GaryDoug

Hi,
My name is Gary and I am a member of several online car forums like this one. I spent years telling owners of the 94 and 95 LT1 F-body cars that they would have to use a bare-bones utility like FreeScan, or other ones that cost some money to buy, in order to read some trouble codes. I felt sorry for them being in this "no-mans land" of the car being too new to be able to flash the trouble codes and too old to be able to use a cheap OBD2 code reader. Having recently programmed an OBD2 utility just for my own amusement, I was confident that I had the right "tools" and could probably help with this 94/95 diagnostics gap issue. Now I can share the result with anyone who wants this OBD1 diagnostic app free of charge, without any usage limits, without any ads, and with no "strings" of any kind attached. It's called Scan9495 (not much imagination there). All you need is a PC with WinXP or newer and an OBD1 cable. By the way, this is a diagnostic app only. It will do no programming or tuning; there are plenty of those apps available already.

Some features of this application are: 1) Current diagnostic engine and transmission trouble codes (DTC) list with reset capability, 2) Engine parameter display (aka live data), 3) Automatic transmission parameter display, 4) ABS/EBCM (non-TC) trouble code and data display with reset, 5) SIR (airbags) trouble code and data display with reset, 6) Engine, transmission, and ABS actuators (aka bi-directional controls) with ON/OFF/Reset, 7) Engine parameter graphing (up to 4 channels) with displayed image file save, and 8) Data communications logging with file save. This is programmed for the automatic transmission cars but should work for the manual transmission cars. Just don't try to use the transmission scan.

[EDIT]Scan9495 now supports the 93 LT1. I didn't bother renaming it. The only thing it does not support is the early 93 SIR (airbags) module. But you can get the trouble codes from that using the 93 service manual.

The adapter is the same as for the 94 (12-pin).

Now I give a great amount of credit to Andy Whitaker for creating FreeScan when there simply was little else you could use. More impressive is the fact that he apparently accomplished that without the use of an F-body car for testing. Amazing! Unfortunately, FreeScan has several features lacking which I consider really important and it also contains some errors (bugs) which have never been fixed. It's time to move on.



Link to Scan9495 download: http://www.mediafire.com/?0elo4c935uc5s

The path to the main file is "GDscan\Scan9495" and the filename is "SCAN9495 ver.zip"

There is a program user's guide in the same folder also. To install this app, all you do is unzip the main file and put the extracted files into a folder of your choosing of name and location. Nothing else will be changed or added except a few entries in the registry for convenience (com port number, chart line settings, options, etc). Create a shortcut to the Scan9495.exe file and you are done. All datalog/chart/comms record files that you save will be sent to this folder.

You will also have to obtain an OBD1 cable of some type. Any that are intended for use on these cars should be adequate (ALDL OBD1 OBD cable OBDI OBD2 engine codes, Red Devil River - Fiero Swap Harness, etc). Typical cost is about $50-90, but you can make your own for under $20. Make sure to get a 16-pin cable for the 95 or a 12-pin cable for the 94.

In the example photos below, do not use the 16-pin connector from this particular adapter. It has incorrect connections. This is for the 12-pin 94 only. On the 12-pin 94 one, the green and white wires go to pin M and the black wire goes to pin A. On the 16-pin 95, the green and white wires go to pin 9 and the black wire goes to pins 4 and 5.



Please do not hesitate to message or email me with your results, good or bad. I can actually learn more about what needs fixing from the bad results. Thanks
Scan9495@gmail.com

jloshotz

Garydoug, thanks a million for developing this. I installed it a few months ago on my win XP laptop, installed the .net framework that I thought was needed, but everytime I open it, right after the into splash screen, it closes and asks if I want to send an error report to Microsoft. I click no, and say to myself "yeah, I'm sure they'll help." LOL. Am I missing something? Is this a new updated version in the above posted link, or the same prog that was available a few months ago? Maybe I just have to delete and reinstall? Any thoughts? Thanks

GaryDoug

There was a problem using WinXP a few months ago, not sure when that was fixed. Try a new version now.
Thanks

rngilliland

I've used the previous version with Vista and a usb cable. It worked great and is the only program I know of that can scan the ABS. Thanks again for the program.

jloshotz

Gary, I can't seem to find the file using that link, what am I missing?

GaryDoug

Sorry, I used the wrong link. Try it again.

jloshotz

Thank you sir

jloshotz

Just for feedback, this version opens perfectly on XP Can't wait to give it a whirl! Thanks again!

Injuneer

Special thanks to Gary for sharing this here on CamaroZ28.com. Now I won't have to post a link to his thread on Firebird Nation .

And let's "sticky" it.

GaryDoug

Thanks all, esp. Fred. The user guide had the wrong link also, so I have uploaded a corrected one. No other changes to the guide.

Kevin Blown 95 TA

Very cool, Gary - Thanks!

bobdec

Gary, latest version and Users Guide looks great... going to send you back that simulator chip, never got to hooking it up.. IMO your app, cable and a PC s/b required tool set for any DIY on these cars..

GaryDoug

Thanks for the kind replies. Here is a copy and paste from a post I placed on another site regarding the making of your own cable for under $20. Lots of the same stuff as above but much more details...


Here is another way to go in the quest for an under $20 OBD1 cable.

1. Buy a "6pin FTDI FT232RL USB to Serial adapter module USB TO TTL RS232 Arduino Cable". Ignore the part that says RS232. This is an error. Cut off the small 6-pin connector; it will not be used. Trim off all wires other than the black, white, and green ones; the others will not be used. Under $10 including shipping.

Here is just one of many sources:6pin FTDI FT232RL USB to Serial Adapter Module USB to TTL RS232 Arduino Cable | eBay




2. For the 94 only: Buy a "GM 12 Pin To OBD1 OBD2 16 Pin Connector Adapter Car Motor Diagnostic Tool Cable". You will use only the 12-pin part and wires by cutting off the 16-pin connector. The 16-pin connector may not be usable anyway since it has the wrong connections for this use and is sealed in epoxy and not easily changed. It should cost under $8 including shipping.

Here is one of many sources: GM 12 Pin to OBD1 OBD2 16 Pin Connector Adapter Car Motor Diagnostic Tool Cable | eBay



For the 95 only: Buy a "Universal Male OBD2 16 Pin Connector OBDII EOBD OBD", about $3 with shipping.

Here is one of many sources: Universal Male OBD2 16 Pin Connector OBDII EOBD OBD | eBay



These sources are all in China or Hong Kong and the parts will take 1-2 weeks to arrive.

After cutting off the connectors from the cable(s), connect the two remaining cables/connector together (USB and 12-pin or 16-pin).

For the 12-pin cable (94): The black wire from the USB cable goes to the black wire (pin A) on the 12-pin connector cable part. The green and white wires from the USB cable are to be connected to the brown wire (pin M) on the 12-pin connector cable. The red wire on the 12-pin cable will not be used and may be trimmed short.

For the 16-pin cable (95): The black wire from the USB cable goes to pins 4 and 5 of the 16-pin connector. The green and white wires from the USB cable are to be connected to pin 9 of the 16-pin connector.

Use whatever method you prefer to connect the wires and insulate the connections: solder, shrinkable tubing, tape, wire nuts, barrel crimps, etc.



These converters will not come with any drivers. you must obtain them elsewhere, either from the FTDI web site or from my web file storage location in the same folder as the SCAN9495 app files. This device will probably require the version 24 driver. You can try that one first. If that does not work, try the version 28 driver. After that, you will have to specify which driver to use since you will have two of them on the pc now. The following instructions are for Win 7; yours may be different. Open the Control Panel. Select the Device Manager. Find the USB Serial port device in the Ports section. Double click on it to open it's properties window. Select the Driver tab. Select "Update Driver". Select "Browse my Computer..." Select "Let Me pick from a List...". Select the version you want (28) and click on "Next". Repeat the same exact steps for the "USB Serial Converter" in the "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" section. You will be asked to reboot each time. You should wait until after the second device driver is loaded before you reboot. If prompted to reboot before that, select Cancel.
Unless you are using the latest driver available (28 for now), you may want to set the PC to NOT automatically download the latest driver software, or you may get the newer version by mistake. You can do that this way: Click on the Windows Start icon in the lower left corner of the desktop. In the search box, type "Change Device Installation Settings". Click on the match it finds. In the Device Installation Settings window, select "No, Let me choose what to do" and "Install driver software from Windows Update if it is not found on my computer". Click on "Save Changes".


Edit: Guess I can't post links to ebay on here. Just do a search on the string I guess.

FiestyLT1

i currently have windows 8 and was wondering if there was a compatible version of this program available for download?

Much appreciated.

GaryDoug

You will be the test case for this. Have you tried it with your Windows 8 yet? There are no separate versions.