OBD 1.5 troubles and a check engine light...but I'm so close

[Mavstang73]

I have a 1995 Grand Am 3.1 SE with the dreaded OBD 1.5.

Check engine light comes on when I let off the gas going down hill.
Most likely it's an EGR code due to the increased back pressure when engine load changes down hills.

I have successfully built an ALDL cable and connected my laptop to a notebook pc using EFILive.
Using the berretta3.xml file I can view stats and clear the check engine light.

But... I can't retrieve codes. I don't want to blindly start replacing items and taking things apart.

Does anyone have any suggestions on getting EFILive to retrieve codes?
I feel like I'm so close to getting this too operate properly but not retrieving DTC's is a big downer.

I'll probably check some of the passages today just for the heck of it.
I won't go crazy until I can get the damn DTC's.

[HayesPerformance]

I forgot

I forget now.
Is the Data plug on the OBD 1.5 the same as the plug on the OBD I?
Did you check if you can retrieve the codes with a jumper wire from the "A" to "B" pin on the Data port? On the OBD I when the key is then put to the "ON" position it will make the check engine flash to tell you the codes thrown in a series of SLOW and FAST flashes Count the Flashes. eg. 3 Fast and 2 Slow is a code "32" and so forth.

Regards,
David Hayes

[bszopi]

Same connector, but the ability to retrieve codes via the "paperclip" method was removed. I actually have a tech manual stating that... Only way to get them is with a scanner.

[Mavstang73]

I've cleaned out the EGR passage.

It was clogged solid. The egr valve has a bad solenoid too.

No progress made with the laptop interface yet.
I'm still looking for some good software that can talk too obd 1.5.