Joining the 21st century

[tractorman]

Hi. I'm looking for advice on how one would go about hooking up a laptop to a car's ECM. I'm not necessarily looking to modify anything (though it might be fun to have that option). I mainly want to look at sensor data, read codes, that sort of thing.

I've seen OBDII USB cables for sale on occasion, but I haven't figured out how to tell which cable will work with which software. I've also seen lots of different software (usually expensive). Not sure which one I should buy. Specific information on this sort of thing seems hard to come by.

I like the idea of open source software- but when I read up on it, they start talking about vehicle-specific "definition files". What the hell is that? Where do I get one? What if they don't make one for my own vehicle?

The only OBDII vehicle I own is an '01 Chevy Lumina. I also have a '94 Corsica- it'd be nice to be able to hook up to it, too... but I've read that there are issues with hooking up to OBD1.5.

I'm somewhat competent at working with/on both computers and vehicle control systems... but I'm having trouble putting the two together. So bear with me. And thanks for any advice.

[robertisaar]

for the obd1.5 car, download tunerpro RT, get a ALDL cable from aldlcable.com and then we'll talk...

total cost: $60

i can't help with the obd2 stuff though...

[95SleeperAcheiva]

welcome to the club tractor!

Rob is teaching me too and I'm a ASE master tech. But this is "Mod School" nobody teaches that!

But, in my experience, you came to the right place to learn, the info is so vast here, I'm still digging and finding!

[tractorman]

for the obd1.5 car, download tunerpro RT, get a ALDL cable from aldlcable.com and then we'll talk...

total cost: $60

i can't help with the obd2 stuff though...

Alright. So is this the cable I need? A standard OBDI aldl cable?

http://aldlcable.com/sc/details.asp?item=aldlobd1u

And tunerpro RT will work with the weird '94 and '95 ODB1.5?

[robertisaar]

thats the exact cable that i bought, i use it constantly for my 95 monte...

i'll check to see if they use the same datastream too...

your corsica uses the A256 datastream, i don't think anyone has made a definition for it yet, but it wouldn't take me too long..

EDIT: IsaacHayes may have, i sent him a PM, we'll see.

[tractorman]

welcome to the club tractor!

Rob is teaching me too and I'm a ASE master tech. But this is "Mod School" nobody teaches that!

But, in my experience, you came to the right place to learn, the info is so vast here, I'm still digging and finding!

Thanks. Yes, lots of good info around here.

I'm a heavy equipment mechanic, myself... and pretty comfortable working on anything automotive. Spent quite a bit of time diagnosing/repairing engine control systems on diesel engines. And I'd like to get the equipment together so that I can do the same on my own vehicles.

But this tuner stuff... info seems hard to come by. It's not like there's a manual I can pick up for it.

[robertisaar]

Thanks. Yes, lots of good info around here.

I'm a heavy equipment mechanic, myself... and pretty comfortable working on anything automotive. Spent quite a bit of time diagnosing/repairing engine control systems on diesel engines. And I'd like to get the equipment together so that I can do the same on my own vehicles.

But this tuner stuff... info seems hard to come by. It's not like there's a manual I can pick up for it.

hence why i've written a few guides for the exact reason...

[IsaacHayes]

The stream will be the exact same as what my definition is for. My def is a modified W body definition, modified meaning I made it more complete and fixed a few bugs. The 3100 OBD1.5 def I have should work for ALL 3100 OBD1.5 cars. I've looked at the various 3100 data streams and they are all the same basically. Maybe a few different things that tells you where your shifter is selected (some cars have 1,2,3,4, others 1&2,3,4) but the definition works for both.

http://isaachayes.60degreev6.com/aldlcable/

the .ads is tunerpro
the .adx is scanner pro.

Scannerpro is pretty cool too. Gauges. and it logs and plays back where tunerpro has a bug with the 3100 data stream and doesn't record right (but reads fine).

There is a new version of TP since I last wrote that though I should see if the bug is still there or not.

[tractorman]

Thanks, everybody. This will give me a good place to start. Might take me a week or two to scrape the money together, then I'll order the cable (looks like I'm going to need two cables eventually: OBDI and OBDII). I'll get back with you when I have my equipment set up.

[tractorman]

I've finally got around to looking into this project. Got a cable from aldlcable.com. Downloaded and installed TunerPro RT. Tinkered around with it for a while, downloaded the $1FA .ads file from the TunerPro site, and IsaacHayes' Check_Codes_3100-L82-1994-95.ads and 3100-L82-1994-95.ads files. Configured things according to the help files, hooked it up, and it worked.

I would've done this years ago if I'd known it was this easy.

I didn't do a lot of detailed comparisons, but I didn't notice any functional difference between the $1FA .ads file and the 3100-L82-1994-95.ads. Is one preferable to the other? I think I remember somebody saying that the latter file had some fixes?

I also saw that a 1994_3100_Beretta_update_09.ads file, but haven't tried it yet. Is this significantly different from the other two? Based on the name, it seems like it might be a better fit for my '94 Corsica.

Anyhow, thanks everyone for the advice- this will be a big help.

I also see that there are lots of options in that program for tuning- but is there any support available for a '94 3100? Emulators or something?

[robertisaar]

the only 3100s in 94-95 that are tuneable presently, are the A-cars... nothing else has been bothered with to be hacked.

[IsaacHayes]

Yeah mine had some fixes, and additions of things... Download the scnaner pro beta, and my .adx, it's got a cool dashboard with lots more sensors showing...

For tuning, see the thread made by Robert, using the 3.4 DOHC PCM swap.

[tractorman]

Scanner pro has been discontinued- replaced by Tuner pro version 5. I downloaded and installed it, and used your .adx file, but I couldn't get it to connect. Finally gave up and went back to version 4.

Also found a .ads file for the abs system. A little buggy, but works well enough.

[robertisaar]

guess who made the ABS ADS?

and the scannerpro ADX files usually won't work with the TP V5 ADX files.

[tractorman]

Good work. Glad that others have the time and talent for such things... so that bums like me can get by.

I see that there are instructions on making definition files. I have some basic programming knowledge in Fortran and Visual Basic. Nothing to brag about, but enough to understand some programming concepts. Don't know if I'll ever get around to tinkering with this, but it looks like a fun project if I find myself with some time to kill.

So now that I can check codes- including ones that don't turn on the check engine light- I see that I'm regularly setting a code for tcc slippage. Makes me wonder just how well that Dex VI is doing. This 4T60e SEEMS to shift just fine with DexVI, and has for a few years. But the wife's '01 Lumina's 4T65e didn't like the stuff... caused an annoying slip & grab condition on full-throttle 1-2 upshifts. A complete flush with Allison Transynd ($ynthetic DexIII) solved that problem. Looks like I might have to flush the Dex VI out of the Corsica, too... to see if it takes care of this tcc slippage.

There was also an oxygen sensor history code- open circuit on the heated sensor. I suspect that's what's been turning on the light. Seeings how it only comes on for a few seconds every month or two, I"ll likely just let it go unless it gets worse.