Can't Pull Engine Codes
 

ok...my g/f has a 2K. the service engine light is on...i have an Actron OBD II scanner from Autozone which works well with the majority of Toyotas i repair on the side, but when i plug it in to read the code on the Maxima...No codes are displayed.

What's up with this?

thanks in advance!

Try again, wiggling the wires/connector to make sure it's not a loose connection... last night I plugged my Palm + Auterra OBD-II cable up and had a HELL of a time connecting, wiggling wires/etc... finally it did. Not sure what went wrong, but I'm assuming it was a crappy/loose wire (although the cables, both the OBD-II and Palm serial hotsync, are new as of August)

yes...i got power running to the code scanner, but it still displayed no codes.

That's odd... unfortunately I have no experience with Actron readers, besides stopping by Autozone to have them clear a code (which worked).

All I can add is that on my 2k I went to one autozone and they tried two scanners and couldn't pull codes. He thought it was my computer. I went to another autozone and there they had a much more expensive scanner and pulled them no problems.

well, i don't mind upgrading my code scanner, but which one do people here use? i'd like to use one compatible with a laptop now.

I know my Auterra OBD-II kit's adapter claims to have 3 different ICs for 3 different physical-layer protocols used by different manufacturers, so maybe the older scanners don't have the right stuff to talk to Nissan ECUs...

I'm not sure if Auterra deals with laptop software, but if you have a Palm, check out the Auterra OBD-II Dyno-Scan kit-- http://www.auterraweb.com/
So far I'm pretty pleased with it--you can view/clear codes, view freeze-frame data for a trouble code, view sensor data (up to 5 at a time in "List" mode), record sensor data (up to 5), play it back through the meter/list/graphs, and after hotsync'ing the Palm, they do have Windows software for extracting spreadsheet data (in CSV format) to use in Excel or any other software which can process CSV. I'd imagine real laptop software would be easier to use in that regard, as the CSV data was layed out a little odd (gotta do some custom macros/whatever to separate the different datapoints into separate columns or rows for each sensor)

Cost was roughly $300 total with S&H. Not sure if it was worth all the $$, but it has been handy.