KTS tricks & tips
The Bosch KTS family is celebrating 25 years of helping technicians quickly diagnose and fix vehicle faults.
It’s vital that you get the best from your diagnostic equipment, and these tricks and tips will help you improve efficiency and help customers.
Automatic VIN Look up
A lot of people don’t know it’s there, or how it works, but this little feature saves time and eliminates human error when you need to find the unique 17 digit number.
With the car connected to the KTS unit, select the VIN identification tab and you will be presented with boxes to enter the digits. Instead of entering the number, click the “VIN Readout” button and the full vehicle details will appear.
This feature isn’t available on some older vehicles as they don’t have the ability to electronically store the VIN. In these situations all vehicle details will have to be entered manually.
Reference info button leading directly to further information for trouble shooting If ESI[tronic] returns a fault code on a vehicle, and has brought up the fault code description screen, there can be several options to try in order to solve the issue. Instead of leaving that chapter to go back to the main menu, for example to find a wiring
diagram, you can jump straight to relevant information by clicking on the “Reference info” button. This is located at the bottom left hand side of the screen.
Click on the button and you’ll find a drop-down list, which includes an electrical terminal diagram (wiring diagram) option. Other useful options on this drop down are: installation position table; air/fuel pipe diagram; connection to vehicle location.
KTS Pass-Thru ability
Pass-Thru enables a KTS unit to install and update a car’s internal software – typically the preserve of franchised dealers. This covers ECU updates, some coding and other important technical info.
a. You’ll need to ensure you KTS system is up to date. Visit the Bosch Euro 5 website: http:// rb-aa.bosch.com/aa/en/euro5/ index.htm and download the free software patch. This allows you to make changes to the KTS via the DDC programme.
b. The DDC programme is found inside the main menu of ESI 2.0, under “Hardware Settings”.
c. Open Hardware Settings and press “Start DDC” This will open another dialogue box allowing you to tick and activate the Pass-Thru option.
d. Once ticked, accept and press OK.
e. The KTS unit is now capable of Pass-Thru. However, you will need to set up an account with the vehicle manufacturer. All details are available on the Bosch Euro 5 website and we are currently running Pass-Thru courses. Full details are available from the Bosch Training Team.
The RB Key for easy vehicle identification The RB Key, or Robert Bosch key, is a specific reference unique to each and every vehicle on ESI, and is extremely useful in easily identifying a vehicle when calling the technical hotline. It can also save time when included on your customer database, as you don’t have to search for the vehicle details on the KTS the next time the vehicle visits the workshop.
Steps to find the RB key:
a. With the car connected to the KTS, find out the car’s VIN (see Tip 1).
b. This will produce an RB key automatically, which is displayed at the top left of the screen, with the vehicle details.
Online updates
The introduction of ESI 2.0 allows online software updates, keeping your diagnostic equipment right up to date. Available free of charge via the internet, they ensure that you’re always in possession of the latest vehicle information provided by Bosch.
It’s important to remember that these online updates do not replace the need to install the update discs that KTS users receive through post three times a year. The online updates provide supplementary information which complement the essential updates supplied on the discs.
Steps:
From the main menu, choose “Online Update” and enter your customer number and password when prompted. The download options will appear and the software updates will start to download.
