CEL issues
 

My check engine light has been on for a couple weeks now. I took the car to a local machanic to have him plug into the computer to get a read and the computer said it was unable to find the computer. This is the 3rd machanic that could not get a read. Is there any other way i can find out why my CEL is on. My guess is that i have some kind of wiring issues, that is why we can not get a read from the computer. Any info will help.?????

Let me give you 2 tips

You'll need a CAN bus scanner.

and

You'll need this

Where do you live? I'm in Northern VA, and have a Harrison CAN scanner.

Ken

i live in jersey.. anyone know any place i can find that.. and how much do they cost?

I bought mine from obdscan.net. It's the kind that plugs into a laptop. I went that route for the toy factor - one of these days I'll log everything that my car does on my daily commute. If all you want to do is read the code (pretty much all that a sane person would need) a self-contained scanner would be better.

Mine cost around $170. There are units for a lot more and a lot less.

Do a google for obd ii and for CAN. There are a lot of units on the market. I was in the local Advance Auto Parts the other day and they were hawking one for about $150, that they said worked on all new cars. The key thing is to get one that reads CAN bus.

Or find a better shop, with a newer scanner. One of the major transmission shops has been doing TV commercials saying they'll read CEL codes.

Ken

Harrison was running a special pricing on the USB CAN Scan, I got mine for less than $150.

Silver, FYI the new CAN bus uses the same connector as the OBD II scanners, that is why your shops can plug in their scanner but it will not get a reading because their scanner doesn't recognize the new protocol. Ford/Mazda/Jag went to the CAN bus in 2004, among the first automakers to do so. I think that by end of 2007 the new system will be in all vehicles, so in the future any shop will need the new scanner to read the new cars.

That deal is still on, and that's what I got mine for. I also got the RX-8 enhanced software, which added $39 to the tab.

Support was great. I had a problem getting the RX-8 module to run, which turned out to be a USB conflict. I e-mailed them, and got a call from Dan Harrison with the fix. Good guy.

Ken

im in delaware and have the hymee scanalyser

Ken, I've been having trouble with the RX-8 enhanced software as well, it acts like it is scanning a running engine when the engine if off. What did you have to do to clear up the USB conflict?

okay.. so alls i need to buy is a simple USB CAN scan.. and hopefully i can get that at the local auto store. If not i will look on that web site that you gave me and i will check out some prices.. i thank you for the help and i will keep in touch and let you know how i make out..
thanks

The conflict was with the regular scan software. The RX-8 enhanced has its own USB driver built in. If the regular stuff was running, or had even been started and turned off, the USB driver was active and the enhanced couldn't connect.

Starting it from a fresh boot got it going. Device Manager reports a different hardware setup for the two programs. 8 enhanced is a USB device, regular thinks it's talking to a serial port.

When I turned the car off with the software running, it did what I expected: stopped communicating, hour-glassed for a bit, and eventually complained that there was no car. That's different from what you've had happen.

The 8 enhanced program isn't quite as slick as the main program, but it sure is fun to read things like the individual tire pressures and temperatures. I'm keen to see how the speed and acceleration data looks. Need to set things up on a smaller laptop for on-road games, though.

I wonder if this will let me clear the data recorder if I do something silly. :-)

If you're having trouble, e-mail tech support, or call Dan. He is really enjoyable to talk to, and supports his stuff. I decided to go for the Harrison stuff based on a thread here where people were having trouble, and Dan joined in and worked with them to fix it.

Ken

Ken, thanks for the info. I have a little time off wih the holidays and I intend to play around with the enhanced software. It may be a similar situation because I have tried to run the enhanced after booting up with the regular software. --SS

That's exactly what happened to me. With the enhanced, you don't do the "select port thing." Just click on the start button, and it will find the USB port. Has to be connected and the car running first.

Ken

I am going to buy the CANScan-USB from Harrison. Now this product will give me a read of why my CEL is on? Or will it just give me a code? If it is just a code, where is a guide to what each code stands for? Please let me know?