Reading error codes on an early 3200GT

Almichie

Junior Member
Messages
799
The links do not work for me either - would it be possible for someone to send the zip please?
 

Alecci

Junior Member
Messages
193
Alrightie, seems I'm out of luck on this one:

1: I've installed the drivers for the virtual COM ports on my laptop and set it up.
2: I've installed the UniDiag software on my laptop.
3: I connected the cable to my laptop's USB port, the other end to the 3-pin cable and the 3-pin cable to the only matchable connection I could find inside the car.
4: I connected the red wire to the positive terminal of a spare battery I had standing around in the garage.
5: I turned the ignition on and started the UniDiag.
6: I went to the Connect tab and chose "5 baud init", but no COM port shows up in the left hand drop-down list, only some odd number looking something like "0x00000043" or something of the sort.

I tried starting the communication regardless, and though it seems to "think" for a while, nothing further happened. I tried typing in "COM3" (the port I assigned the USB port to) manually, but when I tried starting the communication I got some log file error. I then tried changing the assigned COM port to 5 and retried the whole procedure with the same results.

Now, I do have some theories about why this isn't working the way it's supposed to:

1: The connection between the battery terminal and the red wire is bad.
2: I've hooked the 3-pin connector up to the wrong connector inside the car. My car is LHD, and there are no cables whatsoever in the location shown on the picture above (seems to be somewhere around the accelerator pedal) except for a large white thingy.

I tried looking around for other similar connectors on both the driver's and passenger's side, but only managed to find one underneath the driver's seat.
 

ledlights

Junior Member
Messages
189
Hi Alex,

Okay here's what I think you need to do:

Set up the com port in control panel on the PC to be between 1 and 8 - just make sure it's a spare. Use this number in the unidiag drop down box.

Use the car's own battery not a spare, it doesn't have any electrical connection to the car as there isn't a common earth between the two and so it won't power the interface up. I use a long wire to extend the red croc clip to the pos terminal in the boot.

I think you might be using the wrong ISO connector, as there are loads of them. On a RHD car it's behind the carpet on the right side of the driver's footwell and has a grey connector (the others I found all had black ones), on a LHD my guess would be on the left hand side of the driver's footwell.... But I might be wrong on that, so you'll have to check. I know that I was trying to connect to the ABS ISO connector under the dash for a couple of attempts and you get nowhere.

Try the things above and if you're still having problems I'll see if I can help further.

Cheers,

Steve
 

hodroyd

Member
Messages
14,150
I thought the early 3200 connectors were under the dash somewhere, then they moved it to the footwell on later models..? If I get a minute I will try and look through our workshop manual and see if this is mentioned anywhere.
 

NickP

Member
Messages
1,623
Mine is to the right of the steering wheel tucked under the carpet near the door hinges, mine is a 2001 model. I extended the croc clip using jumper cables connected to the battery in the boot. If you aren't seeing the correct com ports in the drop down I would say thats the first thing to resolve. Its been a while since I used mine but I think I had problems initially and had to install a dll separately to get the software/hardware to work. I will take a look when I am home and have my laptop in front of me.
 

ledlights

Junior Member
Messages
189
Mines a March 2000 car and it's behind the carpet near your right foot in the driver's footwell. It's pretty near the ECU.

Something I forgot to say last night is that when you get power to the interface you should see a red LED glowing. If there isn't a common earth between the car system and your spare battery it won't work anyway. Best use the car battery with a long extension. To the red croc clip.

Agreed, once these are sorted the com port issue looks like the next to fix.


Good luck,

Steve
 

Alecci

Junior Member
Messages
193
Of course you're right about the battery not being connected to earth and thus not being able to power the interface. I'm surely a daft pr*ck if there ever was one. I'll buy myself an extended cable and use the car's own battery instead.

On another note, am I correct in the assumption that it is the Bridge CAN Digitek control unit that I'm supposed to connect the interface with? If that is the case, I at least have the right connector.
 

ledlights

Junior Member
Messages
189
Easy mistake to make Alex, it's not a straightforward interface to look at and everything has to be right for it work.

I don't think the bridge can connector is right. I haven't looked recently but I seem to remember that the connector is right alongside the 4CM ECU casing. Have you looked behind the carpet under the A post alongside your left foot in the driver's side footwell? That would be my first place to look, after that try the RHS of the passenger footwell. The ISO connector is grey for the ECU but all the others are black, so that should help.

Also, have you managed to set up the com port within the range available in Unidiag?

Regards,

Steve
 

Alecci

Junior Member
Messages
193
Many thanks for your continued patience with my questions.

According to the workshop manual, the control units used to diagnose a CEL would be either the engine ECU or the Bridge CAN Digitek.

Since I cannot find any control unit called "ECU" or something similar in the workshop manual, my guess would be that I ought to use the control unit dealing with electronic injection and ignition control instead. In this case it's supposed to be at the RHS of the passenger footwell. I took a quick look there after my first try but couldn't find any connectors there whatsoever. I'll do a more thorough search and try to look especially for a grey connector.

The COM port is set up correctly according to the computer (at least if I look in the Unit Manager accessible through the Control Panel). It just doesn't shop up as a COM port whenever I use the UniDiag software. I wonder if this may be caused by the very fact that I've maybe connected to the wrong control unit?
 

Alecci

Junior Member
Messages
193
Right, I managed to find a grey connector tucked in behind multiple layers of mats and some sort of piece of bolted sheet metal. Enter the next try... I'll be back.
 

Alecci

Junior Member
Messages
193
Alright, I got it to work even though the COM-port still refused to show up, but it turned out that "0x0000043" was an equally valid port to use.

Here's the exhaustive list of error codes that was generated:

Diagnose.jpg

Many thanks for your assistance and patience to help me solve this. It seems the next step forward will be to buy a new knock sensor priced at about £48 + P&P from Eurospares (unless someone here has any to sell me). Is the operation of replacing the knock sensor something one would be able to do in one's own garage using standard tools, or do you need a car lift and special tools, thereby suggesting I turn to a professional mechanic?
 

ledlights

Junior Member
Messages
189
Yes, it is but you should probably do both knock sensors at the same time as they take a while to get to.... They usually go when there's been a slight coolant leak under the plenum chamber. There's a great guide on this site that describes how to change the starter motor and they are both under the plenum in a similar place.

I think it would also be worth replacing the water pipes under the plenum and the o-rings that seal the water manifold when you do the job because you don't want to do it twice.

I'm really glad you managed to get this working.... You'll save yourself a fortune now!

Regards,

Steve
 

Almichie

Junior Member
Messages
799
Well - I am still having some issues getting this working...

It appears that the USB-Vagcom cable I happen to have has a CH340 chipset on rather than the FTDI type. I now have the USB driver (for CH340) and the PC recognises that something is actually plugged in to it but looking at the guide there appears to be another driver thats required to get the USB-ODB bit working.

Does anyone else here have the CH340 cable working?
 

ledlights

Junior Member
Messages
189
Sorry Al, I have the FTDI chipset in mine. However, as long as the driver you have looks like a pseudo COM port in control panel and you can assign a virtual port number to it, I would have thought that Unidiag could use it as it just bangs bits out of whatever serial port is specified and looks for a return stream.

Did your interface look like the one in the guide i.e. transparent blue? If so, I've not heard of anyone using a different chipset before. My only thought is that Alecci had an unusual COM number he used to get his working - see his posts above - so perhaps he could help?

Cheers,

Steve
 

Almichie

Junior Member
Messages
799
Thanks for the reply Steve.

I can see the serial cable in devices as a com port number now but in the software it doesn't. I'm not connecting to the car whilst doing this (I will try with it connected today) but would have thought it would have recognised something on a com port?

I'll keep trying! I have had numerous "check engine" lights and would like to know what they are! It's not going into limp mode, and a throttle reset made no difference, although I have been experiencing a little throttle wavering and I heard a misfire yesterday on a warm start...