RE: K-wire & indash stereo not a problem on *all* 98s - evidently

["Matt Cleland" <cleland@stlnet.com>]

OK, sorry bout the lack of context.  This "problem" has been discussed and
re-discussed at length over on the GTI-VR6 list, which I also follow.

Basically, the problem stems from 2 things:

1) Sometime in the middle of the 98 model year, VW made a change to the
wiring harness that provides power to the indash stereo.  For some reason,
they started using an "intelligent" stereo that can communicate with the
VAG 1551 "scan tool" that the dealer uses to check the onboard computer.
This
change required that they provide the K-wire in the stereo wiring harness.
The
K-wire is the data-bus that the OBD-II computer, scan tool, and other
onboard
processors use to communicate.

2) There exists in the marketplace a very popular aftermarket
adapter/harness
made by Metra, used for installing aftermarket headunits into your VW. The
Metra adapter is wired in a particular way that causes +12V to be connected
to the K-wire.  This is not correct and evidently has been found to cause
problems, including damaged ECUs, damaged scan tools, etc.

3) VWOA issued a TSB on this very subject, directing the dealer to verify
that the K-wire is NOT connected to +12V, in any vehicle with an aftermarket
stereo.

For more details, you can find the original posts related to this in the
GTI-VR6
archives, which can be found at:

http://www.panix.com/~aqn/GTI_VR6/gti_vr6/library/HiFi_index.html

(username: driver, password: hired)


I have received some mail indicating that this problem may be restricted to
the
GTI only, but since many,many other things are common between the Jetta and
the
Golf/GTI platform, I thought it was better to check and be safe.  YMMV.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt Cleland					cleland@stlnet.com
98 Jetta GLX
Black/Biber

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-jettaglx@igtc.com [mailto:owner-jettaglx@igtc.com]On Behalf
> Of Brian Wanamaker
> Sent: Monday, August 31, 1998 11:01 AM
> To: 'jettaglx@igtc.com'
> Subject: RE: K-wire & indash stereo not a problem on *all* 98s -
> evidently
>
>
> I look at this list almost every day but I guess I still must have
> missed something. WHAT? is the "Infamous K-wire problem?"
>
> B. Wanamaker
> 98 GLX
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Matt Cleland [SMTP:cleland@stlnet.com]
> > Sent:	Monday, August 31, 1998 10:53 AM
> > To:	JettaGLX List; GTI-VR6 List; Uwe.Ross@pobox.com
> > Subject:	K-wire & indash stereo not a problem on *all* 98s -
> > evidently
> >
> > This weekend I went out and pulled my indash CD receiver to check for
> > the
> > infamous K-wire problem on 98's.  It turns out that my car (built
> > 10/97)
> > has the same radio connections as documented in the Bentley, section
> > 91-4.
> > This is different than the connections posted by Uwe for "late" 98s.
> > Mine
> > has 3 connectors, black,brown & pink, with similar pin counts.  The
> > picture
> > Uwe posted has the same black & brown, and then a higher density
> > connector
> > with many more pins.
> >
> > Anyway, I did have the infamous Metra harness with pins 3 & 5 looped
> > together,
> > with a blue wire attached to pin 3 ( on the black connector).  The
> > Bentley
> > showed that pin 3 was open, however there was a connection on my
> > factory
> > harness.  It was a black wire which actually came from the speaker
> > harness
> > and crossed over to the black connector, pin 3.
> >
> > I now believe that pin 3 on *my* car is the turn-on lead for the Bose
> > amplifier.  When I disconnected it from +12V, I got no sound.  The
> > key to this discovery was a decal on the factory Bose head unit, which
> > showed pin 3 to have a little speaker symbol and a "+" sign.
> >
> > I was kind of aggrivated after all this, so I just slapped the factory
> > head unit back in.  Back to the sub-par, no-CD, muddy tone I once
> > knew.
> > I do have to say that I like the fit/finish of the factory unit much
> > better than the one I had in there. I may go with Zeek's suggestion of
> > a Blaupunkt unit, next time I get a few spare $$.
> >
> > BTW, I re-measured voltage at the data-link connector after I replaced
> > the
> > factory headunit.  Again, no +12V on the K-wire with ignition off, and
> > +12V
> > on the K-wire with ignition on.  Somebody on the list this weekend
> > suggested
> > that there should be +5V on the K-wire, but I get +12V.  As far as I
> > know,
> > no scanning of my car has taken place.  Maybe one of you adventurous
> > types
> > could go measure your K-wire voltage and report back.
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ----
> > Matt Cleland					cleland@stlnet.com
> > 98 Jetta GLX
> > Black/Biber
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Matt Cleland [mailto:cleland@stlnet.com]
> > > Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 1998 10:54 PM
> > > To: Uwe.Ross@pobox.com
> > > Cc: gti-vr6@dev.tivoli.com
> > > Subject: RE: [gti-vr6] WARNING: Carcomp Users and 1998 owners
> > >
> > >
> > > According to the sticker in the driver's door jamb, my car was
> > > "Hecho'ed in
> > > Mexico" in 10/97.  I had the Bose system, evidently by Panasonic.
> > >
> > >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ----
> > > Matt Cleland
> > cleland@stlnet.com
> > > 98 Jetta GLX
> > > Black/Biber
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Uwe Ross [mailto:Uwe.Ross@pobox.com]
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 1998 10:03 PM
> > >
> > > >
> > > > What's the build date on your car?  Did it have the new "late 98"
> > > > radio?  If not, you may not even have a k=wire in the radio
> > harness and
> > > > have nothing to worry about.
> > > >
> > > > -Uwe-
> > > >
>