ME3 upgrade stopped due to aftermarket towbar

[PhilHolmes]

Hey everyone first time post here, but been lurking for a bit!

I had my 60 in for the ME3.x upgrade on Monday but they phoned and said that due to the towbar they would have to disable it from CanBus, do the update and then enable the towing on their system.

They have asked Head Office for confirmation if they are allowed to do this at their cost or if they should charge me (quoted £300 for the work, which seems high for plugging a computer in)

Has anyone encountered this on their vehicle and did Skoda do the software update without charge?

The only other thing I can think to do is ask them to remove the towbar, do the update and then go back to the towbar company to re-code it, but it might mess up future over-the-air updates...

They had my car for 2 days but have cancelled the upgrade until they hear from Head Office.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Phil,

[orrery]

2 questions:
- do they know the problem is the tow bar, or are they just guessing? These upgrades are problematic - mine took 5 days and about 5 goes.
- I'd suggest you go back to the tow bar company, as it clearly isn't fully compatible with the car.

[PhilHolmes]

Orrery, thanks for the reply, sorry my post must have not been that clear, Skoda were not willing to start the upgrade process until they got confirmation from head office that they were "allowed" too.

I have got the company name who provided the wiring harness so I can send that to Skoda, I also have the manufacturer of the coding tool that was used, so I might contact them and find out if they have details of what exactly they do to code the tow bar in.

I'm hoping that Skoda agrees to decode the towbar and then code it using their machine and then it shouldn't have any problems in the future, just hoping they don't charge me...

[orrery]

Interestingly, my update took 5 attempts and the one that passed was helped along with Skoda technical support dialled-in to the laptop that was doing the update. I can't why they wouldn't do that to check any issue with the towbar.

[PhilHolmes]

Just to update incase others are in the same position, head office apparently said that it could be decoded before doing the update then recoded by the service centre but if anything went wrong I'm 100% liable... I'm going to call and find out exactly which bit of the update become my problem.

They suggested I go to the towbar installer, get then to uncode it, take it for the me3 update, then back to the towbar place to code it on again...

[C2atb]

Can they not just unplug the harness whilst doing the update then go back to where you got it for the coding ?

[PhilHolmes]

That is what I'm going to ask then this week, I have the full details of the wiring harness so tempted to just unplug all the connectors myself, although with it being Canbus, I don't see why the connectors even need to be disconnected

[tiger tony]

When your vehicle was built, the complete software package is saved into the Skoda network system. ME3.0 upgrade is programmed only for this original software.

Now when the dealer connected your vehicle to the Skoda network via his laptop, it quickly recognised that you have modified and unregistered software installed. So the Skoda computer "SAYS NO".

ME3.0 update will not proceed with unregistered software on your vehicle. They simply wont risk downloading ME3.0 incase it bricks your vehicle.

You'll have to return the vehicle to "as built" condition before Skoda will update. If the dealer does the work as you described, at least then the Skoda network system will have your current software on file so to prevent any further upgrade problems. (£300 is a bit steep tho !).

Unplugging the harness will make sod all difference to the problem.

[PhilHolmes]

Makes a bit more sense, thanks Tony

[C2atb]

Sorry I assumed the software was just an adaption same as original skoda adaption for tow bar . I thought they was pointing at the aftermarket harness and towbar being an issue . If the place who did the coding is far away or unable to do it in time anyone who does coding can sort it and remove harness just incase ie looks standard when connected for upgrade