Audio upgrade help

[Alasdair]

Hey, I'm new to the vag world and after some help advise and pointed in the right direction..
I want to upgrade my head unit on the Ed 30, I was thinking an rcd 510 but I'm unsure on a few things.
1) is an rcd 510 a decent upgrade or is there anything else
2) I have heared that the gateway will need to be changed, what to and how do I find out what is suitable?
3) can the rcd 510 be out of any vw or does it have to be a golf?

Any help people would be really greatful

[TeighlorD7]

I haven't long fitted the rcd 510 with DAB and it was such an improvement in sound over the rcd 300.

The gateway will most likely need changed on cars pre 2007 , mines cost £37 and a friend helped me code it. You can also get precoded ones for £80 or so

As for fit , mines fits my mk5 perfect . This would apply to all I would presume

[Alasdair]

How did you know what gateway to buy if I went for an rcd510 with dab?
Would there be anything else I would need to convert it?

[dodds-gttdi]

The general rule is that if your car is earlier than a '07' registration plate then you will most likely need a new CAN Gateway. Mk5 Golfs were fitted with gateways with the part number 1K0 907 530 followed by a letter revision, i.e. 1K0 907 530 L. If your car has a revision 'L' or earlier then it will suffer battery drain, caused by the radio not shutting off its supply from the battery.

To find out your CAN Gateway revision/age you can scan the car with VCDS (VAG-Com) or physically locate the CAN Gateway (under the driver's side dashboard) and loo at the part number on the sticker.

Any gateway newer than revision 'L' will solve battery drain. Once VW got to 1K0 907 530 Revision 'Z' they started back at 'AA, AB, AC...'. Any of these are newer so will suffice.

'1K' refers to the Mk5 Golf however there are other part numbers of CAN Gateway that will fit the Golf as well. Eddie-NL on here sells brand new 7N0 907 530 Gateways (7N refers to the VWE Sharan). As far as I know these are all new enough to prevent battery drain, no matter what revision they are.

People have many questions about the CAN Gateway as there are many of them (revisions/variants) and several locations on the Golf where VW put them - up behind the clutch pedal, down underneath the stereo or above the accelerator pedal.

Therefore there are several ways to remove them. You need to go looking at your own car before deciding which one to do.

BEFORE you remove the Gateway you need to have it scanned using VCDS (VAG-Com) and take note of all the options ticked (series of tick boxes). Then you can buy a 'blank' un-coded Gateway and code it yourself (re-tick all the boxes, plus anything you want to add i.e. Aux In, etc.).

Or if you have the list of installed items (ticked boxes) you can send this to Eddie-NL along with the appropriate cash and he can usually deliver you one of the latest '7N0' Gateways.

Hope this is helpful, seems there are about a dozen threads all asking the same questions about Gateways, etc.

Coincidentally I have the following for sale:

RCD510:

http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,79957.msg830488.html#msg830488

RCD510 DAB:

http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,79992.msg830926.html#msg830926

MDI Armrest Dock:

http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,79958.0.html

[dodds-gttdi]

How did you know what gateway to buy if I went for an rcd510 with dab?
Would there be anything else I would need to convert it?

To fit and use an RCD510 DAB you will need a Digital (DAB) Antenna/Aerial. You can get a VW item (expensive I think) that possibly fits onto the roof (Shark Fin Antenna) or there are loads on ebay, other website that do an internal aerial, external aerial and windscreen antennas.

Have a look on ebay or www.dabonwheels.com.

DABonWheels are a member on here, perhaps we (members) can get a discount from them? 

[TeighlorD7]

My car is an 07 plate and this is how I found the gateway.

Down under the light switch, the little compartment , if you open it and push in the sides it pops out of a catch then you need to horizontally pull it out. Then when you have a look in you will see a little bracket holding various electrics in , if you clip out the bracket and place it to the side. Then up the back you will faintly see an object with a red connection on the top , if you can get your hand up there it takes abit of wiggling to unclip it. I managed to turn it around and have a look at the serial number and software number. There is another way of finding it by taking various parts for the wipers but mines seem to be pretty stuck on so I just left that. Once you have the serial number and software code , all you need to do is look up this. It can be a hassle but it's worth knowing

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/Navigation_System_(RNS510)_Retrofitting