Everyone,

I noticed a few folks used the Alex Peper Car Code OBD-II diagnostic software, and I thought it would be an inexpensive way to educate myself about the car, and help diagnose future problems. Folks seem satisfied.

My cable arrived this weekend, and the laptop will not talk to the car. I have an electronics and computer background, so no problem, right? Wrong--I could never get the laptop to acquire data from the car, so I called support to ask some basic questions. I had already confirmed pinouts, etc. No answer, despite being 7x24 support listed on the web site. Sent emails, no response.

I got a person on the phone this morning, and it was quote "There has been a death in the family, nothing until February. Bye." I didn't even get to speak. I called Visa immediately to put a stop to the transaction, and I will get my money back some way, some how. I'm sure he was telling the truth, and that's sad. But, you don't do that to customers--if nothing else, leave the business phone alone until you can put up an automated message explaining the situation. I would have been OK with that.

So....if any of you are considering an inexpensive analyzer, beware Car Code. It indeed appears a one man operation, and if he goes, so does the business. I should have paid the extra $$ and gotten an Auto Tap.

 

dvanorder,

Sorry to hear the problems you're having. I don't know Alex Peper personally nor have I ever spoken to him but I respect the work he's done, having tried to do some OBD-II work myself. Cut him some slack, I think it's a one man operation. I hear and agree with you, that's no way to do business!

There are a few other ppl here who have had problems with his units working on our cars. You may want to PM IceY2K1, mdeal and see if they can help? Just out of curiousity, you did get the ISO-9141-2 unit right? see link
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ght=alex+peper

If you're comfortable with linux you can try the scandiag tool from sourceforge in the link above. It is reported compatible with Alex's tool. ( I can help get you past the compilation errors with the software )

I don't have one of these units but willing to help. It can/will benefit all members of the 'ORG'.

water-cooled twin-turbo dreams
SHIFT_woosh

 

I've had his reader for 2 years. It worked flawlessly for quite sometime. I updated to his latest version and it disconnects every 6 seconds. I know some guys tweaked the settings and got some marginally better results and I havent tried their suggestions yet.

As far as I know, 2k2+ are not connecting at all. I actually recommended the reader to 'smokinodum' and I dont think he had any success

Anyway, at one time, it rocked and was cheap. Something did change in his code and the timing is whacked. Although it seems to work fine for other cars.

When I first got the cable, he was returning email in 24 hours and supplied alot of support. But he hasnt returned any of my emails in 8 months. He said a pocketPC version was ready and would be available in a few weeks.. that was early last year and he wont return mail about it.

I think its safe to say that everyone should steer clear of it for awhile. He may be a good guy/developer, but right now the thing wont work well.

 

I've had ZERO problems and even had Alex PERSONALLY email me when I had questions/complaints about what his software could/couldn't do.

My guess is your settings aren't correct or the cable/PIC is broken.

If you post your settings, I can compare them to mine tonight, but I believe they are already posted somewhere in this forum.

 

Hey Icey2k1, it's in the link in my post above.

TimW, IceY2k1,

Have any of you ever tried other software with this OBD-II hardware(especially in the 2k2+ case)?
ex.
http://www.comlite.com/comlab32.html
http://sourceforge.net/projects/freediag/

comdebug
http://www.windmill.co.uk/serial.html
http://www.softpile.com/Education/Sc...893_index.html

There's also a software called easy com which is pretty good but I couldn't find the link.


SHIFT_woosh

 

works great with the older version. and he *used* to email me personally. I dont know of any 2k2s that got it to work.

 

Nope. I haven't had a chance to scan a 2K2+ Maxima. I have scanned several other Brands/Makes, but no Maxima besides mine.

I haven't looked into anything other than Peppers' software and AutoTap. Sorry.

 

I was thinking about getting it. Glad I didn't.

woosh,
I don't know about NY but here in GA all emissions tests are now done via obd2 for 96' and newer cars. It is State/County monitored but it's done at independent owner operator locations. Would some of the info from these system setups help your project? I may be able to get a manual or even a working copy of the program.

As far as the Nissan specific info you’re looking for. The more I think about it I don't believe the techs at dealers are going to have it. This is the type of stuff that is handled by Nissan corporate and the manufacturer of the ECU & Consult II. The techs are probably just given the equipment and shown how to use it. I doubt the average worker at an assembly plant even knows about it.

Now how do we find a disgruntled service guy...

 

Hey maximaman777,

I don't know about the GA process, do they hook anything up to the OBD-II port for the test? If not I don't think it would tell us anything.

In NYC they don't hook anything to the OBD-II port, at least I didn't notice them hooking anything to the port, but they do put the car on rollers and accelerate/decelerate between 20 - 60 mph. CrazY ****'s get drive happy with your car bolted to the rollers (kinda looks like a dyno).

Like you said where do we find a disgruntled service guy.....

they always seem to be the ones working on my car when I take it for service

Anyone here know if the consult II is basically has a PC enclosed in it also????


SHIFT_woosh

 

The new version keeps disconnecting. The older version seems to be rock solid. This is on my 2k maxima...

 

Yes on 96+ it is an OBD only test.
As far as the Consult I bevieve it is a RISC setup so it's more like a palm than a pc.

 

I'm not sure what you're asking, but it's basically just a smart PDA with a mini-OS, printer, multimeter, and input/output capabilities.

However, here is the company I believe made the Consult-II:
http://www.vetronix.com/diagnostics

I believe you're after something PC based(ie cheaper) like the ConZult: http://300zx-twinturbo.com/conzult/faq.htm

Good luck!

 

If the new stuff keeps disconnecting, then it was most likely the same issue I had. Look back at some of the older posts for resolution. I got mine to be pretty solid after not being able to maintain a connection but for a few seconds.

 

I don't have the Alex Pepper scan tool but I do have one. If you do get the autotap can you let me know what parameters you can log. I wish my scan tool did the things my cousins autotap does. I wish my scan tool was able to log KR(knock) and barametric pressure and stuff like that. I also wish mine would log more than four parameters at a time. It's ok but I was hoping for something more.