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Hello all,

My brother arrived home from New York yesterday, bringing with him my new ScanGauge II, which I ordered through CleanMPG a month or two ago. Hooray!

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble getting it to talk to my car, a 2002 smart. :( It plugs into the OBD port and switches on, but never gets past "Connecting..."

I've emailed Linear Logic, so hopefully they'll have some advice, but I thought I'd post my problem here too, because CleanMPG is the reason I bought the SG in the first place. See below for more detailed info on the problem and what I've tried so far.

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Simon



Details:

My car is a 2002 smart city coupe, also known as a fortwo. It's got a 600cc turboed petrol engine and a 6-speed automated manual gearbox (so not your run-of-the-mill vehicle, then). From what I've read in the past, I know that the smart works on a CANBUS system internally, and it definitely has an OBD port of some kind - I'm just not sure whether it is OBD, OBDII, EOBD or something else - and I'm not sure what protocol it works on.

The pinout of the OBD port is as follows: (I'm drawing this from memory - will check it later to be sure)

\ +0+++0++ /
\+00+000+/
Where + is a pin and 0 is the absence of a pin. Top left is pin1, top right is pin8. My car has a pin7, which suggests that the protocol is either ISO 9141-2 or ISO 14230 KWP2000 (according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics#OBD-II_Signal_Protocols).

I've tried the ScanGauge in Auto mode and forced modes - especially ISO and the two KWP modes, because of the above pin7 idea. I left the ScanGauge connecting until it went to sleep twice in each of the three modes. At the time, I had the ignition on but the engine off. I've also tried Auto mode and 10-20 seconds worth of the other modes with the engine running, but haven't exhaustively tested all the forced modes with the engine on (i.e. force mode, wait until the SG goes to sleep, repeat.

I've also tried the ScanGauge in my wife's car, which is a 2004 Renault Clio with petrol engine. I get the same result - Connecting.... The Clio also has an OBD connector of some kind (the SG plugs in and switches on), and from what I've read, I think it should also be using one of the ISO protocols. However, all testing in the Clio has been with the ignition on and the engine off.

Linear logic automatically sends a canbus connector when you get a new scangauge. Call them up, and tell them the year, make and model of your car and they should be able to get you a connector that works.

480 656 4089 is the number. They are really great. They're hours are 9-4 MST mon-fri.

It may be worth trying it with the engine running -- I used my gauge to troubleshoot an issue in an older model Ford Explorer and the SG wouldn't connect unless the engine was on.

Hi all,

Thanks for the responses so far. I haven't heard back from Linear Logic yet - I'll give them a day or two and then follow up with a phone call.

JusBringIt - what is a canbus connector? The cable that came with the ScanGauge fits the socket on my car, so it's not a problem with the shape of the plug. But perhaps the configuration of pins is different - is that the case?

Sean - I tried the SG with the engine running and got the same result - "Connecting...", then nothing. Tried it in Auto mode, ISO, KWPF and KWPS - no luck.

It's starting to seem like the ScanGauge just isn't compatible with my car. :(

-Simon

I just spoke to Linear Logic, and they confirmed that the ScanGauge II isn't compatible with my smart. :(

So it looks like I'm going to have to find some other enthusiast to sell it to. Any CleanMPGers in South Africa?

Either that or change cars. Hmm...

-Simon

To bad they did not tell you this when you purchased the scan gauge. Can you not send it back. Hal

Hi Hal,

No, it's been more than a month since I paid for it - my brother brought it back for me this week. Hard luck, I guess.

-Simon

Well, when they sell you something that is not designed for your Auto, then I think they have a obligation to take it back! You purchased it from this forum did you not? Hal

The ScanGauge is sold, and I got my money back (roughly). It seems there are some other South Africans keen to get their hands on such gadgets. All's well that ends well, I guess.

It went to a 4x4 enthusiast with a 2004 Jeep Wrangler - he reckons he gets 17l/100km (14mpg) :eek: So there's room for improvement there.

-Simon