I have an aftermarket (Panasonic) radio installed in my 1998 A6Q; I have a check engine light and ABS issues and I am going to run a full car diagnostic however the mechanic that has a VW machine told me the diag requires the factory radio to be installed? Can anybody confirm this? I am going to have the factory radio re-installed just long enough to run the diagnostic and then put the aftermarket radio back in the car, but I just want to know the reason for this (if any?).

-mig

 

Sounds suspicious to me. I don't know why the OEM radio is required to run diagnostics through a separate interface.

 

Ive never had a problem reading codes from Audi with different radio

 

Will call my dealer and if he doesn't require me to have my original radio i'm going to get my $$ from my mechanic (he still has it) and i will just get the diagnostic from the dealer.

Called the dealer and they require the OEM radio, so I will just get the diagnostic with my mechanic since I prefer him seeing what is wrong first hand... off to get the stock radio installed in a few mins.