JaseNZ 53 Report post Posted April 19, 2011 (edited) So I had a new scanner turn up today that i ordered off of ebay and thought I would give it a whirl. You's may have already seen it or even own one but I have never really seen anything mentioned on here so thought i might as well put something up. Its based on pa soft's scanner, I should really rephrase that, it use's pa soft's software and a knock off copy of their hardware. If you buy it from the states it will set you back about 1k usd, I paid all up including shipping which was actually free $100 nzd. Installed the software that came with it which is the latest version of pa soft's and installed the drivers and everything worked straight away. To be honest its a lot more in-depth than I thought and you could do some damage if you did not know what you were doing. The good thing is it list out all shadow memory faults as well. Then there is the programming side of things which covers just about everything you could ever need including coding in new or used modules even coding in new or used instrument clusters. You can out everything to a log and also read live data. Its a usb based tool which is also very hand as you could use it on any lappy. I just did a scan had a look around and coded the car to flash the indicators when locking and unlocking to see if it worked and lo and behold it did. Anyway here are some pics of it hooked up to my car. Don't know how long all those errors were sitting there but have cleared them all now and will do another scan in a week to see if any of them pop back up. They can't be that bad as none of them have triggered the cel at all. On with the pics. Well worth $100 in my opinion. It also lists all the options that came with your car. Any of you guys from chch that would like a scan done free of charge of course would be more than welcome to contact me to have it done as long as its ODB2 you would be good to go. Can provide you a full log to take away with you as well Note : this is just a few pages you can go in to there are lots and lots of more Edited April 19, 2011 by M-Spec Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matt45 1 Report post Posted April 19, 2011 Thanks for posting this! very interesting. I started having a play around last night trying to get DIS installed on a virtual machine, but seems to be VERY fidly and it is not documented all that well on the internet. Does the software give you any more description than what you have screenshots of, for both Fault Codes and Feature activation? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JaseNZ 53 Report post Posted April 19, 2011 this might give you a little more info its their website. >>clicky me<< Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hybrid 1044 Report post Posted April 19, 2011 Sweet, when coding make sure your voltage is a constant 12-13+volts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matt45 1 Report post Posted April 19, 2011 (edited) mind sharing which ebay reseller you used? edit: amusing it was a ebay store not a individual person with a single unit Edited April 19, 2011 by Matt45 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_ethrty-Andy_ 2136 Report post Posted April 19, 2011 would be interested in one too if your going to get some in, though if theres free shipping not much point. +1 for whats the seller? have heard you can get apps/cable for iPad/iPhone etc and you can do it off there too, not sure if anyones heard of that? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sp8s 1 Report post Posted April 19, 2011 Thanks for posting this! very interesting. I started having a play around last night trying to get DIS installed on a virtual machine, but seems to be VERY fidly and it is not documented all that well on the internet. Does the software give you any more description than what you have screenshots of, for both Fault Codes and Feature activation? Check this out for installing DIShttp://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showt...d.php?t=1297683 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrphTa 5 Report post Posted April 19, 2011 These work on all OBDII cars correct? I have had a look online and no one will confirm that they work with the e36. Im assuming thats because only 1996 and above are OBDII. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JaseNZ 53 Report post Posted April 19, 2011 These work on all OBDII cars correct? I have had a look online and no one will confirm that they work with the e36. Im assuming thats because only 1996 and above are OBDII. Should be no reason why it would not work with your car as long as its OBDII with the rectangular female connection. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JaseNZ 53 Report post Posted April 19, 2011 mind sharing which ebay reseller you used? edit: amusing it was a ebay store not a individual person with a single unit This is the guy I got mine off of, He still has some and shipping is still free. Here is one of the auctions. >>Ebay auction<< Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sp8s 1 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 These work on all OBDII cars correct? I have had a look online and no one will confirm that they work with the e36. Im assuming thats because only 1996 and above are OBDII.Check their website: Says e46 on Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cytamen 1 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 http://www.dealextreme.com/p/bmw-scanner-c...ion-1-4-0-51768 $48 USD, free shipping. ebay is never the cheapest! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JaseNZ 53 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 http://www.dealextreme.com/p/bmw-scanner-c...ion-1-4-0-51768 $48 USD, free shipping. ebay is never the cheapest! There ya go never even know they existed. Thanks for sharing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matt45 1 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 Check this out for installing DIS http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showt...d.php?t=1297683 thanks for that. The main issue I'm having is that there are so many different versions out there of each program (GT1, DIS, SSS) it is proving difficult to find the right versions to work together. Not to mention i then need to find the Head Emulator which so far i haven't seen anywhere public. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matt45 1 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 Check their website: Says e46 on Yea pretty sure this wont work in a E36 as they used different BUS tech ? as opposed to e46/e39/e38 etc. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrphTa 5 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 Check their website: Says e46 on All I need is an adaptor from OBDII to the 20 pin diagnostic port http://www.bmw-scanner.com/download/bmwsca.../obd2-bmw20.pdf I love how people just assume you cant Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrphTa 5 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 BMW 20 pin to 16 pin OBDII For anyone that cares Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matt45 1 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 All I need is an adaptor from OBDII to the 20 pin diagnostic port http://www.bmw-scanner.com/download/bmwsca.../obd2-bmw20.pdf I love how people just assume you cant Just because you can get a cable that will connect it doesn't mean that it will work. Im 90% sure that this particular software will not talk to it hence why they don't list E36 at all. I have been wrong before tho. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrphTa 5 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 Just because you can get a cable that will connect it doesn't mean that it will work. Im 90% sure that this particular software will not talk to it hence why they don't list E36 at all. I have been wrong before tho. Hahahaha, you dont have to tell me that mate. But I guess pictures speak a thousand words right? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrphTa 5 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 I have seen scanners used on the 20 pin diagnostic port on e36's before. Must be a different version then Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3_Power 636 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 (edited) thanks for that. The main issue I'm having is that there are so many different versions out there of each program (GT1, DIS, SSS) it is proving difficult to find the right versions to work together. Not to mention i then need to find the Head Emulator which so far i haven't seen anywhere public. The EasyDIS v44 stuff (or v57 if you have the update data files) don't require an emulated diagnostic head. The software has been modified by Ken Fister to not require one. I have tried just about every single version of different diagnostic software there is out there and the EasyDIS stuff is the most popular and easiest to install (works great too). The Emulated head versions can work good provided you know how to modify the cable properly, otherwise you'll be left with certain modules not being accessible (usually the DME hidden menus and expert modes). What I have also found is the Native installs (if you have a physical diagnostic head) is a little bit more stable compared to the virtual machine versions. Nothing wrong with the virtual machine versions at all and they work great and are much easier to carry around - but when it comes to older cars having a proper diagnostic head is much better than compared to a modified DIS (i.e. EasyDIS). Also true if you are coding. Yea pretty sure this wont work in a E36 as they used different BUS tech ? as opposed to e46/e39/e38 etc. Lot of the E36 stuff is ADS - which requires a different cable or a switchable OBDII-ADS cable. most of the time you can get away with manually configuring the system rather than having it automatically recognise - but that's another lesson for another day. Oh and INPA is great too and works much faster than the GT1, although you want to be careful when using INPA as most of coding versions out there are really old and if your car has a newer coding version it won't be backwards compatible. Edited April 20, 2011 by M3_Power Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matt45 1 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 (edited) Hahahaha, you dont have to tell me that mate. But I guess pictures speak a thousand words right? Uh you have just showed a pic of a laptop running DIS this is NOT the software/unit that this thread is about. DIS is BMW Dealer software so of course it will work! Edit: Thanks for that explanation Tom! Edited April 20, 2011 by Matt45 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrphTa 5 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 I have seen scanners used on the 20 pin diagnostic port on e36's before. Must be a different version then Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JaseNZ 53 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 I have tried all of the other stuff mentioned above and to be honest I would have to say the one i just grabbed is the easiest and most comprehensive I have used. I have no idea if it would work on an e36 and I am guessing it wouldn't. This has everything I need and more and its small easy to store and I can just whip out the laptop to the car to use it no need to keep an old lappy around anymore with the serial port. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hybrid 1044 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 You can get 20pin Diag port to RS232 cables. You can get 20pin -> 16pin adapters then 16pin to RS232 DB9 you can get 16pin sqaure to FTDI chip USB adapters With Toms help in getting the cables and spending the last two weeks of my life learning about BMW DBUS and 20pin + 16pin + 96 onward US and 2000 onward Euro OBDII support. Now looking at writing a protocol converter for BMW DBUS to OBDII so it can get my Euro-only Siemens MSS50 ECU to talk to bloody racechono so I can log my sensors vs my position on the track. Will post about this more soon enough .. Edit: INPA GT1 ProgManSSS and other EDIABAS tools work on e36's. even e30's with e36 motors Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
