Hey I'm looking for a little advise on the best way to hook up to my 99' A6, and diagnose a transmission problem.

I'm looking on ebay, and there are many different models of scanners. I don't want to buy a no name piece of junk if I can help it.

I'm also curious about buying a cable and using my laptop to do the same thing. How do you know who to buy from and which ones are best. I see some of them come with software, but how much information are you really going to get from just buying some of those $5 cables??

I was checking out the Ross-Tech website and see that is probably the best, but at $250 its out of my budget and I wouldn't know the right one to buy.

I would like to add this to my tool collection as to have it for anything that might come up in the future, so I'm looking for advise as to which way most of the members here on the forum use.

Thanks in advance for any information you might have for me!!

Mm

 

the Ross-Tech cable is the best way to go. You can occasionally find them second hand but they always go fast. The cheapest I've seen them new has been about $220.

You can also get a cheapie OBDII to USB cable and download the freeware version of the VCDS software from the Ross-Tech website. I know that it has limitations but I'm not sure what they are since I have the full version. Might not allow you to check the TCM. If you do get the cheap cable, I think Ross-Tech will allow you to buy a license for the full version of the software for $100

 

For C5, get a ebay cable and download free version of RossTech software.

 

Hey guys thanks for the info! I think I will go to Ross tech and download the free version and get a cheap cable and see how that goes.

If I can get the full Ross tech for a hundred I might just do that.

Thanks very much!

Mm

 

FYI... If you search the forum, there is a crack that tricks the free version.

 

^^^

that thread was edited due to questionable legality concerns

(and the fact that the dude from Ross-Tech posted in it)