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- Thread starter Scooter55
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boombaby
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Hello, Scooter55 et al
Firstly, I am new to "Fuel Injection". (I still live pretty-much in the
past, I guess.) So, my understanding of "it" (ie the whole shebang) is/was
limited.
Soooo...
When I was FORCED to look at engine maintenance/repair my perception of
vehicular "locomotion" was locked in the old combustion/ignition techniques.
Soooo...
After a bit of... ...well, a lot of .... sudden grief with my VT I had to
update my brain-thinking to IQ-fi (ie Fuel Injection thinking).
Soooo...
When it came time to get to grips with ECU/Sensor technology I found that
there is no "hands-on" tinkering for a fix any more. It's electronic grief
forever now. Everything (not just engine, but other things) is monitored,
balanced and run by "sensors". Oooohhh! The Sensors. You will eventually
have nightmares over them. Well, sort of. There is a way through the
pain - kind of.
Soooo...
Scanners. Two types for the DIY'er now. OBDI and OBDII (or OBD1 & OBD2).
(I know some will dispute that, so let me qualify it a little. Those are
the 2 fundamental techniques, although more modern stuff is developing
around them/obd2.)
Soooo...
Scanner technology was developed yonks ago (could be 90's or even earlier
at professional-use level). My car - Commodore VT - uses a kind of hybrid
OBDI connection but with OBDI and SOME OBDII capability. My understanding
is, it is - as usual - GMH's proprietry blend of this and that to make it
uniquely "theirs".
Soooo...
When it came time for me to delve into a Scanner for my VT I was quite
limited as to something with capacity (to perform) and functionality (to
do as much as possible). Holden's own Scanner unit - Tech-2 - is too
expensive for me. Others who have used it will most likely tell you it's
brilliant.
Soooo...
I - more or less - had to settle on "Vident". (That's one that Fu Manchu
has pointed to in this thread). I chose that because it was claimed as
capable of being Holden model-specific (ie including my VT). Being several
hundred dollars in cost I was very trepidatious about forking out dollars
for unknown benefit.
Soooo...
Now I have to report that I am quite impressed with the outcome. You can,
not only, read the Fault Codes, and clear them (ie kind of flatline the
ECU knowledge of them...you don't actually fix anything by doing that) but
you can also monitor your engine (ie read the data coming from the sensors)
"LIVE". Yes, indeedy! You can watch the MAF sensor opening and closing
the air flow; see the throttle adjustment values; read the fuel adjustments
(both short-term and long-term values) or watch the exhaust O2 sensors'
voltages as they send that data back to the ECU. You can watch the fuel
values/levels (left & right) using a very simple graph. (By simple, I mean
cartoon-like, but you can still see them. That's the point, there!)
Soooo...
I'm impressed! Now, the Owners of modern vehicles will say, "So what! We've
got...blah, blah, blah." Good for you! It would be nice to monitor 10
things on the one screen at the same time, or flip between functions at the
touch of a screen, and so on. I wish I could have that too. But I've got
a VT. It doesn't do the modern OBDII thing. It does OBDI (plus a bit extra).
Soooo...
The Vident iLink400AU is a bit clunky but it gets results. That's what I
wanted. No; not "clunky" - the Results! Outcome! That's the '...way through
the pain...' that I mentioned before. And, NO, I am NOT spinning for Vident
(nor do I have any connections to company/sales or anything/anyone or shares).
I am just saying that I found it to be a purposed tool for the job of working
with the whole ECU/Sensors/Fuel-Injection thing on a VT, and I am passing that
on to you, the Reader (pun intended), and to Scooter55 with a VT Berlina.
Soooo.... We all good 'bout that?
boombaby
Fu Manchu
We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
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You can have the screen on a VT. It replaces the factory speedo and tacho etc.
works as a stand alone unit.
https://golebysparts.au/products/haltech-ic-7-display-dash
Fits into this. Easy fit.
https://3dracingsolutions.com/products/vtvxvudash
Fu Manchu
We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2006
- Messages
- 17,989
- Reaction score
- 22,714
- Points
- 113
- Location
- WA.
- Members Ride
- VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
The best way to make sense of the scan data is using an oscilloscope. That’s the point where you start to find faults.
I’m teaching myself and still haven’t got my head around all of the oscilloscope nuances. You would rarely see a workshop use one. Without them, you are still guessing and firing the parts canon.
I’m teaching myself and still haven’t got my head around all of the oscilloscope nuances. You would rarely see a workshop use one. Without them, you are still guessing and firing the parts canon.
