And another SDL posting...

I can see that there is a current on the L-line, of around 11V when the ignition is on.
Is that of use to anybody?

 

Well, good news!
I received the fiat OBD 1 to OBD2 cable today, and plugged it in, just to see if by any chance it worked. And indeed it did! Had not expected that anymore.
So something was not right with the K and L line connection I made, even if I checked it 3 times. So I will check for continuity on the fiat cable, to see if K is really pin 7 and L is 15 or the other way round...
So what works is: an 5 year old "memoscan" scanner of 50 usd, and a fiat cable of 10 usd.
I also have the new Autel scanner/reader, will try that next. Should give me even more info if all works out.
Then I will get to the bottom of the SDL problem, finally!

 

I have checked continuity, and I now know what has gone wrong. The K line and the L line have been switched. Reason for this is that the connector I saw the picture from, appears to be the male side. And when lloked at from the front, the K and L need to be switched to end up on the correct side when connected. Hmm, not sure if I make myself clear.
Let's try again: When looked at from the front, both the female car connector, and the male cable connector, to connect the same pin, the right side from one has to be connected with the left of the other, because when you connect, you turn the cable connector , making left right and right left.
So for future reference, try switching K and L if your setup does not connect...
To be continued with a diagnosys of the initial problem.

 

I switched the motronics again, back to the SDL flashing motronic.
Both readers now work, and both said no stored codes, nor pending codes.
Sh*t.
So that is not going to help me any further.
So what do we know:
- with a "japan" motronic installed, everything is ok, no SDL, no codes
- with a "europe" motronic installed, I get a flashing SDL, but no codes.

2 possibilities: my Europe motronic is at fault, or the Europe motronic receives a signal from another part of the car (O2 sensor???)and reacts to it, where the japanese motronic does not have that.
Are there any Japanese owners here that know the difference between their ECU and others?

 

In this picture from Eric355, you will see that Pin 15 (L-line) has a connection with the pin that goes on the RIGHT female connector , and pin 7 (K-line) is connected to the pin that goes on the LEFT female connector.
What my mistake was, that I did not look at the picture properly. The metal you see, are the lines, and beyond that it is already the connector from the car.
I read the picture falsely, that the plastic beyond the metal connectors was a connector that Eric made, to connect on the connector of the car. So I mirrored the positions of the lines, which was not necessary at all. My mistake.
Anyway, got it working now, but the initial issue is not solved...
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Update:
My cat connections where installed falsely: pre and post cat where switched. (blue ribbon for pre cat)
As I have installed a Capristo, it was a good moment to check the O2 sensors.
Making a long story short, I switched them. Car started up with the SDL blinking (cold), and no CEL and no stored or pending codes.
Made a test drive, and the SDL disappeared .
Looks like there were pending codes that were cleared after a number of cycles.
(but my scanner did not find them)
It looks like the O2 sensors provide also part of the info that can cause a SDL, as I verified that the Cat Ecu system itself was working properly.

 

Yes, I mean the O2 sensor connections.
Most likely the car was running rich , but still the cat ecu /thermocouple system was working as it should, with a voltage of lower than 3V, and still I had the SDL.
Do you agree that the SDL light can be triggered by other things than just the thermocouple+ cat ecu system? That funny readings from the O2 sensors also can cause a SDL?

What I do not understand is that the main ECU had codes pending in reality (SDL from cold), but my scanner did not see them.
As when I switched to the other main ECU that I have from my other car, the SDL did not blink on start up (no pending codes at all in that one), but would start blinking after like 10 miles of highway at normal speed.