Volkswagen Passat Forum banner

SKC, how to retrieve? Vag Commander?

69K views 22 replies 5 participants last post by  jcaimhigher  
#1 ·
Gents, I have the usual tools for this kind of recovery but don't really know what's the process for the SKC recovery.

The vehicle has one key. I was able to get new keys and the RFID chips for the fobs that he had that were to another VW. I need to recover the SKC from the car in order to program the keys. You can program keys if you have two keys that are already programmed.

You can use VagCom (which I have) as well but only if you have the SKC.

I was told that you can use Vag Commander for all vehicles and Vag Tacho for the older K-line only vehicles. If you have a CAN vehicle you must use the Vag Commander. Commander reads the K-line vehicles but I am now unsure if it can recover the SKCs from K-line.

The vehicle is an '04 Passat, which is the K-line with the Motronic ECU.

Does anyone know how to retrieve the SKC using Vag Commander or is there another way, besides going to the dealer?

Thank you for your help everyone! :wrench:
 
#3 ·
Vag-Tacho works fine for B5.5 models. Vag-tacho has a function that will automatically program new keys without any need to get the SKC, but it can get the SKC as well.

Just a quick note, if the RFID has already been paired with another vehicle, you will not be able to pair it with your own. It is a one-time use system. The remote part to open doors, trucnks, etc can be reused, but in the top half with the physical key, the RFID must be new to work with IMMO-III systems.
 
#4 ·
Thanks fellas. Yes, I know about the RFID and these are new ones. Actually they "can" be reprogrammed you just have to know how to blank them. I could do this but it's a little effort to get it done being I don't work at the same location anymore (I do electronics).

Scott I've been to his site before but it doesn't give specifics on what to do with Vag Commander, or Tacho for that matter - unless I'm completely missing it!

With Commander I haven't seen an actual setup for doing the keys but I'm going to seriously spend some time on it again. I'd hate to not be able to actually use the program for once - this is what I got it for actually!

Thanks again and if you find any info on Commander please let me know!
:wrench:
 
#6 ·
I wish I could get instant emails from posts! :)

I tried a few things tonight but it certainly doesn't appear to be an easy thing to try and figure out using Commander.

This Passat is an '04 with the IMMOIII. What's odd is that the ECU that I have (original) I can read the cluster but not the ECU (with Commander - there's separate choosings, none work). With the used/chipped one I can still read the cluster (which doesn't change of course) but I can read the ECU as well. I don't know for sure if I have the correct info for the SKC but it wouldn't matter unless I have the info for the original in order to shut off IMMOIII. It is the same ECU and part number so I don't really know what may be happening.

I had an ECU sent to me from Jeff with RocketChip and it was a donor for me to test and only had to input the VIN I think (unless he did it already, I don't remember) Any insight?

Looks like I'm stuck with a dealer visit.
 
#8 ·
I think that unless you have the original plastic tag with the SKC your stuck with a dealer visit.
Last time I did this on my 2002 GTI it was $120 plus tax to reprogram both keys and the valet key.
Took all of 10 mins to do.
 
#9 ·
I am not sure the dealer will help. I tried to get the SKC out of my 02 Passat last year and all I got was "we are not allowed to do that anymore". They, the dealer, can reprogram a new SKC live and direct over the WEB from Germany. The catch is no one sees the new SKC to give to you. I ended up going to a local locksmith that advertised that they could handle VW key reprogramming and had them pull the SKC. It cost me $40.00. If you do not have the plastic tags mentioned there is another location that may help. PM me for more info.
 
#10 ·
Ok, then do you possibly know where exactly the SKC is located withing the blocks showing in Vag Commander? I can list everything that showed, I wrote all of the blocks down but I'm not quite sure I have the info needed.

People swear Vag Commander can retrieve the info but as of yet I've got nothing to show exactly where to get the numbers that are needed, IE: An actual (even the slightest) tutorial.

I'm curious why my ECU won't show but the Cluster does. The donor ECU is from an '02.5 and I have an '04, so that could be a reason, however they both are the same ECU, part number as well.

Any insight on which of the myriad numbers and letters that I have would be a huge help.

I have everything for the keys ready for programming and the separate issue is now to install the chipped ECU.
Thanks everyone for the help! :salute:
 
#11 ·
Are you sure the Vag-Commander can connect to module 1 ECU (Engine)? Though they state Engine Control Unit, I believe they may still be referring to the ECU of the cluster. Vag-Tacho cannot connect to the engine ECU without purchasing an additional module. You can check what part you are connected to by reading the part number from the dump file.

From this Vag-Commander manual, it looks like the pin appears in the login field after you connect to the correctly selected ECU. Again, this may only be the ECU for the cluster and not the engine ECU.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/24289430/VAG-KCAN-Commander-User-Manual

I would first program the keys with the original ECU, and then install the chipped ECU after the keys are set. Doing it the other way will just complicate the situation. If all else fails with installing the chipped ECU with Vag-Commander, there's someone on audizine who can disable the IMMO on the ECU with his bench setup. I think he charges $40 for his service, including shipping.
 
#12 ·
Thanks Step. I do have the manual but there's not much info. I also see the standard mode in the manual but don't know how to get to it using VC.

I will take a screen shot tomorrow and post it to see what it shows. I'm pretty sure that it's connecting to the engine ECU section, not the cluster. You can click on the instrument button in the special area and you get all the info. You can click on the ecu button and get the ECU info.

I don't know about the dump and how to make it visible. Looks like I'll have to open the dat file with notepad if it lets me.

I can get into the chipped ECU, and I can also shut off immobilizer, however, that's with the chipped ecu, not my original. VC doesn't appear to be able to access my ECU for whatever reason. Odd.

Thanks for the help!:wrench:
 
#15 ·
I've read on a couple of areas that Commander will only work on B6 platforms. However, I can read the chipped (2002) ECU and my Cluster, but I can't read my (2004) ECU.

On the chipped ECU it will read with VAG-ME 7xxxx wakeup pattern 01
None of the ones will work for mine.

Would this mean that even Tacho wouldn't read it?
Very odd.
Thanks guys :wrench:
 
#17 ·
I will check the cluster info and see if the editor shows me an easier view. I just don't want to enter the wrong info and then I'm screwed.

I'll backup the info from the chipped ECU and then input the SKC from the cluster (presumably I will see the right SCK) and see if that works.

I think the version software is 1.4, I'm not 100% as I'm at work.

Thanks a ton for the help guys!
 
#18 ·
Ok, I tried to read the .bin file that it saved from the cluster but the wineditor doesn't read it. I changed it to a .txt file as well, still a no-go.

There's no options to save it as something other than a bin file.

I can read the numbers/letters on the display in Commander and wonder if that's enough to decipher.

I don't know what other things to do in order to completely read the dump.

Thanks again, this is frustrating!
 
#19 ·
hey guys I'm hoping for some quick help on this. I have the vag k+Can commander and it appears that the only thing I can do is read ECU and Immo using the K line. On the main screen it doesn't open up any of those options. Nor does it give me the usual info on the diagnostic screen. I'm suspecting that because it's K line those features will be available using Tacho. however, you are supposed to be able to retrieve the SKC still using commander. Has anyone had experience with that?

I can't read my ECU using K+ Can (2004 built 2003 ECU) but I can read the chipped ECU (2002 built 2002 ECU). I can't use the auto detect on mine for some reason. Gives the msg that it can't read using auto detect.

Even though I can read the chipped ECU I don't know how to get the SKC from the hex values and numbers. I see the VIN in the strings but don't know about the rest. I saved the file to a .bin and .txt but using wineditor gives me nothing, just a couple of characters when accessing those files that are txt.

Any thoughts on this would be great. Do you think Tacho will just solve this whole issue? My concern is that it's still an IMMO III on my car, it's a B5.5.
Really need some advice and help - if I can't get this going I'll need to send it back.

Thanks for any insight you might have.:wrench:
 
#20 ·
Sorry been busy thru the weekend with rear brake issues.

The best I can come up with is this [URL="http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?3604801-DIY-hi-line-cluster"/URL] It is a long post but worth reading.

It has some good screen shots on what you are looking for. Note he never goes near the ECU for SKC's. They all come out of the clusters.

Note he uses VAG-COM to code his keys.

Hope this helps.
 
#21 ·
pdx I really appreciate the response. That's a great post especially the screenshots!

What it's appearing is that using k-line to access this stuff on this vehicle is not going to let you into the fields that you'd need to get the info. Each time I've seen this stuff accessed it's always using the CAN and not the K-line. K-line allows me to get into the instrument and read it but I can't decipher any of it with wineditor unless there's another editor to do it. On my ECU I can't read it but I can with the other ECU, go figure. But no matter what I can't read the SKC or anything that I've seen on the other threads.

I ordered the Tacho as this appears to be the only way to go with the pre-Can cars. So although K+CAN Commander might be able to access the Instrument and ECU, it will only allow reading of the units in the Special fields and not on the main page. For instance, you switch to K-line to read, use 01 motor and it will read that it's a 1.8t, yadayada, but doesn't open up anything for you. All the threads I've seen with Tacho shows that it allows you to get into all of this stuff if you have a pre-CAN car (pre-06).

This thread has been a great learning for me. I don't think anyone has really tried K+CAN Commander on the B5.5, I've only seen people using Tacho, and they really don't need to try it with the Commander because you get everything that way anyways. Hopefully it will arrive this week and I will post a result.

This is good info though because I was told that you 'should have no problem' getting the SKC for the pre-CAN cars with Commander. I got it so I could read both types of vehicles for customers.

I know now that you can't and I'm feeling confident there won't be issues once Tacho arrives.

Thanks again!!! :D
 
#22 ·
You may need several attempts to get the tacho to connect to the cluster (if it's of the ebay variety), as it needs to calculate some key to initiate communications, but once it does, the session is not dropped.

Sad thing is that tacho will need to recalculate it every time a new session is made, and so you will be sitting around for a while at times.