Black & Decker SmartScan OBD II reader

Any OBDII scanner should work on your car, if the recall wiring has been performed on the OBDII connecting port.

Attached is the recall notice with a listing of cars affected. BTW, I simply bought a generic ELM 327 scanner than connects to my laptop, and then to the OBDII port. All of $27 on Ebay. It came with some software, but there is plenty of freeware off the internet too.
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I had been tempted to try the Elm as well. Have you tried to use it for real-time readings, such as for O2 sensor voltage waveforms? I had purchased the Autotap system with the intention of doing this, but it couldn't read anything except engine RPM. Read even less on my BMW M5. Wouldn't even acknowledge the MIL that my small Actron unit had not trouble with. As a result, I returned the Autotap after their support tech gave contradictory information. Elm seems to have a large support group, so it was next on my list to try. Would be very interested in knowing if you've tried to generate any graphs with it.


Lou

 

Campaign 148 is not a recall but a campaign. Recalls impact emissions or safety and are mandated by the government. Campaigns cover other things and are voluntary. The auto maker may elect to skip a campaign but they can't do that with a recall.

 

John,
There was nothing "voluntary" in this so called "campaign". You can bet your bottom dollar it was MANDATED by the EPA for FNA to correct this. The reason is that many states perform annual emission tests by plugging into the OBDII port. Since Ferrari wired their OBDII port such that it was missing a crucial ground wire, it was impossible for emission tests to be performed. Also, it prevented an independant repair facility from reading the Diagnostic Trouble Codes, which are a federal standard and requirement of OBDII.

Hash the semantics anyway you wish...it simply amounts to a recall of the car back the dealer for the required repair/correction.

 

Lou,
At present, none of the "freeware" available allow for "freeze frame" or charting of wave forms. It most certainly can be done, but you will need to purchase (in addition to your ELM scanner/hook up) the software to do so. Most of the software available costs anywhere from $80 to $100. A friend of mine has the Palmer Performance Engineering software on his laptop. I am going to try it with my generic ELM 327 scanner, and if it works, and I like it, will probably order the software. http://www.palmerperformance.com/

This is their software: http://www.palmerperformance.com/products/scanxlelm/index.php $100.00

 

Thanks. I'd love to hear your evaluation after you've tried it out.


Lou

 

Sorry Hugh, didn't mean to insult you. Just pointing out that there is a difference between recalls, campaigns, and service bulletins.

People can search for all recalls here http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/recallsearch.cfm that will list recalls but not campaigns or bulletins. If you do a search on an '01 Ferrari Spider (my car) you will see a recall for the battery ground strap but not the OBD port.

My car needed the OBD port grounded to function properly so I agree that campaign 148 is necessary but it wasn't mandated by the DOT so FNA technically isn't required to perform the repair for free. That doesn't mean that you can't get it done for free but there isn't a legal obligation to do so.

Call this difference semantics if you want but there is a clear difference between the two.

 

+1

I did notice (in the link above) that they only claim support for "Ford, Lincoln, Mercury" with GM, Chrysler & Toyota "coming soon"......

OTOH, they also say it supports "SAE-J1850 (PWM and VPW), ISO-9141, ISO-14230 (KWP2000), and ISO-15765 (CAN).

IIRC, F-cars are ISO-9141, but the CAN bus is also on the port, so maybe it's ISO-15765 (?)

I'd love to hear of someone getting "useful" data out of this port.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Ian,
Using the freeware that was provided with the tool (ScanTools Ver 1.13v) I had no problem scanning from ANY OBDII compliant car, including my 1997 355 spider and 2001 BMW 540 M-Sport. Will keep you guys posted on the Palmer software, I hope to test it later today.

 

Understood John. My point is regardless of the how it is called, this is being mandated...perhaps when it is mandated by EPA it can be called a "campaign" rather than a recall, but I doubt Ferrari is doing this because they wanted to... The end result is the same.

 

Okay, I gave it a try and it works fine with my generic ELM 327 connector for basic info, such as scanning for codes and basic engine data; rpm, coolant temp, intake temp etc. I am having trouble reading O2 voltages (which I can read fine with my freeware from Scantools). Without being able to read the O2 voltages, I cannot see or print wave forms either. There is a scan I need to run to configure "PID"s whatever that is, and I ran it for 10 minutes and gave up....when I have more time, in a few days, I will see if I can get this to configure and get it working. Hopefully no later than this weekend.

 

I got the PID's configured for my BMW 540 today and can now read a LOT of various sensors. The Palmer software is not particularly intuitive to use, and my buddy did not provide me with the instructions, I guess I should go to their website to read up on it. So far I got the dash board to work, the freeze frame function, and can read the "check engine" codes and even see O2 sensor voltages and long and short term fuel trim data, but have not been able to figure out how to activate the graphing of the O2 sensor data.

While functional, I am not happy with how much work it is to use this particular software...

BTW, I have not had time to try this with my 355, but don't anticipate any issues...all these cars are OBDII compliant, so should all work similarly. I will give that a try this weekend, when I have more time.

 

Ian,
I believe when they claim "support" they mean that it can directly interpet/define what the P code is and possible resolution. It may also interpet/define manufacturer specific codes. With all other cars like Ferrari, it is simply going to give you the code, and it will be up to you to figure out what it means and what the resolution is. But no big deal, I have just searched them on Fchat and always find them easily. P