OK, you are not the computer nerd. Ask yourself how important this specific car is for you. If you only work on this single VW and it is not your daily business, it is not worth to go through all this learning and buying of new stuff.
I have abbout 5 working Dell Latitude laptops, with Windows 7 and 10. There is a private one, two at the workshop (car) and two at the electronics/ loudspeaker shop. I don't want to explain why, but makes sense for my stuff to keep some things 100% separate.
If you are forced to use the software of Chinese products, because you can not affort to buy a 3000$ diagnostic system for a single, defective car, you have a great chance to get serious malware with the (often not working) program. Seems to be some kind of habit to harm the enemy long nose (=you and me in the western world). Please take this serious or you may loose your working laptop installation. These small size CD that often come with the hardware, are hardly all contaminated with some virus. Any malware scanner will tell you I'm right. A better chance to get a working software is if the seller of the hardware provides a download link.
So if you use such stuff, it is a good idea to install it on a clean SSD you can later format and rewrite with a new copy of the operating system/ Windows.
Best you can do is to stick to the manual diagnostic, using a flash light, your eyes and some time to clean up the water damage. If you are 100% sure anything is OK in that region, go to a VW dealer or large car shop and have it diagnosed once. I'm the last resort for customers and a few workshops, when anything they can do with expensive, "real" diagnostic gear, did not help. I could write a book about faults that are not detected or trigger wrong fault codes. Especialy the ground connections often can not be seen by the "tester" just like bend over contacts in these multi connectors you find at any place.
Again, good luck!
I have abbout 5 working Dell Latitude laptops, with Windows 7 and 10. There is a private one, two at the workshop (car) and two at the electronics/ loudspeaker shop. I don't want to explain why, but makes sense for my stuff to keep some things 100% separate.
If you are forced to use the software of Chinese products, because you can not affort to buy a 3000$ diagnostic system for a single, defective car, you have a great chance to get serious malware with the (often not working) program. Seems to be some kind of habit to harm the enemy long nose (=you and me in the western world). Please take this serious or you may loose your working laptop installation. These small size CD that often come with the hardware, are hardly all contaminated with some virus. Any malware scanner will tell you I'm right. A better chance to get a working software is if the seller of the hardware provides a download link.
So if you use such stuff, it is a good idea to install it on a clean SSD you can later format and rewrite with a new copy of the operating system/ Windows.
Best you can do is to stick to the manual diagnostic, using a flash light, your eyes and some time to clean up the water damage. If you are 100% sure anything is OK in that region, go to a VW dealer or large car shop and have it diagnosed once. I'm the last resort for customers and a few workshops, when anything they can do with expensive, "real" diagnostic gear, did not help. I could write a book about faults that are not detected or trigger wrong fault codes. Especialy the ground connections often can not be seen by the "tester" just like bend over contacts in these multi connectors you find at any place.
Again, good luck!
hey 1883 it's not a question of repairing the amp it's toast due to corrosion and the head unit isn't putting out audio.
Turbowatch it seems that the decision was made to purchase used OEM components so we'll see how it goes...any pitfalls there?
Turbowatch it seems that the decision was made to purchase used OEM components so we'll see how it goes...any pitfalls there?
If you find working used parts, just fit them and see. Sometimes components have and own ID and must be matched using software. So you will need someone with VCDS or the like to activate the new components.
If the customer is interested in best sound, an aftermarket quality system will often come cheaper and perform better than the stock system repaired. The head unit can stay as is as far as I could figure out. If you find the right output it should give a low voltage signal you can drive an amp with. The connector you find will probaply forget about this option. Anyway, some information I found. This may be part wrong, because VW has so many different combinations, no one knows them all. It is always some kind of fight to find out what your specific car has implanted.
The car specific corrections are made in the amp. That way they can use the same head unit in any of their various models. If the head unit is working, finds FM stations and plays CD, it should be OK. You just can not directly connect a speaker to it.
The VW Harman Kardon and newer Dynaudio sound systems carry famous names, but the sound is by far worse than one would expect. From brand and price!
On the other hand, car HIFI today can only work with full performance, if a DSP is carefully matched to the car. This needs someone with a laptop, measuring gear and experience. The times have changed. IMO a DSP is essential for any high quality car audio. The end result is much better and cheaper than what we did 25 years ago. The DSP is what an active crossover was in the old days.
Anyway, the factory HK stuff can easily be beaten by a well made old school installation. Like some amps, an active crossover, 2-way speaker combination in the front, subwoofer and maybe some rear fill powered by the existing radio. It is some "noone likes it, no one hates it" one size fit's all sound. Boring.
If the customer is interested in best sound, an aftermarket quality system will often come cheaper and perform better than the stock system repaired. The head unit can stay as is as far as I could figure out. If you find the right output it should give a low voltage signal you can drive an amp with. The connector you find will probaply forget about this option. Anyway, some information I found. This may be part wrong, because VW has so many different combinations, no one knows them all. It is always some kind of fight to find out what your specific car has implanted.
The car specific corrections are made in the amp. That way they can use the same head unit in any of their various models. If the head unit is working, finds FM stations and plays CD, it should be OK. You just can not directly connect a speaker to it.
The VW Harman Kardon and newer Dynaudio sound systems carry famous names, but the sound is by far worse than one would expect. From brand and price!
On the other hand, car HIFI today can only work with full performance, if a DSP is carefully matched to the car. This needs someone with a laptop, measuring gear and experience. The times have changed. IMO a DSP is essential for any high quality car audio. The end result is much better and cheaper than what we did 25 years ago. The DSP is what an active crossover was in the old days.
Anyway, the factory HK stuff can easily be beaten by a well made old school installation. Like some amps, an active crossover, 2-way speaker combination in the front, subwoofer and maybe some rear fill powered by the existing radio. It is some "noone likes it, no one hates it" one size fit's all sound. Boring.
this head unit is not putting out an audio signal (confirmed by signal tracer and scope) and the CD player doesn't read so no joy there.
i hope used components will work without having to monkey with software, we'll see what happens.
i hope used components will work without having to monkey with software, we'll see what happens.
Did you remove the SD-card of the head unit? If it is defective, the unit doesn't work. The SD-card is for navigation.
It is in the head unit and contains the local market navigation data. If it is corrupted, the audio might not work. Konown fault. The head unit works as a radio even with it removed. Have a look in the instructions manual in the car. Just a chance, but worth a try if it doesn't work.
I have no idea, probaply you push the card in a milimeter, under some cover (CD? Removable control panel?)
I don't think you have to remove the unit and /or open it. Look for the manual. Changing navigation data must be described.
I don't think you have to remove the unit and /or open it. Look for the manual. Changing navigation data must be described.