Scanmaster Problems

[8UWITH6]

Well after over 2 years, my scanmaster finally crapped out on me. Over the past few months, I have had trouble with it not reading all of the lines in the display face after hitting a bump. Well, usually it would keep working if I just gave it a light nudge backwards. Finally it stopped reading everything but the decimal on the knock/retard side. After close inspection, I have come to find out that the circuit board has become loose where the display is attached. So, wtf do I do? Can an electrical repair place fix it for me? Can I fix it myself with a very small tip soldering iron? Any other suggestions? No, I cant really afford to buy a new one right now............ anybody else have this problem with theirs? THANKS

 

[kev@ramchargers]

Send it to my attention. We can repair it for you.

Ramchargers
9030 General Drive
Plymouth MI, 48170
Attn Kevin

Please enclose a note containing the symptoms, mailing address, and phone number. Turn around time is about a week.

 

[8UWITH6]

Thats great, but how much? I PMed you. THANK YOU

 

[Kent Buckles]

Kevin, I bought a scanmaster about a year ago from you and have been very happy with it and the service the customer service you provided. It is good to know you stand behind your products. THANKS

 

[bishir]

Kevin,

I lost my insturctions the explain what everythink on my scanmaster means. Could you send me more or email me a scan?

Thanks,

James

 

[krom]

Originally posted by bishir
Kevin,

I lost my insturctions the explain what everythink on my scanmaster means. Could you send me more or email me a scan?

Thanks,

James

http://www.geocities.com/rad87gn/tech/scanmaster.html

 

[1Grand86]

kevin,
can you please send me the details on how much this would cost. my problem is similar to 8UWITH6's every now and then all of the lights will not be displayed. This does not happen all of the time, but when it does i have to play with it a bit to get it to work properly again. I am afraid that it is going to eventually fail all together. Also, I've had it for about a year and a half.
Thanks...
please e-mail kwik86natl@aol.com

 

[kev@ramchargers]

Sorry about the late reply, I must of cleared the notification box.

Krom, thanks for posting the link. I have not checked the board in a while.


Kent, Thanks for the kind words.


1Grand86, you have mail.

Thanks guys and I hope you all have a pleasant Holiday...

 

[boostedmaxPSI]

Sorry to add another to the list...

I have a ScanMaster that is less than a year old V2.1 and all I can get it to do is power up just long enough to see 2.1 then it powers off or at least stops displaying anything on the LED.

I made sure that I have 12vdc and a good ground but the problem still exists.

Any help is appriciated.

Happy Holidays

Frank

 

[boostedmaxPSI]

Well after going back even further in my search I found the exact same symptom that someone had in April this year. Here is what Bob had to say.

I did conect the data wire to ground and it did wake up again so, according to Bob's testing, which was very helpful, how do I test my ECM to see If my quad is bad?



Bob's Comments...

"Since your unit is powering up and displaying "2.1" your power and ground
connections are probably fine. So it would seem that the datastream is not
making it into the unit.

If the unit is receiving data, one of the decimal points (the one at the far right)
will be blinking while the unit displays "2.1".

Since the data is essentially "ground pulses" you can verify that
the Scanmaster can receive pulses by touching the data wire to
ground after the unit has gone to sleep. If you touch the data
wire to ground while the unit is sleeping the unit should go through
the "2.1" sequence again looking for data.

The data wire in the GN's is orange, I think. So look at the back side of the
ALDL connector for the orange wire and use that pin to connect to the Scanmaster.

I have seen several cases of defective ECM's, The engine runs fine but no data
comes out. What happens is the low speed fan relay or the TCC solenoid shorts out
and kills the quad chip in the ECM. Plug in another ECM and still no data
(because you killed that ECM too....) I have a small pile of ECM's that suffered this fate.

So, the above said, I'd be happy to check out and repair the Scanmaster for you. No charge.

But try the 'touch the data wire to ground' test as a first step.

Post your results here. If you want to send the unit to me for checkout
let me know, I'd be happy to help in any way I can."


Bob

 

[boostedmaxPSI]

I replaced the ECU today and the ScanMaster started working again. So... How do check/repair the quad chip in the ECU?

Where is it and what is it. The car runs perfectly normal so, is there anything that can be affected with quad chip being faulty?

Thanks
Frank