OBDII reader and TuneECU for Triumphs

[tomearp]

I recently purchased a cheap OBDII reader to diagnose a fault on my brother's Jag (failed lambda sensor). It will also read/reset fault codes (and show other live info such as throttle position, ignition advance, temperatures etc. depending what your ECU divulges) on lots of modern bikes. If you've got a yellow engine management light somewhere on the instrument cluster then chances are there's an OBDII port somewhere.

I was also having some issues with my Sprint. Since I bought it there was a slight, intermittent misfire on idle but not bad enough to worry about. Recently though it started surging under acceleration, to the point that riding at low speed round roundabouts it probably looked like I had no idea what a clutch is for.
My initial diagnosis of an air intake leak turned out to be correct (first time for everything), knackered "intake trumpet" which connects the air box to the throttle bodies.
Since I had already dismantled various bits to verify the diagnosis I figured it was an opportune time to check the throttle body balance. Some research led me to conclude that I needed more advanced tools to balance the throttle bodies so I went mad and splashed twenty quid on a cable that lets me use TuneECU to read additional info needed for the balance.
I'm happy to report that replacing the trumpet fixed the surging issue and the misfire, and the throttle bodies were nicely in balance.

TLDR; I now have an OBDII reader, and also a cable that allows TuneECU to work with a lot of fuel injection Triumph bikes. If anyone would like to borrow either of these for diagnostics etc. then just send me a message :)

[DC]

Hi Tom , good to hear you got to the bottom of the issues with the Sprint :cool: Do you remember my recent issues with the Bonneville EFI ? I'd run about 8 miles from cold and then it would just cut out , let it cool for 15-20 minutes and then it would run for about 4 miles and cut out . It was a right royal pain in my A**E !!! I changed the spark plugs , ignition coil unit , made up some new HT leads , fitted heat shield to the underside of the tank , fitted a new fuel pressure regulator to the pump assembly inside the tank , disconnected the tip over sensor , and scoured over every part of the intake assembly and MAP sensor hoses . It took about five weeks to nail it down , but got there in the end . It was the Ignition Sensor / Pick Up Coil .
Up to a certain VIN the windings around the magnetic core in the sensor had a resistance value of approx 580 ohms , with fairly fine wire coated in enamel and my sitting for a prolonged period with the engine running was sufficient to heat up the oil enough to cook the sensor and degrade the coating on the windings . It was a warranty issue on some bikes umpteen years ago and Triumph sent out a technical statement advising the re-positioning of the sensor to reduce the gap between it and the rotor splines from 1mm to 0.8mm . They've since addressed the problem on bikes after a certain VIN by reducing the resistance of the sensor to about half of what it was and used heavier windings , less prone to damage .

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m596/daddycool42/2016%20Bike%20Facelift/20160508_100526_zpsartiikh8.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m596/daddycool42/2016%20Bike%20Facelift/20160508_100926_zpsmknsqb0o.jpg

Anyway , since experiencing this issue and the long winded process of finding the fault , I've been looking at getting a fault code reader and saw these on amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stoga-CAN-BUS-ENGINE-SCANNER-Diagnostic/dp/B005FOIC3I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1465640034&sr=8-2&keywords=obd+ii+reader and wondered which model you went for . also I downloaded the TuneECU software for my bike but it was stored in some sort of compressed , zipped folder and I had difficulty opening and installing it on the laptop . I'd like to pick your brains on that if you don't mind :cool:

[tomearp]

That's good news you got the bonnie sorted, electrical/ignition issues are nearly always tricky to pinpoint.

The reader you've found looks fine for reading and resetting DTCs, seems to have good reviews. It doesn't mention anything about live info, but if you're going to get TuneECU up and running then that can show you all the other stuff anyway.

I went for this one, it's more expensive but I needed one the next morning and it had prime delivery options. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00XW0UABY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ApDxxbZ84QGKH

For TuneECU....
I'm assuming your bonnie isn't brand spanking new and is on the list of compatible bikes on the website. It seems that after a certain point Triumph started fitting anti-tamper devices on some ECUs that would be triggered by TuneECU. That is why some Triumph models are only listed as compatible using a Bluetooth connection and the Android smartphone app (if the app detects a Bluetooth connection it disables the map read/write features in the app).

If you're in a reasonably modern version of Windows then it should be fairly straightforward. Open Windows Explorer and find the file you downloaded (mine was TuneECUv2.5.7.zip). Right-click and look for the Extract All option in the menu that comes up. It will ask where you want to extract the files to, I chucked mine in a new folder on the desktop for simplicity.
Now if you open the folder where you extracted the files to, you can double click on TuneECU.exe. A window comes up first with some Ts&Cs (basically says if you change your engine map it's at your risk etc.), after accepting it will open the programme.

Hope this info helps :)

[DC]

Cheers Tom , all downloaded . The Bonnie's 8 years old and is compatible with the V 2.5.7 software . Have been looking at different OBD-2 USB cables on Amazon but Triumph Twin Power claim their cable has a " superior chip set with proven reliability and minimum disconnects " . Are they just blowing their own " Trumpet " pardon the pun , and are the cables all much of a muchness or is it worth spending The £20 they ask and getting a decent one ?
Just got to chew my way through TuneECU's user manual :rolleyes:

[tomearp]

Cool :) that should work fine then.

For a cable I went for this one: http://lonelec.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=57_25&product_id=52

They are generally much of a muchness. I chose this one because I read some posts where people had trouble with the connection dropping intermittently, and when they tried this lead it stopped happening.
Not all cables are created equal of course, I suspect with the 'other' cables the screen was improperly terminated (or not at all), so most likely culprit for dropouts is interference. If you've got the engine running, then the ignition system is a good, strong localised source of it! The lonelec lead appears to be properly screened, and they have also attached a clip-on ferrite to either end which should also help reduce interference from external sources. I didn't experience any issues.

Before plugging the lead in I fetched the latest FTDI driver package and installed it, then rebooted and plugged the lead in. http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/CDM/CDM21216_Setup.exe

Once I started TuneECU it took a couple of moments, but did automatically connect. I guess it probably takes a few seconds to work out what bike you've connected to so it knows how to talk to it.

[DC]

Cheers Tom , will probably go for the TTP cable , There's an install link for the cable drivers available on the same page . I've had a few bits from them before and they seem to come highly recommended .

[tomearp]

cool :) if you need any other help then just shout. apart from engine mapping lol as I have no idea about that