Directscan fried my ECM?

[ri87T]

I've got Directscan hooked up to my ecm, with the cable wrapped in tin foil, as suggested by some people. Today, I go over a bump in the road, and the car dies. Figuring I must have a loose wire or something (as the car has been running fine), I check my fuel pump, my ignition wires, then the ecm. I start pulling it out of its compartment, and smoke comes pouring out of it. I use a thumbwheel chip, but I don't think that caused my "meltdown". It seems to me that my directscan cable inadvertently shocked the ecm. Does this sound like a reasonable assumption? I plan on replacing the ecm today.

 

[Jimn8or]

I also run DS and a TW chip....no probs here yet, like you're describing anyway but I'd be interested to know what you learn caused this little smoke show.
Jim

 

[BM Computer Src]

We have sold many Directscan units, but I have never heard of the DS causing an ECM failure.(not in the manner you described.)

The DS cable cannot just "shock" the ECM. DS is just hanging on the ECM bus reading the data as it passes along, it does not provide or introduce any new power or any power to the ECM.

Was the ECM hanging loose on the carpet, and how far up on the edge connection was the DS?



Bob

 

[ri87T]

The ecm was in its plastic container, although my plastic container doesn't stay where it should, so it kinda hangs there. I'm not sure how far the ds was plugged in, although I had used it before, and I haven't experienced any problems up until now.

I'm not positive DS caused my ecm to fail, but I'm not sure what else could have caused it? It makes no sense to me that driving over a rough road would cause the ecm would die.

 

[turbo6x2]

I have been running Direct Scan for 6 years and now run it on two cars and we have traveled with it plugged in on several occassions, never had anything like this happen. Soulds more like an electrical short then anything DS could of done.

 

[TClassic]

THAT is exactly why I always recomend Turbolink instead of DirectScan to folks, through the years I've heard, and seen first hand MANY anomolies like this with Direct Scan.

The REAL problem is that shortly after Direct Scan was released in 1997 Ken (or Kent) Cho, the inventor, basically ABANDONED it and there has NEVER been any support or Upgrades to it as a result since 6 or more years!! Save yourself some headaches
and go with Turbolink - Always Supported and has had MANY great upgrades lately!!

 

[BM Computer Src]

The only problem I can think of that was related to yours are:

Card edge misaligned, causing data interruption and problems like popping, missing or interference during WOT. (Fixed by correctly attaching card edge or a spacer)

Please see what I wrote about how DS functions in conjunction with the ECM. Its just reading, not inputting anything. I have seen ECMs fail before, its not totally uncommon by any means, but not caused by a scantool.

Hope this helps,
Bob

 

[ri87T]

Thanks for all the input guys. I really don't think it was DS that caused the ecm to blow. The only think I could think of was that the tin foil around the cable gave the ecm a static charge. Most likely it was a short in a wire. Anyone have any ideas about how I can figure out what caused the short, so I can prevent this problem when I put the new ecm in?

 

[BM Computer Src]

Originally posted by TClassic
THAT is exactly why I always recomend Turbolink instead of DirectScan to folks, through the years I've heard, and seen first hand MANY anomolies like this with Direct Scan.

The REAL problem is that shortly after Direct Scan was released in 1997 Ken (or Kent) Cho, the inventor, basically ABANDONED it and there has NEVER been any support or Upgrades to it as a result since 6 or more years!! Save yourself some headaches
and go with Turbolink - Always Supported and has had MANY great upgrades lately!!

TClassic,

While it is possible to have more interruption of the data with the DS over T-link (due to it riding on the data bus, where T-link just gets ALDL) the DS provides tons more data, much faster and more parameters. Many happy customers for both products.

The REAL problem you said is NOT VALID. He did not abandon anything. He has updated it and if you check www.chuengineering.com you will see software updates.

SUPPORT: Conleys is main support. We are also support. Any of our DS Customers know they can always call, email or post on our BULLETIN BOARD MADE FOR DIRECTSCAN at www.bmcomputersource.com and we do help anyone else who asks. JUST ASK. We take great pride in our support. If you see any posts about DS, you see our help.

Research a little more before you DOG a product and its vendors.

 

[TClassic]

I was told by many Knowlegable Folks on the Mailing list and here that there were no updates to Direct Scan - Well according to the Website they were WRONG!!! Thank you for posting the Chuengineering Site, I like some of the fixes he recently did and now I'll most likely be ordering Direct Scan Myself!!!!

 

[87gnturbosix]

My car died one day for no apparent reason, so I started to drive around with my DS on all the time trying to capture the problem. Then my DS quit on me. I emailed Kent and he was very helpful in fixing it and I feel went above and beyond what most people would have done.

 

[TClassic]

O.K. There was a BIG thread on this back in, I think October of last year, and thats when a lot of folks also chimed in saying he
no longer supported DS and had moved-on from the Buicks!

Well I'm certainly glad they were wrong and that Kents BACK into the TR's!! I'll pass the word along!

 

[bruce]

Originally posted by ri87T
I've got Directscan hooked up to my ecm, with the cable wrapped in tin foil, as suggested by some people. Today, I go over a bump in the road, and the car dies.

I've tested some ecms til destruction.
Overloading the injector drivers, and other stuff just to see what the various limits are, and never have gotten one to smoke.

I have also run DS for hundreds of hours on my ecm bench without a hiccup.

Hearing, bump in the road, and tin foil, makes me suspicous the foil was the problem.

If you have an interference problem shortenthe cable, and forget the tin foil.

With the way the fusing is, I don't see how an ecm can be that overheated.

BTW, DS doesn't apply any power to the ecm, and it's powered from the laptop, so without the laptop hooked up, it would be rare for anything to fire.

I'd do a continuity check and look for shorts before hooking up a new ecm. ie check the wiring around the EGR valve real close.
HTH

 

[TurboBob]

open the ECM up and let us know what 'fried' there should be evidence.

It was probably a quad driver chip (near the top on the lower board) caused by a bad
relay, solenoid or shorted wiring......

If this is the case, youll kill the next ECM you plug in there......and the next one, and so on.

The DS interface is powered by the ECM, BTW. Not that it matters much.

Were you running the laptop from batteries or with a cig ltr cord?

TurboBob

 

[Donald McMullin]

TurboBob "Were you running the laptop from batteries or with a cig ltr cord?"

Regarding your question, does it matter if you are running the laptop from batteries or a 12v connection with the cars electrics??

Just wondering because I am using an inverter feeding power to my laptop (12v to 120v). Have you experienced problems with this setup??

Deep Enough

Donald McMullin

 

[ri87T]

Hello, here's a pic of my lower board, it looks like one driver is fried - any clue as to what its used for, to help me pinpoint the problem?

http://members.cox.net/tparsons1/ecm.jpg

 

[charleslong]

anyone know how i can get my laptop screen darker while using my direct scan. My laptop is a TI and it runs windows 95, but my key board doesnt work. So i have to hook up an external keyboard. Anyone know how i could get my screen darker with the external keyboard? I do have a function button on it as well.

 

[69GS400s]

try a piece of window tint.....without the keyboard its kinda tough.......

perhaps in the CMOS settings there's defaults on how the display starts and what setting/brightness

another place to check would be under the power management portion.....but Win95 kinda sucked at this

Id go lo-tek and cut a piece of tint

 

[charleslong]

yeah windows 95 does suck, I will have to try the other things you recommended.

 

[Razor]

I vote for Tin Foil demon as the culprit..

May also have been the sensor connected to the blinker fluid discharge assembly..those cuase al kinds of havoc..