G.T. Fieros

Trying to figure out which way I should go.

Should I buy the USB cable from here:
http://aldlcable.com/

Or should I build my own serial cable and get a USB to rs232 converter? Directions to DIY here:
http://winaldl.joby.se/aldlcable.htm

I have a win7 laptop with only USB ports. I'm ok with trying to build a cable and using an adapter if it will work and be cheaper. Didn't know if anyone here has experience with USB ports and winaldl.

My car seems to be running well, the idle is sorted right out and is rock solid. VSS has been replaced, tranny fluid flushed and new synchromesh in it: tranny is shifting ok (thank god) and speedo/odo are fully operational again.

This weekend I got out to go for a cruise in the nice weather. Now it seems after I've been driving for a while and when it gets nice and warm it will start to stumble/buck/surge, etc. No SES light. There are codes but they're still from when I put the top end back together a few weeks ago and had to adjust the throttle body back down and from when the VSS went. Codes are for a high idle and VSS. The oddball code was a O2 high voltage/lean code. I'm not sure if that has something to do with the way the ECM was managing fuel when I was driving on the highway and the VSS broke. I saw that code when scanning it after the sensor broke.

Today I swapped in a spare ICM I had as a shot in the dark and it drove pretty much the exact same as the original one that I had. Pretty much fine when warming up and after 20 minutes or so, maybe sooner after cruising on the highway it will start bucking. Idle is perfect whether it's bucking or not, i.e. it starts bucking and I have to push in the clutch and it will idle perfect while coasting or if I stop.

My first step is going to be clearing the ECM and having it re-learn itself after a drive or two to see what codes are really there now. I'm mainly interested to see if the 02/lean code returns. Then I figured I would try connecting to the computer to see if I can figure anything out with winaldl. I've never done anything like this before, but I don't want to be making guesses and just throwing money at the car.

It's a joy to drive, until the bucking kicks in.

It was doing this last fall before I did the tune up over the winter while re-finishing the plenum and valve covers. It is running much better, but still bucking.

Any advice on the ALDL setup with USB would be appreciated, or any advice with my issue in general.

I thought I should have picked up that 02 sensor I saw at the swap meet.

Thanks,
Ryan

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Ryan - 86 GT

The homebuilt cable with a USB-Serial adapter will work just fine with the winaldl software. The baud is non standard but the software accesses the port at a pretty base level so it works great. I figured out the protocols and wrote it into my car's computer and it works, but isn't nearly as tight code as Jordy's winaldl work.

Just keep in mind it doesn't give you a huge amount of data, depends on what you're after I guess.

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Mark
1984 Indy Fiero
B O A T - Break Out Another Thousand

I wouldn't use an adapter, most don't work, too many cheap ones out there its hard to find one that does work. (Just saw Mark's reply, I guess the adapter works fine for him, they have been really hit or miss for me) I've built the ALDL on tech edge, this one: http://www.techedge.com.au/vehicle/aldl8192/8192hw.htm The simplified version didn't work for me: http://www.techedge.com.au/vehicle/aldl160/aldl_hw.htm But that's probably due to the fact I have a 7730 ECM now. As far as I know hooking up something like this: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/260917151841?ssP ... 1439.l2649 to the ALDL port is supposed to work and be extremely easy (tie but TX and RX together and plug into the ALDL data line) I have one in the mail, so I can report after I try it out. I think the key as long as you get one with a FT232RL chip, should be . Which I think is also true for the adapter, If you chose to go down that route. Again I'm doing this on a 7730 to YMMV.

Still have the O2 if your interested

I think I may try and build my own cabdle for a few $ and try a brand name adapter from somewhere like staples where if it doesn't work I can return it. I'll stop by the electronics shop and price out the bits, if the total is going to be any more than $40-$50 including the adapter I'll probably just order one.

Nevets you want to give me a price for the O2? I guess now it would be easier for to include postage and drop it in the mail to me in Cambridge if you're willing to look that up.

Like I said I'm going to reset the ECM first to clear the codes and see if it drives any different and what / if any codes come back now that the idle and vss are fixed.

Oddly I don't recall the stumbling on my drive to and from Baden when the VSS went out. However it's possible that I didn't notice it because it was mostly highway and I was fixated on the fact that the vss broke.

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Ryan - 86 GT

I went out and bought the resistors, transistor, DB9F connector/hood and I grabbed a 3 sway switch as well. Total cost so far was $8, and the little switch was half of that.

I'm going to give making my own and sourcing a converter to make it work with my computer a shot. If anyone has an exact make/model of converter that's been tested and true I'm all ears. One reason I want to do this is it should be a bit cheaper if I can get it to work, and another reasone is because I've never done anything like this before and I thought I'd try it out. I still need to buy some solder (I forgot to) and am going to cannibalise an old cable I had for the needed chord.

I plan to wire the chord into the connector and leave it in there so I don't always have to remove the plate if I need to check codes, scan it, etc. The 3 way switch is an on / off / on switch that I want to place behind/under the seat or hide somewhere. It will go across the a/b terminals to either disconnect (normal ecu operation), straight connect (check codes via dash, etc.), or connect with a 10k resistor to put it in aldl mode.

Fingers crossed it works out the way I want it to.

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Ryan - 86 GT

I've actually had great luck with any serial to usb adapter I've tried. We use them a lot at work so I get to try different types. Most have been Prolific PL2303 chipset based. The one thing I will add though is definitely use the latest drivers as found on Prolific's website - had bad BSOD problems with supplied drivers in the past.

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Mark
1984 Indy Fiero
B O A T - Break Out Another Thousand

Well that's great to hear. At the store where I bought the parts to build the cable they had this adapter for a little under $20 I think.
http://www.manhattan-products.com/en-US/products/708-usb-to-serial-converter

It seems to list prolific pl2303 as the chip that they use. Maybe I will try this one.

For the time being my buddy has an old windows xp laptop that is slow as hell but has a 25 pin printer port on it. I haven't looked into it but I might be able to run a 25-9 pin adapter for it.

FWIW I reset the ECU last night and drove it. Car is still hesitating and I am down to a code 44. The light came on after sitting and idling for a minute or two in the driveway after driving it.

I borrowed a timing light and a fuel pressure gauge from my neighbour but haven't checked it yet. Hopefully tonight I can get to it. I'm hoping that the stumble is from running lean and that if I can get it to run right the stumble will disappear. Any advice/tips? I have to get this cable built asap.

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Ryan - 86 GT

WinALDL will only work with a serial port. The good news is it will run on pretty slow machines as it was written quite a while ago.

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Mark
1984 Indy Fiero
B O A T - Break Out Another Thousand

Thanks for the tips Mark.

Indeed the port on the old laptop I picked up from my buddy is a parallel port. There is no serial port on it

It does have a pcmcia slot though, so if I can find a serial pcmcia card I'm golden - or I just grab a USB adapter and hope it works. At least that way I can use it on my much newer laptop where the battery works.

For the time being my neighbour came over last night and figuratively "took me to school" - automotive diagnostics and trouble shooting 101. I think I know a bit as a shadetree mechanic, but I felt like a complete newb when he came over. His 30 years experience and his snap-on scanner made pretty quick work of my issues.

My fuel pressure is a little low, but he doesn't believe that's a major issue at this point. We reset my timing (was way advanced) and replaced the 02 sensor and my car is driving a hell of a lot better. Last night was the best it's ever driven for me. I hope to get it out some this weekend and see if the performance holds up.

At least now I have a bit of time to build the cable and get an adapter.

Mark do you have a spare USB/Serial adapter that you've confirmed works? I'd be willing to buy if you do. If not I'll give the $20 one I found at the store a shot as it supposedly has the prolific chip you mentioned.

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Ryan - 86 GT

I guess there's a good chance my experience with adapters is a bit dated....It was a few years ago, probably before windows 7 or just after it was released and probably before the drivers were mature. I recognize prolific being the driver I used. I also remember, if the driver installed correctly (stood on one leg with one hand in the air ) there was a good chance it would work but mess up the driver install and there was nothing you could do to completely get rid of it from the system.

I'm going to try out the part I listed earlier and I have a bluetooth module on its way. So I'm going to be playing with my ALDL port for the next little while. I'll let you all know how it turns out. Then I'll need someone to try it out on a stock Fiero ecm to confirm it works for everyone.

Cool, I'll be paying attention

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Ryan - 86 GT

Hi Ryan, my apologies for not replying sooner. Been away from the computer practically since Friday.

I'd be happy to loan you/give you one of the adapters but I'm north of Orillia so it would be sort of a false economy on the gas you'd burn. I get most of my stuff like that from Canada Computers, just their house brand stuff has worked OK for me. On a side note regarding compatibility, I teach at tech course at OPC and had a class of 12 last year who had to install the serial adapters on their computers (everything from MacBook Pro to WINXP to WIN7), and only had issues with three machines. Two were failed adapters, one was a computer related issue.

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Mark
1984 Indy Fiero
B O A T - Break Out Another Thousand

Well I built my cable two nights ago, and installed the USB / Serial adapter yesterday and took it out to the car to try.

My cable / switch box is working ok. With the 3 positions of the switch I could tell that the car was going from normal mode to A/B bridged (check codes w/ key on) to ALDL 10k mode (engine idle up a bit).

My adapter installed into my PC without issue. It labelled it as com3. I set the baud to 2400 in the system/properties - the adapter seemed to be functioning ok.

I started up winaldl, set the ecm type and set it to com 3 with the 2400 baud to match the adapter properties in the system. I could not get any information from the car to show in Winaldl. After tinkering for a bit I gave up.

It was a prolific chip adapter, the driver downloaded and installed automatically through windows.

Looks like I may just bite the bullet and order the proper USB cable when I get a spare bit of money.

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Ryan - 86 GT

I had a few issues at first but eventually it got working.

You need to select the correct (or close enough) ECU in the list or the program cannot properly format the data.

Also the 8192 adapter may not work with the Fiero - the 8192 and 160 systems are very different in data type and especially baud rate. I built the simplified 160 adapter that you had listed above (with the single transistor) and it worked great. All the ALDL adapter is doing is inverting the data so the serial adapter can read it. This is important as the program is actually reading 160 baud with a somewhat unique data pattern using 2400 standard serial input. It's kinda tricky and works pretty clever IMO.

Don't give up yet dude! The simple adapter will work.

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Mark
1984 Indy Fiero
B O A T - Break Out Another Thousand

I have built the simple adapter above with the single transistor. The only difference I made was I added a on/off/on switch across the a/b terminal so I could have the car in normal mode (no contact / off) / 10k mode (aldl mode, switch side 2 with the resistor) or bridged mode (a/b shorted, switch side one: a grounded with no resistor).

I had selected the correct ECU from the list: 1227170

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Ryan - 86 GT