Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Laptop Scan Tool for 2001 CTD Engines?

[RWhites]

Herman8r; The harrison does look good and the cost is reasonable. Does anyone else have some comments?

What does the dealer use to check codes? What do they use to do re-flashes? Has anyone found access to the dealers software?

Rich

 

[ntillm01]

RWhites: The dealers use a DRBIII. It's a handheld scan tool that runs proprietary software. It also has a multimeter/graphing scope feature. The dealers update that software, and the reflashes through a desktop PC that runs Chrysler software and has a subscription fee. It's a great tool! It also costs $3K (e-Bay) to $6K (new).



jr2: I see what you mean now that I've done the math. With the Alex Peper software running now, I see 60 in/hg at idle, 63-65 at light load and 75-78 when I floor it.

 

[ntillm01]

Car-Code (Alex Peper) Software Summary

My report: First, to fix the 16-bit Windows error, I was told a worm had affected my computer and I needed to re-install AUTOEXEC. NT (very prompt e-mail reply from the obd-2.com support folks, by the way!) I've had to do this a couple of times plus re-load the Car-Code software itself a few times to get it to connect reliably. It seems very finicky and touching anything in the "gateway" portion of the software will cause it not to connect at all.



When it is running, there are two major disappointments I have with it, neither of which is the software's fault I don't think.



First, the parameters are difficult to get running and there are very few supported. From the Data tab, I had to get the "PID support" parameter running to have more than just Percent Load, RPM, VSS, and PTO Status to show. Many more parameters show up then, but only MAP, IAT and ECT are supported. The rest will error out as "not supported". So total, you get six data parameters to play with.



Secondly, the update rate is slow. It could be the ISO 9141 protocol that is used for emission data on the truck. The data updates rate is infrequent and you can see it using the gauges. Push the accelerator down, RPMs go up, then wait... wait... wait... there, the gauge needle moved. The more parameters I had running, the slower the update rate was. I found these rates in my experimenting:

1 Parameter: Update rate 3 Hz (new data 3 times/second)

2 Parameters: Update rate 1. 5Hz (new data 1. 5 times/second)

3+ Parameters: Update rate 0. 3Hz (new data every 3 seconds)



Sometimes the controller ID was $15, sometimes it was $D1, sometime both. Not sure which was who, but I guessed 15 is the Dodge computer and D1 is the Cummins computer.



As far as codes, I'm not convinced it works 100%. Mode 3 code reads worked, as did the manufacturer-specific Mode 7, with Dodge Diesel selected. Both modes reported P0000, or no codes. However, my cluster tells me there is a P0500, probably in-active or history because there is no light. That may be why it doesn't show on the Car-Code software. I tried clearing, but it seemed to "hang" and I don't think it ever completed. My P0500 was still there after clearing.



The gauges are great! Colors are customizable on the gauge faces, numbers and needle, as well as the graph lines. The Alex Peper Car-Code software seems to have much more mode capability than the AutoTap that I also have, and the many others I've looked at on-line. There are lots of manufacturer-specific downloads available at obd-2.com, which tells me Alex keeps up with all the difference between vehicles. I work in the serial data diagnostic world for a living, so I know all the protocols he supports are needed for today's vehicles.



I would recommend this software, especially if you work on other vehicles as well. It's too bad our Dodge Cummins Diesels don't support so much of what is in the Car-Code software. Long post, but thought it might help some folks looking for laptop scan tools.