New Diagnostic Software for MBE ECU

[EvoOlli]

As far as I know: If you have one of the new MBE ECUs from Dom it should have a CAN Bus Connection and for that you need a special diagnostic adaptor. I think Dom will help you with that.

[ClassiChimi]

EvoOlli said:

As far as I know: If you have one of the new MBE ECUs from Dom it should have a CAN Bus Connection and for that you need a special diagnostic adaptor. I think Dom will help you with that.

Ok thanks

[N7GTX]

ClassiChimi said:

EvoOlli said:

As far as I know: If you have one of the new MBE ECUs from Dom it should have a CAN Bus Connection and for that you need a special diagnostic adaptor. I think Dom will help you with that.

Ok thanks

Al, your car will probably have an MBE9A9(V8) ECU. It will have an OBD 16 pin connector similar to all modern cars and on mine it is on the passenger's side under the dash next to the tunnel if Dom fitted it. It looks like this:


If you want to connect a simple OBD scan tool you can if it has the latest software which I assume you will have. It wont allow reprogramming but should allow you to see any faults.

All the info you need is available from SBD Motorsport and their website is really helpful. Try not to look at how much you paid for your MBE when comparing to their price list. They also list the various connectors should you want to start your own tuning company

http://www.sbdev.co.uk/Engine_Management_Systems/E...

The Easimap 6 mapping software is free to download too:

http://www.sbdev.co.uk/Engine_Management_Systems/E...

Edited by N7GTX on Wednesday 30th November 15:30

[PaulleeT350]

Hello Olli,
Great software has been working ok but I am unable to reset the codes it will not clear them.

Thanks
Paul

[RMS5]

Hi, I’ve had a few problems with my TVR Tuscan with the engine stuttering on acceleration below 2500 revs and occasionally losing power while driving. One suggestion is that the ECU memory chip’s battery is failing. If I get a new chip, I’m told I will need to reset the tuning parameters. Is this a matter of simply slotting the new chip into the ECU and clicking on ‘Reset Adaptives’ before running the engine, or am I being hopelessly naive? Many thanks for any tips on this! - Mike

[Englishman]

RMS5 said:

Hi, I’ve had a few problems with my TVR Tuscan with the engine stuttering on acceleration below 2500 revs and occasionally losing power while driving. One suggestion is that the ECU memory chip’s battery is failing. If I get a new chip, I’m told I will need to reset the tuning parameters. Is this a matter of simply slotting the new chip into the ECU and clicking on ‘Reset Adaptives’ before running the engine, or am I being hopelessly naive? Many thanks for any tips on this! - Mike

Yes, that will do it. BTW, the battery-backed RAM chips can be found at a fraction of the price the usual suspects offer them. e.g. https://www.mouser.co.uk/

[RMS5]

Englishman said:

Yes, that will do it. BTW, the battery-backed RAM chips can be found at a fraction of the price the usual suspects offer them. e.g. https://www.mouser.co.uk/

Many thanks for the information (and the tip-off!) Let's hope this cures the problem

[Nenad]

Have just spent a couple of hours with my mechanic, looking for the damned diagnostics connector! I thought that I'd found it a couple of years ago – a 3-pin one, but MBETool couldn't find the ECU. I know PC s/w and h/w well enough to state with authority that the cables and ports are OK, so that's not an issue.

Talking to Jason at Str8six, he said that there 'may be' an additional, identical 3-pin plug under the steering column, for headlight levelling (!), which I can safely ignore. But I only have one plug there, and the wires are the wrong colour according to Jason – anyway, it's never worked. And Jason was adamant that there is no other connector for my 2003 Tuscan S!

However, my mechanic found an OBD, 16-lead female connector under the dashboard on the passenger side, with the wire colours on pins 2,3 and 5 corresponding to the colours that Jason indicated: black/white, white/red, white/green. But Jason insists that there's no diagnostics connector other than the 3-pin one in my car! Mind you, last time he saw the car was in 2011, getting it ready for my move to Malaysia...

Knowing enough, and occasionally more than I wish, about the TVR factory and its 'jolly' approach to car making – does it make sense? As my car was one of the last original Tuscans, is it possible that they'd wired the ECU to the OBD connector, and omitted the 3-pin one?

Anyway, I've decided to make a cable – OBD to serial – and try it out, but the Cannon/Farnell numbers in the Varley bible are out of date. Suggestions, please?

Any help very much appreciated!

[spitfire4v8]

Yep the run-out cars had an OBD style connector (though it just transfers data as per the original serial port versions) so what you have found is the diags plug. All the last of line cars have it from what I've seen so I don't know how some garages are connecting to the ecu if they don't know it exists.

[EvoOlli]

I can confirm that there are cars which have the OBD but no 3pin connector. Some cars have both.
I can give you the pin no./connection info this evening, don't have the documentation here at work.

[Englishman]

Yes my latest Tuscan has this connector too on the passenger side. I now have three cables for connecting various ECU connectors to a PC/laptop/phone to cater for all types!

16 Pin ODB Connector pin-out:

Pin 2 - Receive
Pin 3 - Transmit
Pin 5 - Ground

I used this ODB connector as advertised on the bay: 370763592680

Edited by Englishman on Friday 12th July 08:46

[Nenad]

Thanks ever so much, Spitfire and Olli! You've restored my faith in mankind! Or should that be TVRkind? It proves that I've not gone mental, looking for things that aren't there

Spitfire – I still trust Jason at Str8six but I'd venture to guess that he's focussed on jobs that pay immediately rather than taking the long-term, CRM view and advising his customers for free. He did a great job for me last year, replacing a cracked head. Yes, you read it right, a cracked head – supposedly a very rare occurrence, but then it happened in Malaysia, with air temperatures never dropping below 29 at night and hovering around 32-37 in daytime. And it wasn't cheap...

Olli – You're an amazing guy, still providing support for your excellent s/w and offering free advice on cable connections. As far as I've found out, it's still pins 2,3 and 5 on both ends, whether D-sub or ODB, but I still need to source the connector and the pins. Here in Malaysia, I've got Element14 (ex-Farnell) online, with a warehouse in Singapore and delivering within two days! Used them extensively when I rewired my old Harley and I was never disappointed!

[Nenad]

Thanks for your tip, Dave, I'm checking it out!

[fredd1e]

Just adding a bit more info (or confusion?) to the diag connector type /location. My T350C possibly one of the 1st batch built as it rolled of the production line in late 2002 and was registered early Jan 2003 has the OBD connector diag plug in the passenger footwell. This was found by HHC when my extensive search for the 3 pin plug in the driver footwell found nothing that was connected to the ECU (there's at least 2 three pin plugs sitting loose down there).

[Nenad]

Thank you very much, Freddie, for posting this! It's reassuring to know that there's a large number of us, as TVR never expected it, Tuscan owners, to question the wiring confusion – sooner or later all of us will find the fu...ing connector, wherever it may be – as it's all about the workers using whichever components that were available on the day, and getting flak if they questioned it...

Great fking car – shame about the details!

[Granturadriver]

fredd1e said:

Just adding a bit more info (or confusion?) to the diag connector type /location. My T350C possibly one of the 1st batch built as it rolled of the production line in late 2002 and was registered early Jan 2003 has the OBD connector diag plug in the passenger footwell.

So is mine as well, however, it is an April 2003 T350c. As you wrote I found the three pin connector in the drivers footwell and did not get any connection.

Talking to my mechanic he told me to look for the OBD connector in the passenger footwell, he is using for service and diagnostic, and tadaaa... it was there and worked!

[gkronberg]

Hi
old laptop died, now on a newer version and cannot get it to communicate

Cannot connect to COM1 access denied ?

pop up - E/A - Fehler 103 ???

opened as admin
went into device manager and checked Com1 ..

any help please , if possible .

I am on Windows 10

thanks Gavin - Melbourne Australia

[ginkent]

Fairly sure you need Windows XP or earlier

[Englishman]

Yes, you need XP to run the original TVR application.

However, the one produced by EvoOlli, available from the first page of this thread, works on Windows 10 and is very good!

[Nenad]

A big THANK YOU to everyone that's helped me and pointed me in the right direction! Once I got the plug delivered, and with a bit of soldering, it worked!!! Never mind that the RX and TX terminals had swapped wire colours... You may want to check that the wiring works with the loose connectors first, before you permanently insert them in the plug.

Now I just need to figure out why my adaptives are too high...

But seriously, shouldn't this be a subject on its own, and significant enough - the possible locations and different types of the diagnostics socket? (And wire colours...) I'm sure that I'm not the only one that's wasted a lot of time looking for a socket that isn't there!