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Hi,
I just got the PLX adapter yesterday and ran right out to test it and Torque Pro on my vehicles. I ran into a couple of problems.
First, on my wife's 96 Cad Deville, everything connected fine with the Bluetooth, but for some reason it was not able to retrieve the vehicle manufacturer, VIN, or any other vehicle information that should have been transmitted through the ECU. I was not able to manually input that info either.
With the engine running I was able to monitor what was going on with just the default settings from Torque, and I was able to check and clear the DTC's.
Next I went to my truck, a 99 F350 Super Duty with a 7.3 L diesel engine. The adapter sync'd right away and the Realtime Information was reading correctly. However, this vehicle also would not retrieve the mfg or VIN info, nor would it let me manually input it.
When I ran the "Check Fault Codes" test it ran for a few seconds then the engine sputtered and died. It wouldn't restart unless I unplugged the PLX. I assume that returned everything back to the previous settings. I restarted the truck and plugged in the PLX. When it was plugged in the engine started running a little rough and had a distinct miss at a higher RPM. I'm again assuming that it did something wonky with the injector control. Don't know for sure though. When I disconnected the PLX the engine started up and ran fine. Something in Torque is making the engine run funny and killing it when I run the test. I'm sure nothing has been harmed though.
I have an Edge Insight installed on this truck and it does basically the same kind of stuff as Torque, (at about 1,000 times the price. But the Edge monitor picked up the PCU signal and instantly id'd the truck, VIN number and all.
The truck is modified slightly. It does have a chip in it, but I don't think that should interfere with reading and testing. I could be wrong though.
Well, that's all the questions-problems I have for now. What do you suggest?
I'm using a Samsung Infuse running Android 2.2.1 FROYO.
Posted : 09/08/2011 8:33 pm
Hi!
Only some manufacturers encode VIN information into the ECU in the mandated OBD2 locations, it's not a legislated requirement so therefore may not be present on all vehicles (though may be present in manufacturer specific locations).
If your engine stalls when you request fault codes on the F350, then that is because it is not OBD2 certified (Ford managed to botch the early OBD2 implementation on the ECU for that year and requesting fault codes can cause the ECU to reboot causing the engine to shutdown) - There may be an update from your dealer for your ECU that may solve this. It's a bug with the 2000/1999 F350's ECU firmware (that may be fixed through an update from the dealer)
Regards
Ian
Posted : 09/08/2011 9:44 pm
Topic starter
I think you've probably nailed it on the Ford. It's what's referred to an an 'Early 99", meaning it was manufactured earlier than 12/98. Basically, they made major changes to the powertrain mid-year. 99 was actually a major change year to boot. I can't tell you how many problems I've encountered trying to buy parts for a model that was only produced for 6 months. 🙁
I'm not sure I can even upgrade the PCU without buggering the chip.
So why can't I get the VIN and mfg info for my wife's cad? It is a 96 but I'm fairly sure it's OBD II. Otherwise the plug wouldn't fit.
Posted : 11/08/2011 1:57 am
Quick reason why you can't get the VIN number of the 96 Caddy is not all the features ie Mode $9 (in case of vehicle information) are supported by earlier versions of OBDII. Later versions especially CAN Bus protocols seem to support more of the OBDII Features. I had a 96 Mercury Grand Marquis and I tried a few other OBDII programs to pull the VIN number, but it wasn't supported by the ECU.
Regards,
Road_Wx
Quote from BuddhaKat on August 11, 2011
So why can't I get the VIN and mfg info for my wife's cad? It is a 96 but I'm fairly sure it's OBD II. Otherwise the plug wouldn't fit.
Posted : 11/08/2011 4:34 am
