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OBD2 Scan Tools
Everyone with a 1996 or newer car needs this tool! Our OBD2 AllInOne scan tool will work on 1996 or newer OBD 2 / EODB / JODB compliant cars and trucks, and is based on the ELM327 chip which autodetects all OBDII protocols: CAN, ISO, VPW, PWM, and KWP2000
This tool works with Every Make, Every Model, Foreign or Domestic!
3 Things Needed Why This Setup? The OBDII Scan Tool Under your cars dash you will most likely see this style OBDII connector:
If your 1996 or newer car is OBD II compliant (or European OBD, EOBD, or Japan OBD, JODB) you will see the above style 16 pin connector, called a J1962 connector. Some 1994-95 GM cars have the 16 pin OBD 2 connector shown above (Corvette's, Camaro's, and LT1 cars among them), however, even though it is an OBD-II connector, it has an OBD1 system behind it on these 94-95 cars. If you have a 94 or 95 GM car with the 16 pin connector, we sell 16 pin connector diagnostic cables for it here. Some 1994 and 1995 cars are fully OBD2 compliant and our OBD 2 allinone scan tool and code reader will work fine on these vehicles. Check under your hood for an OBDII compliance sticker on the 95 and 94 cars. If you have a GM OBD1 system which has a 12 pin ALDL OBDI connector as pictured below, we sell data logging cables for those as well. Make sure you buy the correct diagnostic cable setup for your car or cars! What PC's or Handhelds Work Whatever PC or handheld PDA you end up using, determine if it has a USB or serial interface adapter, or both. Almost all older laptops and PC's come with the serial interface built into the computer itself. It will be a 9 pin male connector that looks like the connector on left below. The 15-pin connector on the right below is a video port, not a serial port. Many newer laptop computers no longer have a built in serial interface, and only come equipped with USB interface ports, as seen here: If you have a newer laptop that does not have the 9 pin serial RS-232 interface built in and has a USB only interface, order the OBD2Allinone with USB interface. You can use our serial version OBDII PC scan tool on a USB only PC by adding a USB to Serial converter. You can either buy a USB to serial adapter, or buy a PCMCIA PC card that has a RS-232 serial 9 pin interface. These serial adapters are sold with a disk that contains the software drivers needed to make them work. Buy one that can be returned in case it does not work properly on your computer, especially with the USB adapter. There are reports of compatibility problems with these USB to serial adapters, and they can be tricky to get working properly on certain computers. Ultimately it is easier to order the OBD2Allinone with USB interface. The Diagnostic Software - Free We have found that all of the above packages are free downloads that work with our OBD 2 Allinone scan tool, with all protocols: ISO, VPW, PWM, KWP2000 and CAN (The free Scanmaster version does not currently work with CAN). Read the documentation for the particular software package you are using for more detail.
The OBD2 AllInOne scan tool is built using the ELM327 processor chip, for which many software packages have been written. This chip is used by a number of manufacturers and as time goes on, more and more software packages will be developed for it. This will ensure a variety of packages readily available to everyone, with more and better features in future versions. The OBD2 AllInOne scan tool is able to operate at 2 different communication speeds that are user selectable, to insure compatibility with existing and future software packages.
In Car Operation We have found in car operation to be more reliable by using a DC to AC inverter to power our laptop while doing data collection runs. We purchased a small Coleman 400 watt inverter at a Costco or Sam's club type store for $20 and it works great. We didn't have to worry about the battery on the laptop discharging, and we could leave the laptop running for hours, even with the car turned off while we were taking a break. A good thing is you can just pause your data gathering session during this time and start it again when you are ready.
Other OBD2 Scan Tools, Software, and Useful Links The amount of information available about on board diagnostic systems and their operation is quite large, and much reading can be found on the internet. For support, the various internet forums and manufactures sites can be great places to find information about your particular car or setup. Included below are some links to other OBDII scan tool manufacturers, many OBD-2 software packages, and various links we have found to be useful. Scanning Software - Free: Scanmaster ELM v.0.4.0.0 - http://www.wgsoft.de Other OBD2 Scan Tools - Compare Price and Features: Auto Enginuity - http://www.autoenginuity.com/ Interesting OBD2 links and other products: Trouble Code Lookup - http://www.actron.com/code_lookup.phpTrouble Code Definitions - http://www.iequus.com/Dtc OBD2 connector location - http://www.obdclearinghouse.com/oemdb/ Elm Electronics OBD2 Chips - http://www.elmelectronics.com/ TunerTools.com - http://www.tunertools.com OBD-Codes.com - http://www.obd-codes.com OBD2 Crazy - http://www.werner-digital.com/obd/ Multiplex Engineering - http://www.multiplex-engineering.com/ Proscan - http://www.myscantool.com/ EFILive - http://www.efilive.com/ Trouble Code Chart - http://www.troublecodes.net/ Custom PCM/ECM Programming - http://www.madz28.com/ Custom TBI/TPI Chips - http://www.tbichips.com/ Custom PCM/ECM Chips - http://www.pcmforless.com/ LS1-Edit - http://www.carputing.com/ HPTuners - http://www.hptuners.com/ Sunspeed Lotus Honda conversions - http://www.sunspeed.com/OBD2.htm Romulator - http://secure.transtronics.com/osc/index.php Internet Forums: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/ Beyond Scanning - ECU Upgrades, Uploading The simpler route, by far, is to buy a custom calibration that is already programmed for your car, whether modified or stock. We can highly recommend these very experienced sources for GM cars: http://www.pcmforless.com/ Doing your own custom calibration takes more hardware and software, and a lot more knowledge. Good sites to get smart on chip upgrades for GM cars are at: Be aware that you can seriously damage your car by loading the wrong parameters into your ECU/PCM. Study up on chip upgrades very carefully before even beginning to consider doing it for yourself. |
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