Leejai

Just dropped off the car to Bob @ RMG this AM. Thank goodness my car is in good hands.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Here are the bullets:

- 993 4s. Garage queen. ~32k miles.
- I do about 2k miles a year but recently she's been sitting because of my travel schedule.
- Dead battery in time for CA smog.

So I took her to Bob this AM and he called me to tell me that none of his equipment is able to communicate with the sensors - very rare in his professional (and trusted) opinion.

- Car has always been a CA car and has passed CA smog in the past.
- I may have jumped it once or twice in the past 2 years
- New battery is weeks old

I take full accountability for not driving her and letting her sit without a tender.

I'll head to DMV to see what I can do about the registration portion, though getting things fixed is def the top priority.

UPDATE 2014-07-24:

The Airbag control unit failed and was causing the issue with communicating w/ the electronics. Once disabled, we were able to communicate just fine.

nine9six

...As well you should!

...Maybe its time to sell to someone who can appreciate and drive the car. Otherwise, whats the point?

I wonder what diagnostics tester Bob has tried? At RMG price points, shouldn't there be a PST-2, Hammer KTS301, or PIWIS disgnostics tester on hand?

Dan V

I had the exact problem once. Found out a battery cable connection was coming loose, so there was just enough juice coming thru the connector to make the car seem to operate normally, but not enough to allow the OBDII comm to the smog tester. IMO. Fix for me was easy: properly tighten down the cables connectors to the battery posts.

Been thru this many times with my '97 C2 Tip, and have even reset my readiness flags a couple of time over the years. I'd offer to help, but hard to believe there's anything about this that Bob doesn't already know.

TheBen

I had this same problem at the smog station. Car needs to be locked and then unlocked. the OB2 goes into some sort of hibernation mode if you don't try to communicate with it within 2 minutes or so of unlocking.

pp000830

I found the OBD handshake to the module using an older Durametric cable can be difficult at times. I find when I can't get communication going to the Engine module, I attempt to connect to one of the others such as the AC and it connects, I then retry connecting to the engine module and all is well.
Andy

element

I have the same issue with my durametric.. something isn't being grounded right (i have made sure drivelock isn't active).. someday ill go through all the wires to figure it out :S

Leejai

Nice try though I'm not planning to part with her. It's really only this year I've had to do extended travel hence have her sit this year.



Thanks Ben. Can you clarify on the "locked and then unlocked". I mentioned this to RMG and they seemed confused by the comment as well.

Thanks all for the suggestions. We've tried replacing the battery again, isolating various control panels and so far nada is working.

RMG themselves are stumped...

nine9six

The Ben was referring to using the remote to lock and then unlock the car and then trying to communicate with OBD II port...

The immobilizer, while in the locked state, may block communication with the ECU.

Normal operation, has the car after sitting for 3 min, should automatically arm the alarm and trigger the immobilizer into a locked state. Hence the suggestion to lock and unlock with the remote.

badabing

To eliminate the confusion on this issue attempt to connect/communicate while the engine is idling.

That will rule out immobilizer issues.

Leejai

Unfort we've tried to connect/comm with the engine running and we are still unable to communicate.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Its likely a K/L line continuity problem.

il pirata

I understand he has all three.

As to price points, I find the shop reasonable. They usually work quickly and the quality is very high.

budge96

As Steve Weiner stated I've also noticed if the fuse for the interior lighting and/or trunk
Illumination is removed or not functioning the OBDII communication may not link up...

quacktoduck

i found that if you have an immobilizer it will not read just like the car wont start after a certain amount of time.

i would look that way if thats the case.

Leejai

Problem solved.

The airbag control unit malfunctioned causing the whole fiasco. Once it was disabled, we were able to communicate properly w/ the electronics.

I have to say, with vehicles becoming increasingly, if not in the majority, electronics based vs mechanical based, problems such as this can give quite the scare!

Onto the drive cycle to trigger the readiness flags for CA Smog!!!

Thanks everyone for the support and help.