Diesel Bosch EDC15V ECU Repairs

Type: Bosch Engine Management
Fits: Audi A3 / Volkswagen (VW) Beetle / Bora / Caddy / Golf / Lupo / Passat
Engines: 1.9 SDi and TDi
Fuel: Diesel
Year: 1997 – 1999

Note: This ECU may also fit other models.

Add one letter to 038906012H and the car on record moves from a Skoda Octavia to a Volkswagen Polo. That is this Bosch EDC15V table in small: the car and the label numbers do not line up one to one, and the sections below take each way they come apart, so that you can find the row your unit belongs to.

We repair Bosch EDC15V diesel engine ECUs at component level in our own UK workshop, and every repair carries a 24-month warranty.

Why does one letter separate the Octavia from the Polo?

In our table, 038906012H is printed beside 0281 010 129 and 038906012HL beside 0281 011 319. The two share their first ten characters, so the closing L is the whole difference, and it takes you from a Skoda Octavia, with a 1.9 TDI on record, to a Volkswagen Polo with a 1.9 on record. Engine size cannot part them; the label has to.

The pattern repeats higher up the table. 038906018R, beside 0281 001 726, is on record from an Audi A4, and 038906018N, beside 0281 001 727, from a Volkswagen Passat. Copy the VAG number through to its final letter, and if that letter will not read clearly, tell us so rather than choosing one.

Can one Bosch EDC15V have come from two different cars?

0281 001 748 has. It is on record from a Seat Arosa and from a Volkswagen Lupo, with a 1.7 SDI on record against it, and the table prints 038906013L beside it. Whichever of those two cars your unit came out of, it is the same row.

Four marques are on record across the table as a whole: Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen. That does not make the rows interchangeable. Each row is its own unit, and two badges sharing 0281 001 748 is a fact about that row, not a rule for the others.

Why does a Skoda Octavia lead to two rows?

The Octavia is on record against two Bosch numbers: 0281 001 755, with 038906018BC beside it, and 0281 010 129, with 038906012H beside it. Knowing the car was an Octavia narrows the table to those two rows and goes no further.

Engine size helps only halfway. We hold a 1.9 TDI on record against 0281 010 129, but no engine size on record for 0281 001 755 that we would rely on, so a 1.9 TDI does not rule 0281 001 755 out. The VAG number does the work: read the three characters after 038906, which are 018 on one unit and 012 on the other.

What identifies the rows with the least on record?

Five rows in our table carry no VAG number: 0281 001 743, 0281 001 911, 0281 010 171, 0281 010 181 and 0281 010 380. For these, the Bosch number is the only reference the table gives, so take it from the label on the case and keep all ten digits in order.

What we hold on record for these five is thinner, too. 0281 001 911 is on record from a Seat Ibiza with a 1.9. 0281 001 743 and 0281 010 171 are on record from Volkswagens, and 0281 010 181 and 0281 010 380 from Skodas, without a model we hold enough records to name.

Two further rows, 0281 001 845 and 0281 001 916, are on record by marque only: a Volkswagen for the first and a Seat for the second. No car named on this page is a full list of where a unit was fitted, and a car left unmentioned does not rule a unit out.

How is a Bosch EDC15V repaired once it arrives?

Each unit is logged when it arrives, inspected visually and tested electrically, then taken through diagnostics aimed at the fault it shows. Component work is done under a microscope with temperature-controlled rework equipment, by our own engineers.

Once testing is complete we contact you with what we found, and no work begins until you have agreed to it. A repair is finished only when the unit passes final testing, and it comes back to you with a 24-month warranty on the repair carried out.

What should you include when you send your EDC15V?

Give us the Bosch number, the VAG number if the label carries one, and the car the unit came from, with a line on what the car has been doing. Then send it all through the Repair Form, letter for letter from the label.

If the label reads EDC15P rather than EDC15V, a separate table of EDC15P numbers covers it. For other engine ECUs from the same makes, see Seat engine ECUs outside this table, or the Skoda hub, where its other engine ECUs are listed.

The thirteen Bosch EDC15V numbers in our table follow, with the VAG number beside each where the table prints one.

Common part numbers associated with this type of unit