Magown

Gang, I know Robin @ P-car.com used to reccomend this one. I bought the tri-com model a few years ago and have never been able to get it to work. I sent it back to Alex Pepper and he checked and said there's nothing wrong with it.

I've used it with numerious laptops, cables, and cars. Nothing works, anyone who has one of these have any tips?

ibdavid

Are you using it on your 951? As you probably already know, those are NOT ODB-II cars.

Mike J

I use the obd-2 tool and it work fine. It is designed for the technition though...its fairly complex and non-intutitive to use unless you know ODB-II. The designer obviously knows ODB-II well but I am not sure how much UI or programming experience he has...it feels pretty clunky.

However it is a ODB-II tool and your88 or 84 944's are not ODB-II compliant cars...so I agree with David and its likley you have the wrong tool for the job.

Cheers,

Mike

Magown

Guys, cut me a little slack, I'm obviously not us trying to use it on a 944. Where would I plug it in?

I am a shop owner and am very familiar with OBD2, a few years ago I bought the Tri-com OBD-2.com unit because the newest OBD2 cars were 2 - 4 years out of warranty and were starting to trickle in for repair. After numerous attempts to get the Tri-com to work, sending it back etc.. I tossed it in a drawer. I ended up getting a Snap-On MT2500 graphing scanner shortly there after and haven't looked back.

I recently found the Tri-com OBD-2.com unit during a spring cleaning figured it was time to give it another chance before I toss it in the garbage, since I did spend nearly $200 on it.

I figure it would be cool to keep in my laptop travel bag, if I can get it to work.

Randy M '96 Silver 993

I bought it and it worked for me. No tips, it just worked.

ibdavid

Sorry Stephen, I had to go with the obvious first, since I've never used that particular scanner.

Magown

Ok David.

Here is the log from a failed connection moments ago.

Mon 20 Jun 2005 version 1.24
16:54:30.4 - initializing serial port
16:54:30.4 - connected rs232 port 1
16:54:30.4 - initializing vehicle using indo router
16:54:30.4 - Log In #1 SAE J1850 PWM @ 120
16:54:32.2 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:54:32.2 - no response
16:54:32.2 - Log In #1 SAE J1850 VPW @ 120
16:54:34.0 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:54:34.0 - no response
16:54:34.0 - Login #1 ISO 9141-2 @ 120 10 25
16:54:34.0 - Login #1 ISO/DIS KWP2000-4 slow @ 120 10 25
16:54:34.0 - Login #1 ISO/DIS KWP2000-4 fast @ 120 10 25
16:54:46.3 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:54:46.3 - no response
16:54:58.6 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:54:58.6 - no response
16:55:00.4 - timeout 3 mode= $81
16:55:00.4 - no response
16:55:00.4 - Login #1 ISO 9141-2 @ 120 10 25
16:55:00.4 - Login #1 ISO/DIS KWP2000-4 slow @ 120 10 25
16:55:00.4 - Login #1 ISO/DIS KWP2000-4 fast @ 120 10 25
16:55:12.7 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:55:12.7 - no response
16:55:25.1 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:55:25.1 - no response
16:55:26.8 - timeout 3 mode= $81
16:55:26.8 - no response
16:55:28.9 - Log In #2 SAE J1850 PWM @ 120
16:55:30.7 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:55:30.7 - no response
16:55:30.7 - Log In #2 SAE J1850 VPW @ 120
16:55:32.5 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:55:32.5 - no response
16:55:32.5 - Login #2 ISO 9141-2 @ 120 10 25
16:55:32.5 - Login #2 ISO/DIS KWP2000-4 slow @ 120 10 25
16:55:32.5 - Login #2 ISO/DIS KWP2000-4 fast @ 120 10 25
16:55:44.7 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:55:44.7 - no response
16:55:57.1 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:55:57.1 - no response
16:55:58.8 - timeout 3 mode= $81
16:55:58.8 - no response
16:55:58.8 - Login #2 ISO 9141-2 @ 120 10 25
16:55:58.8 - Login #2 ISO/DIS KWP2000-4 slow @ 120 10 25
16:55:58.8 - Login #2 ISO/DIS KWP2000-4 fast @ 120 10 25
16:56:12.1 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:56:12.1 - no response
16:56:24.4 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:56:24.4 - no response
16:56:26.3 - timeout 3 mode= $81
16:56:26.3 - no response
16:56:28.2 - Log In #3 SAE J1850 PWM @ 120
16:56:30.0 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:56:30.0 - no response
16:56:30.0 - Log In #3 SAE J1850 VPW @ 120
16:56:31.9 - timeout 3 mode= $01
16:56:31.9 - no response
16:56:31.9 - Login #3 ISO 9141-2 @ 120 10 25
16:56:31.9 - Login #3 ISO/DIS KWP2000-4 slow @ 120 10 25
16:56:31.9 - Login #3 ISO/DIS KWP2000-4 fast @ 120 10 25
16:56:37.7 - terminated scan
16:56:37.8 - special serial port close
16:56:37.8 - com close error
16:56:42.6 - overwriting C:\DOCUME~1\CARCODE\NOCONECT.dat
16:56:42.6 - saved 0 messages 2 KB to :
C:\DOCUME~1\CARCODE\NOCONECT
manufacturer files:
Core
Not Defined
none

Can someone with a working unit please post their log.

Felix

I noticed on my 993 that the scan tool would only work when the immobiliser had been disarmed.

becker - 97'C4S

It looks like it is sendnig the different OBD incarnations(VPW.PWM,ISO) but there's no reply at all, do you have the ignition in the positon 2 or the engine running??? If so either the serial port on your Laptopn is set wrong or the cable is bad

Cheers

Magown

Yes, the ignition is in the correct position durring testing. I checked continuity on the serial cable with a volt meter, I used the same cat5 cable that I'm accessing the net with right now. I get the same responce no matter which computer or car I use.

I've got an email into Alex Pepper, the person behind OBD-2.com. Everytime I write him he replies with a generic responce of little help.

aam993

Stephen,

have you checked OBDII socket on that car? Does some other OBDII scanner works on that car?
Have you tried to "cycle" the ignition on-off per instructions on page 16(section 3.2) http://www.actron.com/publish/2005/0...lish_16151.pdf for Actron OBDII reader? I guess it might be similar problem of "resetting" onboad computer. FWIW, I just had an experience that in the morning two separate attempts to read codes(at one Autozone and one at Advanced Auto Parts) failed with "Link Error", but in the afternoon(after I checked voltage on OBDII connector pins to make sure it's alive and printed abovementioned instructions) yet another very first Autozone attempt was successful.

Magown

I'll check your PDF later today, this problem is not specific to any one car, I've had 100% failure rate with this unit. I have restested each car with my Snapon scanner and have not had any problems.

Jeff96-993

I've used this exact product many times on three different vehicles... never had a problem.

A friend bought one based on my recommendations, and had some difficulty on his Volvo. Seems there are so many computers on his car and they all talk at different set times, so when one turned on/off the OBD reader would blank out. He had to readjust the signal time-out on the software to get it to work. Alex helped him do this... after that, no problems.

Magown

I sent it back yesterday, he said "if it works ok, he'll send a refund". So I'm kinda scratching my head, as to what to expect, since it has never worked.

CentralCoastC4S

Stephen, I could never get mine to work on my '97 either, just got the same generic emails back from Alex you got. Then one day I called and he answered- plugged it in, did nothing different that I know of, and it worked perfectly. I figure it's some kind of phone-karma this guys got. Now it works perfectly, only tried it on the '97 however....