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Land Rover Discovery I and OBD-2
Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:01 pm
by barnabasdk
Hi all,
Can any of you recomend an obd-2 reader for a 96 Land Rover Discovery I ES? It is equipped with the Lucas Hotwire system.
I want one that interfaces to a Laptop PC, so that I kan fiddle with the software myself.
Do you have any recomendations?
The current problem is the ABS light being on. I suspect a sensor on one of the wheels. The brakes are fine - I took them apart the other weekend.
Do anyone know if the ECU will tell you a fault code for the braking system as well as the Injection?
with regards
Nikolaj Hansen
Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 8:22 pm
by jwriyadh
You need to be very careful selecting an OBD2 scanner to access the non-emissions part of a Disco 1. OBD2 is primarily supposed to access the engine management system for emissions purposes, Land Rover, like many other manufacturers extended the OBD2 mission in their own sweet way, not to any international standards. Since they would be reluctant to release details, any OBD2 scanner manufacturer would have to reverse-engineer the system to provide access to the ABS, and other ECUs. Not really worthwhile in this GM/Ford/Chrysler/Japcrap world. Keep looking, you may be lucky.
If you succeed in your quest for a suitable scanner you will then be disappointed to find that the engine management system of a Disco 1 is non-OBD2 compliant. The Hotwire ECU is a little sweetie dreamt up by Bosch/Lucas deliberately designed to make customer access difficult, one look at the design shouts this out loudly.
The cheapest access I know of is the Rovacom-Lite, this wll access both the engine ECU and the ABS ecu(via different test sockets), and other ecu the Disco may have installed.
Next, having obtained access you will be disappointed to discover that the scanner/Rovacom will not allow you to "fiddle with the software". You will be presented with the options that Land Rover chose to offer you, mainly for customisation to different markets. You will of course be able to read fault codes stored in the system.
The engine management and the braking system are controlled by two seperate ecu, as above, both with different access paths. So each can only store fault codes relevant to it's own sphere of operations.
Sorry to give you the bad news and screw up your access plans, the good news is that most of the problems on a Disco 1 can be sorted with thought and a voltmeter.
jw