Good Diagnostic software

[soop]

Hey guys,
Anyone know of some good diagnostic software that can be used on a laptop to play with an OBDII compliant car?

I think Delcowizzid linked to one program a while back, be buggered if I can find it now.
Any help would be great and some discussion on the top helpfull.

[Thomas1]

EFILive is pretty good. There is another one I've played with but I can't remember the name of it now...

[soop]

That's tuning software lol.
Just looking for something look at things, not change them. And EFIlive charge like a wounded bull. Considering you've still gotta do all the work.

[Thomas1]

EFILive is also diagnostic/logging software. I've never done any tuning with it (I have a kalmaker tune) but I have done plenty of logging with it. And it doesn't have to cost a fortune if you know where to look...

[SirNemesis]

EFILive comes and a scan only package for about half the price. Expensive yes, excessive no. The guys at EFILive put alot of effort into this software and it is worth every cent as far as I'm concerned.

[soop]

Yeah fair enough.
Would be great if they had a small trial.

[SirNemesis]

They do. Download the EFILive 7.5 software and install it. It comes bundled with a few log files which you can analyse and replay, which will be exactly what you see when you log your own vehicle, only you can choose different sensors to monitor if you wish. The EFILive software is free to view tunes/logs, but you need a license to modify a tune file, and obviously the unit itself (+licenses) to flash anything.

[acarmody]

EFILive has a trial version which gives limited functionality.


EDIT: Curse your quickness SirNemesis, LOL

[soop]

Yeah fair enough.

Pitty there's no open source tuning programs for the LS1 like there is so many Japanese cars.

[soop]

Downloading the EFI live software.

Can you flash PCMs with just a laptop and software (plus licences obviously) or do you have to have the scan tool and all that stuff?

[SirNemesis]

You need the hardware to link the laptop to the PCM, so you need to buy it if you want to do that.

[soop]

Yeah fair enough. I thought as much just thought I should confirm it.
After a quick squiz I think I might get it just to play with. I've tuned a my subaru successfully before. So I'm not about to turn my SS into a puddle. The software looks fairly straight forward.

[SirNemesis]

I bought it a few years ago and it turned into a good investment. Well worthwhile having the software available for simple things like speedo/shiftpoint corrections after diff gear changes. Tune a few friends cars and it'll pay for itself in no time.

The most important to do though is don't change a thing until you understand it. Log, log and log some more. Analyse the logs and understand what you are seeing. See how different conditions have different affects on the logs and then you'll see how changes to certain areas can benefit. Don't just jump in with the 'more spark, more power' attitude as you'll be forever chasing your tail with the little things.

[soop]

Yeah, that's definitely my goal. I'm really keen to see what the tune already says.

I've noticed that the software comes with the 2002 Z06 tune for the LS1?
Out of intrest, hypothetically If I were to flash that to the my 03 SS, what would happen?

[The1]

your prob looking for hptuners HPTuners.com >> Performance At Your Fingertips

THere's also PCMSCAN which works with ELM http://www.palmerperformance.com/pro...scan/index.php

[SirNemesis]

Yeah, that's definitely my goal. I'm really keen to see what the tune already says.

I've noticed that the software comes with the 2002 Z06 tune for the LS1?
Out of intrest, hypothetically If I were to flash that to the my 03 SS, what would happen?

Don't really know what would happen. You can load 2 tunes to compare the differences in EFILive. Press the 4th button in the toolbar to load a comparison tune, and then the 5th button to bring up a differences summary.

Also, you can find a whole heap of standard and modified tunes to look through on Holden Crazy - Home

[soop]

Just got myself a decent cable to be able to do some data logging.
My scan tool is great for quickly chassing issues but its obviously no good for accurate data logging.

The guys over at Delcohack are very helpful with this, hopefully sometime soon one of them has some software to support the ELM327 thats used with the LSx PCMs.