im about ready (finally) to have the parking sensors installed.
due to budgetary reasons, i have not had the chance to have the kit installed yet.
along comes tax time.....and i have a little refund coming. :happyanim:
anyway, on to the reason for this post.
im a complete mechanical incompetent. i am not remotely capable of installing this for myself.
can anyone recommend a competent installer based in sydney, that will have some experience with CAN based sensors.
Preferably on a golf or other VW.
i have a decent budget for the install.
i have contacted a few places, but no one was willing to give me a quote, as they have not had any experience with the OPS kits.
i simply can't afford to drop the car off for the install with an open ended cost factor.
did the install today.
the good news is the system does work.
bad news is i now have a bunch of errors that i didn't have before.
the kit i bought had some issues too. the wiring harness was incorrectly put together !
At first, i couldn't even connect to the new controller.
some pins in the plug at the controller were in the wrong places.
once we figured out why it wasn't working, all was ok.
i still obviously have some coding issues to sort out though.
ill post the error list at the end of this post after the pics and video.
the keen eyed might also spot the new color coded rear valance !
pics below.
before....
the install
i had someone walk towards the car for the below video.
so it is actually working, despite the errors.
you can tell in the video, that somethings not quite right. the audio does not mute when reverse is selected.
heres the list of new errors. im hoping it's just coding issues.
Saturday,11,September,2010,22:57:36:60433
VCDS Version: Release 10.6.1 (x64)
Data version: 20100831
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 08: Auto HVAC Labels: 1K0-820-047.lbl
Part No: 1K0 820 047 EF
Component: Climatic PQ35 084 0404
Shop #: WSC 00000 000 00000
VCID: 6CF916BD36F9
4 Faults Found:
01299 - Diagnostic Interface for Data Bus (J533)
004 - No Signal/Communication - Intermittent
01317 - Control Module in Instrument Cluster (J285)
004 - No Signal/Communication - Intermittent
01316 - ABS Control Module
004 - No Signal/Communication - Intermittent
01314 - Engine Control Module
004 - No Signal/Communication - Intermittent
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 16: Steering wheel Labels: 1K0-953-549-MY8.lbl
Part No SW: 1K0 953 549 G HW: 1K0 953 549 G
Component: Lenksäulenmodul 521 0050
Coding: 0012142
Shop #: WSC 00000 000 00000
VCID: 364DF4D53835
Part No: XXXXXXXXXXX
Component: Lenkradmodul 007 0050
1 Fault found
01299 - Diagnostic Interface for Data Bus (J533)
004 - No Signal/Communication - Intermittent
i have also, no muting on the RCD510 when reverse is selected, and there
are no controls for the tone or volume (of the beeper) on the RCD510
(i was under the impression that there would be tone and volume controls)
and, as an added thing, the Visual indication does not always appear on the screen,
even though the beeper and sensors seem to work fine everytime.
for some reason, the "clear all DTC's" does not work on my VCDS.
i have to go into each control module individually and clear the codes from there.
so the only thing im left with now is the OPS fault.
I would double check the connections for the can cable between the ops controller and can gateway. make sure that the twisting in the cable are all to spec right up to the connections on each end.
i have also, no muting on the RCD510 when reverse is selected, and there
are no controls for the tone or volume (of the beeper) on the RCD510
(i was under the impression that there would be tone and volume controls)
and, as an added thing, the Visual indication does not always appear on the screen,
even though the beeper and sensors seem to work fine everytime.
for some reason, the "clear all DTC's" does not work on my VCDS.
i have to go into each control module individually and clear the codes from there.
so the only thing im left with now is the OPS fault.
I would double check the connections for the can cable between the ops controller and can gateway. make sure that the twisting in the cable are all to spec right up to the connections on each end.
I'm excited to see someone actually do an OPS install on a non-retrofitted vehicle.
I have a couple of questions ,since I want to do this on my wife's incoming car (2011 GTI). In the US, Parkpilot and OPS, as well as the rear view camera aren't even considered options.
I noticed that you did the retro with a carsystems.pl kit (purchased probably from ebay) vs. a kufatec kit. The ebay kit is significantly cheaper but I'm worried about a couple of things. The controller box looks different (maybe covered with tape), and more worrying is that the wiring harnesses looks "fake" or "cheap" vs. the kufatec kit. Is it genuine components (with exception of the harnesses)?
Kufatec charges about 799 euros. vs the 399 USD that carsystems, so it's a significant difference.
Also, did you follow any directions (from kufatec or otherwise) for the install?
yes, it was a carsystems.pl kit.
complete with incorrectly labelled part number on the controller.
it was labelled as a 1Z0-919-745B instead of 1Z0-919-475B !
the kit itself had Valeo (same brand as OEM VW use) sensors. (you will need to have them color coded)
the control module looks like it might be a copy (non genuine)
but the harnesses were good quality (apart from the miss pinned connector)
install and coding instructions were almost non existant.
with the help of a auto-electrician friend, we were able to fairly quickly identify and correct the two incorrect pins
in the controller connector. (they had the CAN wires in the wrong spots on the connector that goes into the controller.
(even though they had correctly identified which pin was what in the limited documentation)
one other thing was that when we drilled the sensors and placed them into the correct locations on the rear bar,
the harness had to be slightly modified to make it fit.
a 10 sec job. no extra wire was needed, just some insulation tape. where the cable goes into a "Y" shape, and splits off
into 2 directions, we had to open the "y" part a little to allow the harness to spread further apart.
all things considered, the saving from the carsystems.pl kit over the kufatec kit were well worth it.
The Kufatec kit was as you say, about double the price.
the two or 3 small things we had to fix were easy to do.
one thing i would say about carsystems though is they have almost zero after sales support.
so if that's important to you, you might consider the other one.
if i can answer any questions, feel free to ask, ill do my best to help.
Carsystems claims it's a genuine kit. I am inclined to believe them on all the components with exception for the wiring harness. These might be parts meant for a SKODA, since some of the buzzers and sensors are Skoda parts numbers. That's fine in my book. Carsystems also claims a 12 month warranty on the parts.
But I was thinking of doing hybrid:
The carsystems front+rear kit (on ebay for around 399 USD)
The Kufatec harnesses from the US Kufatec distributor (which is about 80-90km from where i live, which in california terms is "near") (150 USD)
The kufatec harnesses would be much cleaner (and hopefully in my opinion cure your bad connection issues). They also modularize the front sensor, front switch, and central canbus interface switch:
True it'll be more expensive (probably around 650 USD total), but still cheaper than the kufatec kit outright (approx 1100 USD). I would be doing the install myself, but would need some VAGCOM help from someone here in San Diego for the programming.
The interesting thing will be drilling the bumper holes. The hope is that there will be markings after I take off the rear bumper cover to show where the holes should be. My understaning is that this is a 1.5-2mm hole, which isn't hard. This was the case with my Subaru Outback 2.5xt that I installed a rear parking sensor for (simple buzzer system).
the holes for the rear sensors are actually 17.5mm round.
i used a stepped drill bit at 18mm, and it was just about perfect.
there are some very faint lines that form a cross inside the rear bar at each sensor location (on the inside).
we used these as the center point for the pilot hole.
i have no idea on the mix'n'match approach to doing an installation though.
as i said, the carsystems parts looked to be oem grade stuff.
i don't think the problem with the intermittent communication error is within the wiring harness itself.
i have spoken to someone over at ross-tech, and they say that maybe the skoda controller im using just is not 100% happy in a golf.
it does work every time it's put in reverse, and the radio now mutes too.
