Gadgets and Gizmos

[julianps]

Hi,

With my new (X Reg) V40 project finally under way (with thanks to all here and commendations to Gatos and Rufe) I was wondering what horrors there might be in the on board diagnostics system and how I'd turn the service light(s) off when the time came.

First steps after a quick review here took me to Autel's site and the discovery that, in round numbers, the recommended EU702 and Service Light Reset Tool would set me back the best part of £400 (on a £600 car ... ;-) gave me cause to gulp ...

So I started looking for cheaper options ... if indeed there were any.

Well, it seems I could economise on the Service Light Reset Tool, albeit with limited functionality, here or here - though grabbing Airbag features wasn't a bank-breaker either [+] - or go the all-in-one ("Like A*u*t*e*l") route ... certainly my £225 looked safe.

Update: I'm given to believe that this, available more cheaply on eBay, may work too.

For diagnostics my search was more troublesome; I found a dedicated Volvo tool on eBay, only to lose it when the seller deleted all bids and did a Buy It Now customer. Then discovered, at Talk To My Car, that "S40/V40 does not work" anyway ...

I found a Gunsons 77004 at Halfords for £140 - but I'm sure I could do better ... even though I'm not totally certain that my 9/2000 car constitutes a 2001 model (P2), as opposed to a P1.5, etc ... would it work?

Then I came upon this by zeus123 in a Jan'11 thread on a similar topic, what struck me was that the dumb OBD2 => USB interface chip was an FTDI ...

The FTDI chip is basically a serial to usb converter.

As an Apple Mac user I've bumped into these before for everything from mobile phones, Blackberrys and Garmin GPS units. So what's the deal?

The device zeus123 linked to costs only £8 and would link me to Movi & Movi Pro Automotive Diagnostic Software for Mac OS X | OBD 2 | OBD 11 [details] - Movi v1.2 costs around £32 and is available for free trial to test first.

The only requirement/limitation it seems is

You can download the most recent FT232R FTDI driver from http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm. Make sure to restart your computer after installing. If you did not purchase your interface from us, it may use a different USB to serial converter chip, in which case the FTDI driver may not work. If you installed the FTDI driver from the link above, plug in your interface and go to Movi's preferences (Movi -> Preferences -> Serial Port Tab). If the FTDI driver is installed properly, and your interface has an FTDI chip, in the "Serial Port" selection there will be a serial port with a name similar to "usbserial-A9007vqV". Select it. You can also check if the serial port driver was installed correctly from the command line. Open the terminal app in the utilities folder (Macintosh HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal), and at the command prompt type "ls /dev". Among many other things, there should be something similar to "cu.usbserial -A9007vqV " and "tty.usbserial-A9007vqV". If not, the FTDI serial driver did not install correctly.

So, I might put my money into a cheap service reset tool like the Draper and buy dedicated Mac software for diagnostics.

Naturally I'll still need to come here to translate those codes into practical realities (i.e. what to apply my Manchester-Screwdriver to ;-)

Anyone have any thoughts on this or further avenues I can research?

Thanks

Jules

Footnote on vehicle generation data from here;

Producer: Volvo cars
Model: S40 or V40
Year: 2001
Body (doors) 5 doors FWD (V40, V50, V70, 850)
Engine B4204T3 -- 163k/5250ot, 240Nm/1800-4500ot, 1948ccm S/V40
Emission: EM U1
Gear-box: manual gear-box M56
Factory: Born, Netherlands
Sn. vehicle body: 636802

[Volvoline]

With a good Garmin OBD Bluetooth adapter, you can use any Android smartphone to get live data off most of the S40's sensors (thanks to the new version of the app with Volvo S40 support)
The application is on the Android market, costs around 5 dollars, and is called Torque

Timing advance, temperatures, boost levels, torque, HP, fuel trims, o2 data, air pressure etc etc and of course read and clear ECU faults(minus airbag)

[mikealder]

Originally Posted by Volvoline

With a good Garmin OBD Bluetooth adapter,

Thats interesting as I thought the Garmin unit used a unique communication mode only understood by their own nav units, if it can be read by
a SmartPhone that opens up a whole new set of ideas for me - Mike

[julianps]

"Garmin OBD Bluetooth adapter" was a new one on me; thanks.

A nice tip, though sadly not enough for me to buy an Andriod phone … ;-)

but I can certainly graduate to one of these for Movi & Movi Pro Automotive Diagnostic Software - it support Bluetooth as well.

Jules

Link to Torque thread (to keep them together) with details of iPhone/iPad solution (Rev/Rev Lite).

[gatos]

You can reset the Service light by pushing in the odometer (and keep pressing it), turn your key to position 2 and keep pushing the odometer until the light flashed and then it will go out.

With regards to the FTDI chip I can try it on my T4 and see what it can do. I had limited success with my 2002 1.9d, but had no problems at all with a 1998 V40 and Vol-FCR. You will not be able to reset the service light or airbag light with the USB OBD FTDI. A better idea might b to get the Volvo Dice tool, as its price is now at around £150-£200 but it will talk to all Volvos and can rest everything.

I have th Autel EU702 which I bought to reset my Air bag light, but it can only access my SRS and ABS systems. It will not communicate with my engine (the 1.9D one) no matter what I do. So it is more of an expensive airbag tool and nothing more. It works fine though with all Phase 2 petrol engines

[Volvoline]

Originally Posted by mikealder

Thats interesting as I thought the Garmin unit used a unique communication mode only understood by their own nav units, if it can be read by
a SmartPhone that opens up a whole new set of ideas for me - Mike

My bad, you are correct.
http://torque-bhp.com/wiki/Bluetooth_Adapters

What I meant was that you need a branded one and garmin came to mind, as I have a generic one and although it works GREAT for your daily applications, it does sometimes lose it's connection.
That Kiwi 100$ one looks really good and officially supported.

[andy_d]

x reg being 2000/2001 , means a P2 car

at which point you can forget most "generic" odbII readers on a laptop/computer.
you will have Limited joy with any one of the programs and the lead , some will talk to some, NON will talk to
Airbag/srs
gearbox
car config

you will get Basic engine codes ,,,and thats your lot.
vol-fcr ,,isnt for p2 cars, it May work in a limited fashion it Wont talk to srs/gbox/car config.

torque is a waste of time for diagnostics on a P2. its generic codes only and Only engine codes. It is what it is , a nice posing toy on a phone, giving nice dials/graphs ,, not a lot of use at all for proper diagnoses of problems.

autel Eu702 / volvo unit are about it, anything else is a waste of time/money.

ive Got a p2. x plate, ive Got the softwares And leads, ive got torque and the BT adapter, and can say your wasting your time and money with anything other than a EU702 or the volvo dice unit.

[julianps]

Originally Posted by gatos

You can reset the Service light by pushing in the odometer (and keep pressing it), turn your key to position 2 and keep pushing the odometer until the light flashed and then it will go out.

…

I have th Autel EU702 which I bought to reset my Air bag light, but it can only access my SRS and ABS systems. It will not communicate with my engine (the 1.9D one) no matter what I do. So it is more of an expensive airbag tool and nothing more. It works fine though with all Phase 2 petrol engines

My understanding from here was that the reset procedure you outlined here and available in the Haynes (and for £2 on eBay; seriously, go figure) only worked on P1/P1.5 models. And that P2 models had more advanced features including maybe the ability to set the next service mileage, etc?

There's a reset tool running around on eBay at the moment that addresses such features, and SRS reset, etc [here] which seems a lot cheaper than the EU702

VOLVO 1992 onwards92 onwards
V40 - V70 – 850 – 850 - TDI
- Reset Oil Service Light (depending on model)
- Reset Airbag (depending on model)

I wonder if anyone here has experience of these?

Jules

[julianps]

Originally Posted by andy_d

x reg being 2000/2001 , means a P2 car … and can say your wasting your time and money with anything other than a EU702 or the volvo dice unit.

Could it be that the limitation Gatos has with the EU702 is OBD11 was not applied universally to diesel engine until the 2004 model year?

I took a look at Volvo DiCE on eBay. Looking only at UK sellers (to byepass VAT and possible import duties) I can see reference to VEDA as "LIFE", "2010D", "2011A" etc with one seller offering DiCE pre-installed and running on a refurbished Dell laptop (note to self, some sellers have caveats as to which WinOS systems VIDA will run on "… not 64bit, etc", though YouTube offers some help with this.) … interesting if like me you don't have acess to a Windows laptop.

To help me understand; when cardiag.co.uk says

packing list:

DICE device with OBDII cable
USB A to MINI USB angled cable
DVD with VIDA 2010D English (activated)
Version we offer now: VIDA 2011A English (locally activated, no online services; login as "Info-pc")

I get a box with LEDs that I connect to the car and a laptop running the 2011A software. The 2011A software will loosely i) reset the service lights, intervals, etc, ii) read error codes; and, iii) apply those error codes to a databse of faults, components and recommnded solutions?

Thanks

Jules

[gatos]

I too was thinking of getting that 10 in 1 tool a long time ago. However, having read many posts online I wasn't 100% sure it would work with the S/V40.

I can confirm for sure that the odometer trick works on a 2002 1.9D Phase 2 S40, as I did it last week on my own car. Maybe someone can confirm if it works on the P2 petrol cars too.

Oh, and I couldn't reset the Service light with my EU702.....