Question for Icarsoft POR-II Owners
02-08-2018, 01:51 PM
#1
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
Question for Icarsoft POR-II Owners
Probably a stupid question and why I couldn't find an answer on here or google, but I have an icarsoft POR-II and notice when it powers up there's a selection for Porsche but also one for OBDII. My question is, is the OBDII selection generic, i.e. can I hook it up to my GM car a) without it corrupting the POR-II firmware; and 2) will it read/clear codes? I'm kind of an idiot when it goes deeper than the menu interface on these things 
02-08-2018, 02:31 PM
#2
OBDII is the generic interface standard that all cars have now. If the device says Porsche then its smart enough to red and decode the data from the ECU, and its gets that from the OBDII port.
02-08-2018, 02:50 PM
#3
RL Community Team
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Google is your friend.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OBD-II_PIDs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics
Any car with OBDII, all light vehicles in North America since 1996, will talk to OBD II readers and all render the same codes and meaning..... Manufactures can extend the codes to be manufacturer, vehicle, model or year specific... it is up to them. So yes, hook your OBD II to any car made since 1996 and it will work and read the industry standard code set.
Another issue is not just reading the mfgr deep code, but interpreting it with a library of explanations. Durametric has a pretty good library but unless you are knowledgeable, you may not know what to do even with an expanded explanation. .... and that is what this forum is for.... you have access to tons of folks like me who can make up ..... er... um..... spew anything on anything.... go ahead, just give us a try!
Peace
Bruce in Philly
Last edited by Bruce In Philly; 02-08-2018 at 04:38 PM.
02-09-2018, 12:11 PM
#5
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
Appreciate the links and tutorials re OBDII, but I already knew all that. The reason I posted this with the title "Question for icarsort POR-II owners" is to see if any actual POR-II owners have in fact hooked theirs up to a non-Porsche car, and if it a) works and provides accurate code readings and will reset them, and b) doesn't cause any harm to the unit. I can also speculate on what should be the answers to those questions, but I can also speculate that icarsoft could very well code their firmware to lock out any but the specific vehicle the unit is sold for. I don't want to get erroneous readings, or worse, brick the unit.
The reason I questioned this in the first place is icarsoft makes a multi-brand version of the same unit which is advertised to work with a bunch of different car makes, so I began to wonder if the brand-specific ones were somehow crippled-out to work only with that specific brand ( as a marketing "solution" no doubt). Icarsoft's customer support is pretty much nonexistent, so asking them is kind of a waste of bandwidth.
The reason I questioned this in the first place is icarsoft makes a multi-brand version of the same unit which is advertised to work with a bunch of different car makes, so I began to wonder if the brand-specific ones were somehow crippled-out to work only with that specific brand ( as a marketing "solution" no doubt). Icarsoft's customer support is pretty much nonexistent, so asking them is kind of a waste of bandwidth.
02-09-2018, 02:04 PM
#6
Appreciate the links and tutorials re OBDII, but I already knew all that. The reason I posted this with the title "Question for icarsort POR-II owners" is to see if any actual POR-II owners have in fact hooked theirs up to a non-Porsche car, and if it a) works and provides accurate code readings and will reset them, and b) doesn't cause any harm to the unit. I can also speculate on what should be the answers to those questions, but I can also speculate that icarsoft could very well code their firmware to lock out any but the specific vehicle the unit is sold for. I don't want to get erroneous readings, or worse, brick the unit.
The reason I questioned this in the first place is icarsoft makes a multi-brand version of the same unit which is advertised to work with a bunch of different car makes, so I began to wonder if the brand-specific ones were somehow crippled-out to work only with that specific brand ( as a marketing "solution" no doubt). Icarsoft's customer support is pretty much nonexistent, so asking them is kind of a waste of bandwidth.
The reason I questioned this in the first place is icarsoft makes a multi-brand version of the same unit which is advertised to work with a bunch of different car makes, so I began to wonder if the brand-specific ones were somehow crippled-out to work only with that specific brand ( as a marketing "solution" no doubt). Icarsoft's customer support is pretty much nonexistent, so asking them is kind of a waste of bandwidth.
