I am having issues with tunercat reading my pcm, I have a 97 with obd1 pcm and am using a 12 pin usb cable from AKM. I get a "cable failure message" every time i try to read the PCM, is there driver software needed for the my laptop to see the cable. Is there a possible wiring issue going from a 16 pin aldl to a 12 pin aldl?
Any help would be great, just want to be able to tune!!

 

What is the exact configuration you are using?

From what you describe, you have this (given that you still have the 16-pin OBDII connector under the dash of the vehicle):

Laptop-->USB-->AKM Cable with adaptor box-->12pin ALDL connector --(something)-->16 pin connector on vehicle.

What is happening in the (something) area?
Do you have the adaptor box?

 

Yes you are correct, i do have the adapter it is a FT232R USB UART. I just downloaded the driver software for the cable setup and will try it when i get home from work but i still do not know if i have the 12 pin aldl wired correctly to the 16 pin connector. My question is this, is it the wiring that might be causing the problem or is it not having the driver software to support the usb cable? Do i even need driver software for a AKM cable? The something u are refering to is the 12 pin aldl, i removed one from a 95 camaro in the junkyard and jumped its wires starting with A on the 12 pin aldl to the pin 5 which is ground on the 16 pin aldl and i jumped pin M to pin 9 on the 16 pin aldl which i know is serial data. I also jumped pin B to pin 6 on the 16 pin aldl which is field service enable and i then connected the AKM cable to the 12 pin aldl which has the converter box and then the usb to a laptop.

 

My understanding is if it's a wiring problem on the car then you will get the reading ECM error . If it's a driver or bad cable problem then you get the cable failure .

 

Here may be a way to test it:
Trouble shooting: If all the cables are connected properly but you are still not seeing data, there are a number of things to check. When testing any cable, simply plug the USB cable into your Laptop or PC, and then plug the 12-Pin ALDL connector into your vehicle. Start up the HyperTerminal program (usually under Start > Programs > Accessories), select the COM port the USB cable was installed on (usually COM3, see above), and select a baud rate close to the ECM's (for either a 160 or 8192 baud, chose either 2400 or 9600, respectively).
As soon as you turn the car key forward to light up the dash, but car not running, data patterns start to stream across the HyperTerminal screen. At that point you know that proper communication is happening between your vehicles ECM and your laptop, and any data logging program should work.
If you are still having problems after this HyperTerminal test, check under the device manager of the system control panel on your PC to make sure your virtual COM port is active and has not been disabled. If you don't see any virtual COM ports enabled, or see red Xs or yellow circles, then you may need to reinstall the driver. Begin be removing the virtual com port that is there and also removing the USB device further down the screen.

 

Take out the B-6 wire, I'm not sure if that's causing your problem or not but given the error you're getting I would check it out (in addition to doublechecking your adapter wiring). I am using an OBD2 AKM cable with just two wires running to my OBD1 port: I've only connected A-5 and M-9. Haven't had any problems, just plug and play with Win7 x64. What OS are you running? I don't think you'll need drivers for Vista or Win7, but XP you might have to.

 

OK i have installed tunercat on to another laptop running windows vista and i did have to install the driver for the AKM usb cable so vista would recognize it, i then set the com port for both the laptop and tunercat. I then connected it to my uncle's 94 z28 and did a pcm read and it was successful, now if my wiring is correct on my 97 then i should beable to communicate to my pcm.....that is if using pin 5 on the 16 pin ALDL as ground and pin 9 as serial data is correct.

 

Sounds like you have it figured out what to do. 5 ground and 9 serial is definitely correct, just be sure you're reading the pins correctly. Should go

top: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
bottom: 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

 

OK i will try it when i get home from work later today, thanks for the help guys.

Nick.

 

Sounds like you're on your way. On the AKM cable, you'd need to go:

DB25 Pin 1 --> OBDII Pin 5 {Or OBD1 Pin "A"}
DB25 Pin 5 --> OBDII Pin 9 {Or OBD1 Pin "M")

As an aside, "Cable Failure" is kind of a strange message (I've found). It's not always the cable that causes it. It can be software that's loaded on the computer. For example, on my own home desktop computer, my cable works fine with PCMcomm, but when I try to read or program a PCM, it gets "cable failure". It used to work; somewhere along the way I loaded something on the computer that has affected the communications. After killing a couple of PCMs I had to start using a different computer. {Fortunately these were PCMs that I'd socketed, so "repair" was pretty easy. }

 

Question? What is it that can kill the PCM, a interupted read and or a interupted flash? Also should i turn everything in the car off including the interior light that is on when the door is opened? Any and all input will help, i do not want to buy another PCM.

 

An interruption in programming is what kills the PCM.

If you interrupt a read, the PCM may quit talking, but all you need to do in that case is power cycle the PCM (pull the negative battery terminal for a few seconds). It'll start talking again.

If you can read the PCM successfully a couple of times in a row, then you're good.

As for "what to turn off", don't worry about lights, but don't run the stereo, because if you drum wildly on the steering wheel you could possibly knock the cable loose. (and yes, it's happened)

 

Ok, well i did get freescan downloaded on to my laptop last night and finally got all my wires to the DLC correctly connected and was successful in talking to the pcm, I then started the car and was able to watch all sensor readings. I then went in with tunercat and had a successsful read of the PCM which i did twice and it took about 3 to 5 minutes to read, I then went to fault codes on freescan and had a 43 (knocksensor), next i checked all wiring to the KS and it was all ok. Ohm'd the sensor and it tested within spec, I then decided to pull the PCM out and check the resistor that i had justed soldered in and see if it was still intact. Opened the PCM and all looked OK, compared my pcm to a pic off the board and "stupid me" soldered the resistor to pin 23 instead of pin 22 on the blue PCM connector "DAMN"!!!! "Idon't know what the hell i was thinking!!! Well i will have remove that side of the resistor and resolder it on to pin 22 when i get home tonight and everything should be OK.......I hope......Lol