's the brain of the operation. I completed both phases of the dieselgate repair, so I should be on the latest software. VW wanted to wash their hands of the whole situation so I wouldn't expect they kept poking around with the ECU once the fixes were approved.

Do I find the ECU version in 17 - Instruments, or somewhere else?
That was a halfway dumb question. I found my answer in 01 - Engine.

 

[parapraxis24]

Has there been a consensus on the cluster to use for the mk7.5? I have a 2018 autobahn, I thought that the 891A cluster would work, but after reading through this it seems some 2019 owners had issues with the A.

Do I need the 891B? Sucks because it’s about $300 more. The VW dealers show that the 891A version fits the 18-19 Golf R so I’m conflicted here.

 

[Cuzoe]

It seems to me (a person who's most recent GTI was a 2005) that the GTIs get "refreshed" before the Golf Rs? I'm not specifically talking about facelift, I'm more talking about software and modules.

What I'm getting at is that your 18 GTI may have some modules and software that is closer to the 19 Golf R. I would be a little surprised if you can find an 891A even though they show a price for it. I would expect that when you go to order it, you'll be told that 891B is the replacement and is compatible. And even those are hard to come by.

Then again, a bench setup, used gateway and used BCM are probably less than 300 bucks. So depending on how much you value 8 hours you could always update an 891A to 891B if you had any issues

 

[parapraxis24]

It seems to me (a person who's most recent GTI was a 2005) that the GTIs get "refreshed" before the Golf Rs? I'm not specifically talking about facelift, I'm more talking about software and modules.

What I'm getting at is that your 18 GTI may have some modules and software that is closer to the 19 Golf R. I would be a little surprised if you can find an 891A even though they show a price for it. I would expect that when you go to order it, you'll be told that 891B is the replacement and is compatible. And even those are hard to come by.

Then again, a bench setup, used gateway and used BCM are probably less than 300 bucks. So depending on how much you value 8 hours you could always update an 891A to 891B if you had any issues

The bench setup sounds more complicated than I'm willing to deal with. I guess I'll start saving up for this one.

 

[bobloblawGTI]

Has there been a consensus on the cluster to use for the mk7.5? I have a 2018 autobahn, I thought that the 891A cluster would work, but after reading through this it seems some 2019 owners had issues with the A.

Do I need the 891B? Sucks because it’s about $300 more. The VW dealers show that the 891A version fits the 18-19 Golf R so I’m conflicted here.

I can assure you that 891A 100% does not work on a 2019, at least not without a CEL you'll never be able to clear. I suppose it's possible 2018 could be different; it being the first year of the 7.5 in the U.S. it did retain some older equipment from the Mk7 like the under seat drawer, hood insulation, AC glove box, etc. But for something like this retrofit I'm not sure I'd want to risk it. 891B is pretty hard to come by; back in 2021 791B could be found consistently cheaper, so might be a better option as long as you don't care about the parking brake indicator being technically not North American-standard.

 

[parapraxis24]

I can assure you that 891A 100% does not work on a 2019, at least not without a CEL you'll never be able to clear. I suppose it's possible 2018 could be different; it being the first year of the 7.5 in the U.S. it did retain some older equipment from the Mk7 like the under seat drawer, hood insulation, AC glove box, etc. But for something like this retrofit I'm not sure I'd want to risk it. 891B is pretty hard to come by; back in 2021 791B could be found consistently cheaper, so might be a better option as long as you don't care about the parking brake indicator being technically not North American-standard.

Yeah the 2018 in NA doesn't have any of those things, they were all removed from the facelift models. I'll try and source down the 791B then, I don't care much about the symbols vs the words since I know what they mean.


ETA: Seems like the 791B is about $200 cheaper than the 891B. I'll go that route I think.

 

[bobloblawGTI]

Yeah the 2018 in NA doesn't have any of those things, they were all removed from the facelift models. I'll try and source down the 791B then, I don't care much about the symbols vs the words since I know what they mean.


ETA: Seems like the 791B is about $200 cheaper than the 891B. I'll go that route I think.

Nice; yeah I think that's the move. Better safe than sorry. And re: the 2018s yes you're correct, though it seems like it largely depends on the build date of the 2018 in question; I've definitely seen a few roll out without all the de-contenting. And for the world's most useless trivia fact, the 2018 has the hazard switch button from the Mk7 with the little chrome strip on the bottom. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about swapping them out

 

[Reaper1]

Yeah the 2018 in NA doesn't have any of those things, they were all removed from the facelift models. I'll try and source down the 791B then, I don't care much about the symbols vs the words since I know what they mean.


ETA: Seems like the 791B is about $200 cheaper than the 891B. I'll go that route I think.

Thought 791 is for ROW and 891 is for NAR.
and A&B is different hardware.