OBDII scanner unable to find ECM on a 1997?

[84runner]

Well I searched and couldn't find my problem.

The wife drove the 97 cruiser yesterday and check engine light came on. Well my father in-law came over with his OBDII software w/cable and we hooked it up underneath the dash and it couldn't communicate/find the ECM!

Upon closer inspection between the cable end (with about 4-5 metal pins) and the cruisers receiver (with about the same metal pins) metal receivers didn't mirror image each other! (Horrible explanation but I hope it makes sense).

We hooked it up to our other 2 cars and it worked?!?! (plus all the pins lined up!)

Anyone know why?

 

[FirstToy]

should work, my scangauge is hooked up to the OBD2 port.

 

[Beowulf]

Well I searched and couldn't find my problem.

The wife drove the 97 cruiser yesterday and check engine light came on. Well my father in-law came over with his OBDII software w/cable and we hooked it up underneath the dash and it couldn't communicate/find the ECM!

Upon closer inspection between the cable end (with about 4-5 metal pins) and the cruisers receiver (with about the same metal pins) metal receivers didn't mirror image each other! (Horrible explanation but I hope it makes sense).

We hooked it up to our other 2 cars and it worked?!?! (plus all the pins lined up!)

Anyone know why?

There are a couple of different "standards" (doncha love standards, there are so many to choose from....)

What make are your other cars? I think the Cruiser uses the JIS standard.

-B-

 

[landtank]

you most likely have a protocol issue. What software are you using? I have autoenginuity and with the newer version I have to hard set the protocol because automatic doesn't work. The older version which supported lesser numbers of protocols did just fine.

you want to use VPW

Some early PC scan tools had specific interfaces and would only work with a single setup while others worked on them all. Here is a link to help you check compatibility with your scan tool.

 

[TrickyT]

There are four OBDII standards: VPW, PWM, ISO, and CAN. A '97 80 uses VPW (variable pulse width). VPW uses connector pins 2, 4, 5, and 16, although 4 and 5 are redundant (both ground). Your father-in-law's scanner is likely not compatible with VPW. Try a different scanner.

 

[84runner]

FirstToy; good to hear cuz I was just on the phone with them yesterday. He told me the Xguage isn't compatible with my 97 yet to be able to read tranny temps etc. Does that sound right?

Beowulf; And the other cars were Subaru WRX 2005, and their Mercedes SUV. He has the OBDII.com software which now that I look at that site;

OBDII - On-Board Diagnostic's System - Does My Car Have OBD-II? The Connector and Communications.

And now knowing that mine is VPW, (thanks landtank & TrickyT), this makes sense. His adapter was incorrect, his adapter looked different than the one they sell now. Think I'll just bring her to autozone when I get home tomorrow.

thanks guys...

 

[TrickyT]

FirstToy; good to hear cuz I was just on the phone with them yesterday. He told me the Xguage isn't compatible with my 97 yet to be able to read tranny temps etc. Does that sound right?...

Unfortunately the tranny temp part is true. And I'll lay odds that we'll never be able to get the ATF temperature via OBD in our 80's. Not because it isn't possible, but because there appears to be absolutely no documentation available for the internals of the ECU. Since ATF temperature is not one of the OBD standard sensor values, then the only way to access the stored temperature value in the ECU is via special commands. I've looked hard for the information needed to do this, which essentially is the memory location where the digital temperature value is stored. And I've spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Ron DeLong at Linear Logic (designer of the ScanGauge) trying to come up with a way to figure it out. But no dice. Unless someone can provide a listing of what ECU memory locations are used for what, it's like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. So don't go out and buy a ScanGauge if ATF temperature is what you want it for; there are other proven solutions for that.

 

[84runner]

TrickyT;

Wow well that's not good to hear. The weird thing is I've been calling every couple months since last August and they keep telling me to wait. Weird cuz they could just tell me it's not gonna happen so you might as well just buy a scanguage as is. If all they wanted was to sell. Seem like good people anyway.

What he, (James), told me after he asked what vehicle it was for was that their tech guy, (and he did mention the word 'linear' in that), needs time to get that specific vehicle in the shop, he said 'we have had quite a few requests.' At this point, thinking of all the guys on Mud here, I asked well where is the shop located cuz I bet I could find someone willing to volunteer their vehicle. He then stated their tech was working on a way to do it without needing the vehicle in the shop which he was hoping would speed up the process for even more vehicles.

Guess I shouldn't hold my breathe!?!?

 

[TrickyT]

TrickyT;

...

Guess I shouldn't hold my breathe!?!?

Nope. I too wish the news was better. You can check out the vehicles that Ron has added X-gauge programming data for here: http://www.scangauge.com/support/pdfs/XGAUGE.pdf The thing going against the FZJ80 is that the ECU design is old and, like I said above, documentation on it apparently non-existent. If anyone can figure out how to do it, Ron can. But when I last talked to him (~6 months ago) he had other vehicles that were higher-priority and wasn't hopeful he'd ever get tranny temperature working for 80's.

 

[84runner]

Well I called scan gauge again today and finally ordered one after 6 months of waiting. Funny, when I called them up again this afternoon, and talked to Joey, (same guy I talked to 6 months ago), again good people, he referred me to the same pdf file you linked and stated they are adding more vehicles all the time. But what I didn't realize is that it's not a matter of updating the scangauge itself, all anyone needs to do if/when they find out how to pull extra info like tranny temps is to enter the info from that pdf file onto your existing gauge!

Anyway TrickyT, question; So if this is such a problem for them, does this mean that all other scanners cannot pull, for instance, tranny temps from our vehicles?!? And if there are scanners out there that can, then doesn't that mean that the info does exist? Im just thinking if at least one tool out there can do this then the answer is out there!

I mean if all we need is a code to pull it up an extra feature, couldn't a computer geek hack the code? Just like the movie War Games, call enough phone #'s and you'll eventually call N.O.R.A.D.

 

[TrickyT]

Well I called scan gauge again today and finally ordered one after 6 months of waiting. Funny, when I called them up again this afternoon, and talked to Joey, (same guy I talked to 6 months ago), again good people, he referred me to the same pdf file you linked and stated they are adding more vehicles all the time. But what I didn't realize is that it's not a matter of updating the scangauge itself, all anyone needs to do if/when they find out how to pull extra info like tranny temps is to enter the info from that pdf file onto your existing gauge!

Yup, you got it. That's the beauty of the programable X-gauge feature on the newer ScanGauges. If you know the right thing to program in, you can add an additional readout to your unit pretty easily.

Anyway TrickyT, question; So if this is such a problem for them, does this mean that all other scanners cannot pull, for instance, tranny temps from our vehicles?!? And if there are scanners out there that can, then doesn't that mean that the info does exist? Im just thinking if at least one tool out there can do this then the answer is out there!

I'm not aware of any scanners that work off the OBD II connector on an FZJ80 and read out transmission fluid temperature. Several scanners read tranny temp on other vehicles, but not an 80. If you ever find one that does, please post up the make and model.

I mean if all we need is a code to pull it up an extra feature, couldn't a computer geek hack the code? Just like the movie War Games, call enough phone #'s and you'll eventually call N.O.R.A.D.

I've tried to do just this, but have not succeeded. Maybe someone can figure it out, but it's definitely not easy. There's just nothing to go on about how the internals of the ECU work - it's like a black box with a 57-pin connector, no wiring diagram, no program listing, heck, you don't even know what kind of processor it uses. It would really take a lot of work and specialized test equipment to have any hope of figuring it out without some form of documentation. It's just not worth the effort when you can just add a dedicated ATF temp sender and gauge for less than $100.