How to: retrofit indirect Tire Pressure Monitoring in 5 minutes. (7K6)

Retrofit fully functional 7K6 Indirect Tire Pressure Monitoring, (No TPMS reset button required).

This may be of interest, if like me; you have a lesser MK6 variant without TPMS. If your car came without the system it will not have a reset button. The rest of the hardware for the system to work, including the warning light, is already in your car. It is just not activated.

http://www.nimblefeet.com/QF/tpmsLight.jpg

Benefits: Enables option [7K6] TPMS in cars shipped without TPMS [7K0].
Does not require a Reset button to be fitted.
No additional hardware required.
Cost: Nothing, provided you have access to VCDS
Target: Mark 6 Golf without factory TPMS button
Requirement: Car with MK60EC1 ABS controller and access to VCDS
Time involved: 5 minutes
Downside: Requires access to VCDS again, to reset a Warning light, OR to re-teach new values.

On the basis that it is free and considerably better than nothing, I have activated, successfully tested and intend to use it. Usual caveats - All modifications and changes are done at your own risk.

What is 7K6?

7K6 is the second version of the VW indirect Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). It uses the ABS system to deduce and warn you when a tire is going, or has gone flat. VW appear to have renamed it “Flat tire indicator” to differentiate it from the several “direct measurement” TPMS systems that it has also produces.

I have found that it will detect a problem tyre with a 5psi (15%) pressure drop from 32psi and start error counting. It will trigger the warning at 6psi or ~ 19%. The System is quicker to detect a rapid drop than a gradual deflation. Letting 6psi out in one hit will be detected in ~ 2 minutes and trigger a Warning in ~ 8 minutes. Letting out 3psi followed by incremental 1 psi drops to 6 psi will take longer for the Warning to develop once at 6psi.

Short Instructions.

Activate TPMS 7K6

1) Check you tire pressures are correct. At least even Pressures laterally.
2) In VCDS VagCom go to your ABS controller > Coding > Long Coding Helper > and toggle byte 16, bit 2 ON.

http://www.nimblefeet.com/QF/tpmsABS.jpg
ABS controller [Coding - 07]

http://www.nimblefeet.com/QF/tpmsLongCodeHelper.jpg
Coding

http://www.nimblefeet.com/QF/tpmsLimitedCoding.jpg
Long Coding Helper

http://www.nimblefeet.com/QF/tpmsOFF.jpg
TPMS OFF

http://www.nimblefeet.com/QF/tpmsON.jpg
TPMS ON

3) Confirm system is active by turning IGN ON. Observe momentary TPMS light beside 180kmh on the speedo.

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/

END

Reset the System
(Emulate the missing TPMS button);
- to clear a Warning.
- to teach system after reconfiguring tires.
- to teach system after modifying pressures from previously calibrated state.

1) In VCDS VagCom go to your ABS controller > basic settings > enter 042 in block field > GO > That’s it.

http://www.nimblefeet.com/QF/tpmsReset.jpg
Resetting System. Showing EEPROM Reset message to confirm it has reset.

2) Chime and Orange TPMS light will go off (if it was ON).
END

De Activate TPMS 7K6
(Perhaps when Selling your car)

1) In VCDS VagCom go to your ABS controller and toggle byte 16 bit 2 OFF
2) Confirm system is inactive by turning IGN ON and momentary TPMS light no longer appears.
END


Note: After activating or resetting, the 7K6 system will need at least an hour of driving including highway speeds to fully adapt and correlate wheel speeds with correct tyre pressures before you can rely on it to give a Warning. Do not partially deflate a tyre in this period to test the warning. The system will not have learnt sufficiently to trigger a warning and it will invalidate the teach in process.



Request

It would be good if we can keep this thread on the topic of activating and using the 7K6 indirect system. The direct system is undoubtedly better - that is not what this thread it about.

If you want to debate the merits of the various TPMS systems or think this system is rubbish, go to the http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f15/...ing-33514.html thread which discusses this. If you want more detail and opinion on the merits of TPMS systems or are interested in how Mavericks supposes it works, go to his TPMS thread. Although I have found the assertion that it “will only alert after 25% of pressure has been lost” is incorrect. I have found it to be between 15% and 20%. Splitting hairs here I know. The speed of which the system learns is as much related to the speed at which you drive as the straightness of the roads. It will not learn anything at all after a reset, if you do not at some point get it up to highway speeds. I believe you could drive around town indefinitely and it will never gain enough information to calibrate itself. So a Highway drive at some point is essential if you want the system to function as designed.

Anyhow I hope this info will be of interest to some of you.

Long winded Background.

When I bought my MK6 tsi118 a year ago I noticed the sports pack option included indirect tire pressure monitoring. This works by way of an ABS system sub mode. I supposed that non sports pack cars like mine that did not have the TPMS option fitted, would have the same ABS controller. The only difference would be the lack of a reset button and appropriate coding in the controller. I doubted my local VW dealers assertion I would need a new ABS controller to activate the system. So I got someone with the Sports Pack and TPMS to send me their ABS info. (Thanks Mr Gee.) http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f112...tml#post392596
Sure enough same ABS hardware and different coding. The problem for me at this point was the coding differed in at least 5 places between these two cars and potentially up to 40:
Coding: 163B600D21280003680C06E7841D0080B500 with TPMS
Coding: 163B600D212A00FC681106E884220080B100 without TPMS
I had no idea how to ascertain which the applicable byte was and which bit therein to change. The cars have different suspension and wheel sizes and I did not want to root around trial and error with the ABS controller long coding, which was largely undocumented at that point. So I put the project on the back burner until I found more time.

Can it be Activated?

A year later I have just revisited the problem. I started out by investigating the long coding for the newer MK60EC1 brake controller. Trying to ascertain which bit activated the TPMS system. Interestingly I looked at ABS long coding for 60 individual cars and no two were the same. Then I stumbled across the fact that in the interim, Ross-Tech have actually published the appropriate bit to change to activate 7K6 TPMS in the MK60EC1 long coding. It was well hidden in their long coding helper. 16,2 . Turns out in the coding above it is the last difference. B5 vs B1.

So now I had the correct bit it was theoretically easy enough to activate it.
Next problem was –
Would it work and far more importantly,
Could it be reset without the switch being fitted? I read that people had attempted to run TPMS sans button, in the previous MK60 controller and found they could not get rid of the orange TPMS light via VCDS if it came on. This would not do.

So I activated it via VCDS. I could see it was active by virtue of the orange TPMS light (beside 180kph) momentarily displaying when turning IGN ON. Also doing this made various new VCDS measuring blocks materialise relating to TPMS. All Good.

Does it Work?

So I drove around and watched with VCDS as these new measuring blocks populated while the “teach-in” process occurred.

Next step was to see if it worked.

Let a rear tyre down from 32 to 22 psi. Drove for ~15km before getting the TPMS light, warning chime and fault message.

1 Fault Found:
02214 - Tire Pressure Warning
002 - Lower Limit Exceeded - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100010
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 104
Mileage: 15791 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2011.14.29
Time: 02:17:04

Excellent. So the warning system definitely works. (In the above test I dropped the pressure by the relatively large amount of 10psi to ascertain the system was actually working. Later on I established a 5 or 6 psi drop is all that is required for a warning.)

Can it be reset without the button fitted?

Next issue was to see if TPMS Light could be reset without having the button fitted to my car. As mentioned, I read reports that with the previous MK60 controller and short coding you could disable the system to remove the light, but re activating it again would bring the solid warning light back. Hopefully the MK60EC1 would do better.


Reset method 1

So using VCDS, I disabled TPMS by un checking the applicable bit. This removed the orange TPMS warning light. This also hid all the TPMS measuring blocks from VagCom and flushed some but not all of them out. Some remained populated but hidden.

Then I immediately rechecked the bit to re-activate the system. Bingo. The IGN ON, short orange TPMS light flash has returned to indicate the TPMS is active again. More importantly the solid TPMS warning light has gone. So this shows the TPMS system can readily be activated and cleared using VCDS VagCom coding. There appears to be no need to have the TPMS button fitted to the car if you have access to VCDS. At this point I also re inflated the low tire back to normal pressure.

But - has the system truly been reset? I drove around for a bit and then let another tire down and then drove on it. No Warning. Bad. So I took a closer look and noticed the measuring blocks, that cycling the system off and on again had flushed, had not repopulated at all. This indicated to me that the “teach in” process had not recommenced or progressed sufficiently to re enable monitoring. So I cycled the system off and back on again, reinflated the tire and left them inflated correctly until I had done a decent drive. ~200km. Re inspected the appropriate three measuring blocks and observed they were all populated again. Good - this mean the system should work again.

So let another tire down, drove 7km, the last two of which were on the freeway at ~ 90kmh and TPMS Warning came on again.
1 Fault Found:

02214 - Tire Pressure Warning
002 - Lower Limit Exceeded
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01100010
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 70
Mileage: 16154 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2011.14.31
Time: 23:34:21

So the system can definitely be used on multiple occasions without the button being fitted.

Reset method 2 (recommended)

In the interim, between the first warning and this second one, I discovered another Ross-Tech suggestion. Instead of cycling the system Off and back ON to clear. There was an “unofficial procedure” to apply basic settings to a specific measuring block 042.

Doing this with the MK60EC1 turns out to be a much better way to go. It resulted in
1) a chime,
2) the orange tpms light instantly going out,
3) a response in the Vagcom blocks of "Tire Pressure - EEPROM – reset - Done", and
4) ALL and not just some of the TPMS calibration blocks resetting.
5) KMs value transferring from current warning to previous warning block.
Beautiful – This method would appear to more accurately emulate the missing button.

To confirm this is indeed the case, I asked another forum member (Thanks CameronP) who has the factory fitted 7K6 option, to reset by way of the button and record the changes with VCDS. I then compared the results. Changes to the measuring blocks were identical so it would appear it has the exact same effect.

So now I reckon I have proven I can do without the missing button and enjoy the benefits of having the system activated.

In the process I have ascertained the following which is applicable to cars with the factory fitted button as well:
1) Which measuring blocks need to be populated before the system can switch from teach to monitor mode.
2) Which measuring blocks will increment as it recognises and monitors a fault prior to deciding it is genuine and warn you.
3) I created a custom VagCom label file to monitor these values, as the current VCDS MK60EC1 label does not document any of them.
4) Also got a heap of logs of the various measuring blocks capturing their stuff during the learning process and the fault detection phase which I can post if anyone wants.

7K6 system retrofit WITH reset Button

I also notice that Kufatec are now selling and kit to retrofit the button. TPMS - Tire Pressure Monitoring -Harness-VW Golf VI 6 [36852] - $34.95 : Kufatec USA, Inc., The #1 Supplier of OEM Volkswagen & Audi Retrofit Harnesses in the World

I gather it needs to be hooked up to PIN 35 on the ABS controller. But I am happy to live without it.

NOTES:

VW TPMS options

7K0 = Without tire pressure warning light
7K1 = Tire pressure warning light
7K2 = Tire pressure control system, direct measurement
7K3 = Tire pressure control, frequency 433 MHzhigh level version
7K4 = Tire pressure control, frequency 315 MHzhigh level version
7K5 = Tire pressure control, frequency 315 MHzwith reduced transmitting power
7K6 = Flat tire indicator

Teach-in

According to AudiEnthusiasts TPMS it works something like this:

The teach-in process is performed once after the SET key is pressed for the low tyre pressure indicator. During the next trip, the control unit saves the measured wheel speeds and the vibration characteristics of the wheels in various vehicle operating states.
The vehicle operating states are basically defined by the following parameters: vehicle speed, steering angle, transverse acceleration and yaw velocity. These teach-in values subsequently make up the target data which is used for monitoring. After approximately 10 minutes of driving, it is already possible to detect a breakdown (rapid loss of pressure). Approximately 60 minutes of driving are required to detect diffusion loss (slow loss of pressure).

Edit Initially I thought my car with basic suspension would not track the vibration characteristic component. Done some more reading. Seems vibration characteristics do actually get monitored in this setup. Whilst this seems trivial, the benefit of the vibration capability is that it can detect multiple tyre diffusion even on the same axle. Well worth having. My current thinking is MB 230,4 is where this lives, but will have to do some more work to confirm this.

If anyone is interested I can detail the measuring blocks that run the tpms in the MK60EC1 and provide a custom VCDS label file so you can monitor them.

So there you have it. It is a sinch to setup if you have VCDS and a minor appreciation of how the system works. The basic arrangement I have described was around with the MK5. Just that I have updated and tweaked it to make it MK6 applicable.

Download, unzip and place this custom 1K0-907-379-60EC1F.lbl into C:\Ross-Tech\VCDS\Labels\User. You will then be able to see the status of your TPMS system. This is all equally applicable to cars that have the factory button as well.

You can use it to;

• Confirm a successful RESET by button or VCDS.
• Check the status of teach in/adaptation
• Confirm System is fully adapted prior to testing by manually lowering a tyre.
• Monitor the system as it first recognises and error counts to trigger a fault.

Below is some of the TPMS information my custom label file will reveal...

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/

The above example shows a partially calibrated system with Speed ranges I & II yet to fully adapt to respective 8888 & 8880 optimum values. While vibration calibration is still at 2222 with 0 in Calib Curve.

Below is a run down of what I believe it all means. It shows a fully calibrated system with a low tyre and a WARNING indication triggered.

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/

Happy to take any suggestion or improvements that others may work out. I may have some parts wrong, so don't stake your life on any of it :P

Awesome write up. Im sure many will benefit from this Logger!

Thanks Mate. The cost, time and effort savings of this install, when compared to the hardware method, might go some way to paying for a VCDS cable. But you do need to have your own cable for it to be worthwhile. I have had TPMS running for nearly a month now and am pleased with the outcome.

Cheers Logger, excellent work :)

Thanks Ted

you are quickly become our local vagcom guru

Great work logger, it's so good I'm going to pinch this thread for Tiguan section (just link of course). :)

Wow, that's really detailed! Good detective work, too.

I don't suppose you discovered along the way whether or not the GTI's I-can't-believe-it's-not-a-limited-slip-diff electronic wizardry can be switched on in lesser Golfs too?