DHL International Express- Thumbs Up

My earlier experience with ordering an OpenPort cable from evoscan NZ, went sore thanks to the cheap, un-tracked shipment method I selected. After a long wait of 8 months and contemplating, ordered another cable last week, on 15-Jul-2010. This time opted for the DHL Internation Express courier option costing a whopping $47(the cable price was $57 !). I was in constant touch with Hamish at evoscan, who informed that the cable was shipped on 18-Jul-2010. After that, I was refreshing the DHL site 24x7. tracking the journey of my courier and waiting for the shipment status updates. After all, it was my second experience in buying something online, that too as desirable thing like an OBDII datalogging cable. After a long 6 days wait, on 24-Jul-2010, around noon, got a call from the DHL office, Trivandrum informing my package has arrived. Twenty minutes later, I was holding my cable, grinning like a child. I must admit, it was fun tracking the package through each stage and waiting for it to arrive. To remember the buying experience of my coveted cable forever, here goes the complete tracking info, lifted from the DHL online tracking tool.

Airwaybill Number		Origin Service Area		Destination Service Area		Status
1699396101		Auckland - New Zealand		South India Regional Area - India		Signed for by: SARAT Shipment delivered July 24, 2010 13:46

1699396101 - Detailed Report
Date		Time		Location Service Area		Checkpoint Details
July 20, 2010		16:48		Auckland - New Zealand		Shipment picked up
July 20, 2010		17:20		Auckland - New Zealand		Processed at Auckland - New Zealand
July 21, 2010		07:44		Auckland - New Zealand		Processed at Auckland - New Zealand
July 21, 2010		07:50		Auckland - New Zealand		Departed from DHL facility in Auckland - New Zealand
July 21, 2010		22:37		Singapore - Singapore		Arrived at DHL facility in Singapore - Singapore
July 22, 2010		00:42		Singapore - Singapore		Processed at Singapore - Singapore
July 22, 2010		00:55		Singapore - Singapore		Processed at Singapore - Singapore
July 22, 2010		03:06		Singapore - Singapore		Departed from DHL facility in Singapore - Singapore
July 22, 2010		12:34		New Delhi - India		Arrived at DHL facility in New Delhi - India
July 22, 2010		14:14		New Delhi - India		Clearance processing complete at New Delhi - India
July 22, 2010		14:26		New Delhi - India		Processed at New Delhi - India
July 22, 2010		16:09		New Delhi - India		Processed at New Delhi - India
July 22, 2010		16:17		New Delhi - India		Departed from DHL facility in New Delhi - India
July 22, 2010		23:58		Madras - India		Arrived at DHL facility in Madras - India
July 23, 2010		07:15		Madras - India		Processed at Madras - India
July 23, 2010		07:46		Madras - India		Processed at Madras - India
July 23, 2010		07:47		Madras - India		Departed from DHL facility in Madras - India
July 23, 2010		09:32		Madras - India		Arrived at DHL facility in Madras - India
July 23, 2010		16:44		Madras - India		Departed from DHL facility in Madras - India
July 24, 2010		12:00		South India Regional Area - India		Shipment on hold
July 24, 2010		12:15		South India Regional Area - India		Awaiting pick up by recipient as requested
July 24, 2010		13:44		South India Regional Area - India		With delivery courier
July 24, 2010		13:46		South India Regional Area - India		Shipment delivered

Lessons Learnt: For any online purchases of significant cost, never go for an untracked cheap shipping option. The additional money spent on the courier charges is worth than the money lost in the missing item and the mental agony. My experience is that DHL rocks, though some online reviews says horror stories. The item was tracked in each of its stages and the customs clearance was also fast. Highly recommended for my future endeavors if any.

Self Diagnosis Flash Lights for Mitsubishi Lancer 4G15

After playing with the OBDII port of my car and with the help from WWW, I could activate the self diagnosis mode of the Mitsubishi Lancer 4G15 ECU.

By doing a simple routine, we can read the error codes recorded in the ECU. The error codes are interpreted from the pattern of flashing of the Engine Check Light (ECL) in the dash.

The above pic shows the schematic of the 16 Pin OBDII port. For the Mitsubishi lancer 4G15, only pins 1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 16 are available. The OBDII port of my car is located under the dash board on the driver side- straight under the steering. We have to lie down on the car floor to clearly see it though.

Steps:

1. Turn ignition key to OFF position.

2. Short pin 1 and pin 4. We can use a metallic paper clip- inert one end of the clip to pin 1 and other to pin 4.

3. Turn ignition key to ON position.

The Check engine light in the dash will blink in a pattern. If there are no error codes, the light will stay on for 0.5 seconds, then stay off for 1 second and this pattern will repeat.

If there are error codes, then the error code can be interpreted from the pattern. A 0.5 seconds duration of illumination represents a unit of 10 and a 0.2 seconds illumination represent a unit of 1.

In my car, there was a 0.5 second duration illumination followed by four 0.2 seconds duration illuminations. Which means the error code was 14 !.

A table which shows the error codes and reason. I don't say I have 100% faith about the authenticity of this data.

11 Oxygen sensor

12 Intake air flow sensor

13 Intake air temperature sensor

14 Throttle position sensor

15 ISC motor position sensor

21 Engine coolant temperature sensor

22 Engine speed sensor

23 TDC sensor

24 Vehicle speed sensor

25 Barometric pressure sensor

31 Knock sensor

41 Injector circuit

42 Fuel pump relay

43 EGR

44 Ignition coil

36 Ignition circuit

From this, error code detected for my car was Throttle position sensor error. I need to verify this with an MUTII scanner used by Mitsubishi A.S.S. If both my finding and the tool are having an agreement, then we can conclude that the above table is correct.

PS: To clear the error codes, the -ve terminal of the battery should be disconned for more than 16sec. I havnt done this since I am waiting to go to Mitsu A.S.S and confirm the error code is indeed 14.

Update: Even after repeated visits to the Mitsu A.S.S in TVM, couldnt verify the error code as they dont have the MUT scanner with them at the moment. After reading some more reliable sources online, it seems I can almost conclude that the error is indeed TPS Error.

OBDII Jungle- prologue

Some couple of months back, I was bitten by the thought of learning about engine management systems and the procedure for reading trouble codes and engine parameters through the OBDII port or the Data Link Locator. I am specifically interested in reading different engine parameters from the ECU of my Mitsubishi Lancer 4G15. If success, then the live engine data from different vehicle sensors could be displayed on a screen inside the car(Another reason to convince myself for a CarPC). There are host of engine parameters like rpm, coolant temp, air flow (MAF), Inlet Air Temp (IAT), AFR that could be read. With all the cool live info, my Car will be a Bond Car -:)

The concept is simple. In a modern day automobile, the ECU is sort of a computer which virtually controls every single system. It reads from different sensors like, Inlet air temp, Air flow, fuel temp etc. Based on the input values, it decides on the amount of fuel to be injected, the ignition timing (when that fuel to be burned) etc so that engine burns fuel optimally at all times. In simple terms, ECU read signals from different sensors and based on the readings, fed the engine optimally. It is the sensor values that the ECU reads is what I am interested in. Through a port called the OBDII port or Data Link Locator (DLC) or whatever, we can read the values that ECU reads- realtime. This port is a standard for most of the passenger cars after 1996. OBDII is the protocol used to communicate with this interface. Mitsubishi vehicles uses a proprietary protocol called MUT over OBDII. My car is believed to be using MUTII protocol.

During the operation of vehicle, if the ECU detects any malfunction in any sensor readings, it stores the corresponding error codes in it so that a technician can diagnose it later.

After a bit of googling and understanding the above stuff and some more, I started the search for a cheap option to read data through the DLC. Basically a cable-laptop-software combonation. Cable would connect the laptop with the OBDII port and the software would read and display data. Simple. I came across a software called EVOSCAN (google to get link). There were different cables available, starting from read-only cables to more costly read-write cables.

The cable I needed was OpenPort 1.3D, which is a read-only cable. Ordered one by spending around $67. The cable was to be shipped from NZ. Made a mistake in choosing the cheap shipping option without Tracking. Cable was not delivered. First step is a failure. But everybody falls the first time.

Forgot the entire stuff and one day, the dream of the bond car stuck again. This time decided to try to learn how OBDII interface works. Spent hours reading different forums. Found some interesting links where the circuit designs for the interface cable is available. A Home made MUTII datalogging cable sounds cool. After scouting the WWW for days, I came to understand one thing. Its pure electronics- thats Spanish to me(I am a mechanical engineer destined to work in IT). But then I have learned electronics/electrical more than I have ever learned in my engineering days. I dont fear PCBs anymore.

Some interesting links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics

http://www.myrollingroad.com/cmps_index.php

http://evoscan.com/technical-vehicle-manuals

http://www.aktivematrix.com/blog/

Mitsubishi Lancer 4G15.at 50K Km- a Review

This is a marker. My first blog should be about my all time favorite car. Coming soon