That would be great, scanned photo's of the tech manuals would be even better! LOL

 

I'll see what I can pry out of him.

 

In British Columbia, emissions tests are mandatory. You can't do one in a new VW without the stock deck or the bypass. They send you to see a the stealership.

 

here's the email I got back from him. I also asked him to double ceck if there's any TSB's on that.

Hello Donald! Not too bad yourself?, They were quite rough, but, I'm still alive If you were to change a head unit? as in the radio? I doubt it, this is the first I've heard of this, I'm aware of the VW/Audi's having electrical problems anywhere from fires, to melted modules anywhere from the door locks (modules) HVAC controls melting, relays and fuses burning, but never have I heard of emissions or check engines coming on due to an aftermarket radio. There has been one case that there was a fire that was caused by the installation of a aftermarket remote car starter though. The vehicle was deemed off-road, and under repairs for over a month as well as product B/Os... and such. Take Care!, Dave

..and he's a service manager ..I feel almost compelled to post his response on VW vortex

 

I though as much. I do remember of a customer who had a deck installed in a VW that allready had the check engine light on. He returned a couple of days later complaining that his mechanic could not check the code without the factory deck being in. He also provided me with photocopies of what looked like a tech manual that mentioned something about the K line needed to be used by the ODB scanner as a ground or something. It also had a wiring diagram that showed that the aftermarket side of the "K line" was hooked up to the power antenna wire of the deck therby making the scanner unable to pull codes. I disconnected it and the customer never returned after that for any other problems. The only problem with your friends response is that the 08 City Golf is to new for it to have any problems that a service adviser would really know about. We've got to find a way to get some info on it from a tech manual. Come on there's got to be one VW tech who's also curious around here.

 

the factory head unit is in fact the memory station for CEL's. Without it, VW cannot accurately read emmisions related codes..

So in summation, It is not necessary if your province/State does not check for emmisions issues

 

Thank you for the research, but what happens if there is a problam with his emissions down the road or he sells it to someone who is unaware of this issue? $175.00 upfront is a small price to pay for what could happen down the road.

 

Just needs to keep the stock radio to plug it back in for scanning... but if in am emmissions testing province it's probably worthwhile to buy the adapter so that you don'thave to annually swap head units.