Memory dump of ECU

[b3lha]

Hi Tony,
To test your cable, you need to download and install the "Hex Com Tool" from http://www.rs232pro.com
Then connect your computer to your car, turn on the ignition, ensure the "Check Engine" light is lit and do the following.

Originally Posted by Nomake Wan

Open Hex Comm Tool
Press F1 Key
Select Correct COM port
Set to Baud Rate: 1954, Data Rate: 8 bit, Stop Bit: 1, Parity: Even
Click "Open" to activate COM port.
Type "78123400" into the text box and press enter key.

You should get 123400 repeated over and over until you type "12000000" into the text box and press the enter key.

Notice it's the same three bytes repeated over and over. If instead you get lots of random data returned, especially with lots of "FF", then you have the "92 problem".

If you don't get any data returned then check your connections, ensure you are using the correct com port on your computer and remove any software that may conflict. Software for connecting to mobile phones and PDAs sometimes has background processes that hijack the COM ports and prevent anything else from using them.

You can also try talking to your TCU: send "45123400"

[Dessertrunner]

Hi Phil,
I tried what you had suggest but it hasn't worked, the unit I got is a serial plug so I tried one of my USB to serial adaptors but it hasen't worked. I use these adaptors on every other sort of gear PLC & VSD's and they work fine but in this case no luck. Could it be the USB to Serial cable?

[b3lha]

Originally Posted by Dessertrunner

Hi Phil,
Could it be the USB to Serial cable?

Yeah. Probably. I think some of them don't like the non-standard baud rate. IIRC Nomake found that his Belkin converter didn't work but an FTDI one did. It's quite a few pages back.

[Nomake Wan]

Originally Posted by b3lha

You can also try talking to your TCU: send "45123400"

Definitely do this before ripping into your cable. Had I remembered to try querying the TCU, I wouldn't have ripped apart my adapter (that it turns out I wired correctly the first time).

[b3lha]

Originally Posted by Nomake Wan

Definitely do this before ripping into your cable. Had I remembered to try querying the TCU, I wouldn't have ripped apart my adapter (that it turns out I wired correctly the first time).

Do you have a working adapter now Nomake?

[Nomake Wan]

Originally Posted by b3lha

Do you have a working adapter now Nomake?

Nah, it still doesn't have the add-on board. But what I meant was, I had my USB cable perfectly wired into the harness, then ended up tearing the harness apart (partially damaging it) thinking it was wired incorrectly.

[Dessertrunner]

Phil do you mean that I need a USB cable that I can enter the board rate into instead of selecting from the list. My current cable will only allow standard range of board rates do I have to find another.
Tony

[b3lha]

Originally Posted by Dessertrunner

Phil do you mean that I need a USB cable that I can enter the board rate into instead of selecting from the list. My current cable will only allow standard range of board rates do I have to find another.
Tony

In the port setup page of the hex com tool, instead of selecting a standard rate, click in the box with your mouse and type in 1953 on the keyboard.

[b3lha]

There is a good description of ECU maps and Active Ignition Timing on the ECUtek website:

http://www.ecutek.com/tuning/

It describes an Impreza ECU, newer than ours, but some of the information is relevant to our ECU.

I believe that I have found the Ignition Advance Multiplier at address 0x1493. The "learnt ignition correction tables" in RAM seem to to 6x6 rather than 8x8 on our ECU, but don't take that as gospel until I've looked into it some more.

There are also two Subaru patents numbers 5000150 and 5038736. The links of the ECUtek website are broken but they come up if you search the USPTO website. They look like they might be relevant to our ECU. For some reason I can't get the diagrams to display on my computers, only the text. If anyone can see the diagrams can you save them as JPG and post them here.

[Nomake Wan]

Here you go, Phil.

[Nomake Wan]

And the rest.

[Dessertrunner]

Phil,
In the Hexcom tool I tried I set the board rate but I checked the serisl cable driver and it would only allow standard rates. My guess or question is will the Hexcon tool be able to over ride the normal driver or should I go find a new serial cable that allows me to decide on the rate?
Tony

[Nomake Wan]

Originally Posted by Dessertrunner

Phil,
In the Hexcom tool I tried I set the board rate but I checked the serisl cable driver and it would only allow standard rates. My guess or question is will the Hexcon tool be able to over ride the normal driver or should I go find a new serial cable that allows me to decide on the rate?
Tony

The Hexcomm overrides the driver's settings. Whatever you set in the driver won't matter, because when Hexconn opens the port, it will force its own settings onto the device.

However, the device may be hardware limited, like my F5U Belkin adapter was. In these cases there's nothing you can do but get a different adapter that was designed to support non-standard baud rates. Out of two different adapters I've purchased, both worked perfectly (one was USB->Serial and the other was USB->TTL). The Belkin I found in my basement, so there's no loss in it not working.

[b3lha]

Thanks for you efforts Nomake.

I didn't explain properly. I already have those pages. What I am missing is the drawings to go with them. If you click the images link on the USPTO website there are some pages of drawings and diagrams to accompany the text but they require some kind of brower plugin that I haven't got.

I'll have another go at it tomorrow.

[Calum]

Your patents in pdf form should be attached. Pre-emptive your welcome too in case I don't wander across this forum for another week or two.

If you use it, please make a donation, its really really cool. I used to pay money for a service like this-

http://www.pat2pdf.org/