Gauges work during replay, but not during scan

[JohnL]

My first post- please be gentle :)

I've helped a friend get his Flashscan 7.1.8 going today. I've got some experience building my own scanning and burning gear for Delco PROM's, but LS1 stuff is new to me.

After some hassle doing the installation of the drivers (had to go the "add hardware" route through Control Panel), we got connected- cool 8) . Now the software didn't ask me for the car type (I think the manual indicates it should), but it correctly downloaded the VIN. However, although we got standard dashboard displays of spark, LTF's, and coolant (IIRC), the RPM, MAF and TPS gauges were dead.

I saved the log and replayed it, and then all the gauges worked fine :idea: :?:

Any idea what I'm doing wrong to only have "half" the gauges running while scanning?

John

Edit: the car is a Holden Commodore VT Exec LS1 A4.

[Blacky]

It is possible that the *very* first time EFILive is run (after an installation) and connected to a vehicle that the PIDs get "unlinked" from the gauges.

Try exiting from EFILive, restarting and reconnecting to the vehicle.
After connecting, perform a manual PID validation (Shift+F2).
Then try logging data.

If you still have problems, please generate a "User Error Report" by pressing Ctrl+G after you have stopped logging. Save the report that is generated and email to me at paul@efilive.com

Regards
Paul

[JohnL]

Thanks Paul,

I'll give that a try later in the week.

John

[dbaxter_ss]

blacky
I have had this happen several times now.

1 fix was to unplug and plug back into the usb port.
other was I had tune still running in the background since I had just flashed a new tune, and started the car and opened scan from inside tune.

I now do not have both running at the same time while scanning.

[johnsZ06]

I've had it happen to me also. I thought it was just a fluke!

[kp]

Everytime I hook up a new car the gauges never work right until I do an 'open dashboard file' and load it for some reason. Some of the gauges will work initailly but some are not reading the correct values.

The DATA (F9) page diplays everything correctly but the gauges dont work. I thought maybe I was missing a step somewhere :)

[dbaxter_ss]

seen this too, gages dont work but charts do?

[JohnL]

It is possible that the *very* first time EFILive is run (after an installation) and connected to a vehicle that the PIDs get "unlinked" from the gauges.That appears to be it Paul.

We got the car up onto the dyno yesterday, and had no instrument display problems. Very cool also to be able to lock up the shifts in the A4- this is great software.

Next issue appears to be that after I added half a dozen calculated PIDS to the standard PID list, I only got a few points logged where I would have expected hundreds of frames. Is there any way of telling what sort of "load" a larger PID selection places on the scanning tool?

Thanks,

John

[Blacky]

Very cool also to be able to lock up the shifts in the A4- this is great software.

One thing to watch out for is that at high rpms the PCM may drop out of bidirectional controls. At high rpms even if the PCM does drop out of bidi controls it is highly unlikely that the transmission will downshift - so you won't know it has dropped out of bidi control.
However, if it has dropped out of bidi control then on the very next dyno run you may find the transmission kicking back to 2nd gear.
If the PCM has exited bidi control (or even if it has not and you just want to be sure before the next run), then to put the car back into bidi control:
While the car is idling on the dyno, select 4th gear and then reselect 3rd gear. That will re-send the "hold third gear" command to the PCM.


Next issue appears to be that after I added half a dozen calculated PIDS to the standard PID list, I only got a few points logged where I would have expected hundreds of frames. Is there any way of telling what sort of "load" a larger PID selection places on the scanning tool?

Adding calculated PIDs should not slow down the data logging speed - unless you have a particularly slow laptop (<800MHz).

Adding non calculated PIDs will slow it down if you go over 24 channels. "Number of channels selected" is displayed at the bottom of the [PIDs] selection tab page.

You can monitor frame logging speed by pressing Ctrl+Y while data logging - it shows the "Profile" window that displays the current logging mode (in the profile window's title bar) and logging speed - press Ctrl+Y again to hide it.

Also, make sure you are using "Asynchronous 10fps" scan mode. You can selec the Scan mode to use in Properties window (Ctrl+Enter), on the [Logging] tab page in the "Scan mode:" section.

However, if you select more than 24 channels, EFILive will automatically drop down to Dynamic scan mode (usually about 6-9 frames per second).
If you sleect more than 36 channels then EFILive will drop down to General scan mode, usually about 1-5 frames per second.

Also Appendix-E and Appendix-G in the Scan Tool manual have more info on PIDs and logging speeds.

Regards
Paul

[JohnL]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply Paul. I'll remember the 4th then 3rd procedure- that's sounds like a good habit to avoid the kickdown.

I certainly had more than 24 channels, but the laptop is a new HP/Compaq, so speed shouldn't be an issue. I'll check the frame and logging rate this weekend.

Thanks again,

John

[mnotx]

Also, make sure you are using "Asynchronous 10fps" scan mode. You can selec the Scan mode to use in Properties window (Ctrl+Enter), on the [Logging] tab page in the "Scan mode:" section.

However, if you select more than 24 channels, EFILive will automatically drop down to Dynamic scan mode (usually about 6-9 frames per second).
If you sleect more than 36 channels then EFILive will drop down to General scan mode, usually about 1-5 frames per second.


Is the "Asynchronous 10fps" scan mode faster and more accurate than the "Dynamic" mode with 24 channels? I always used dynamic mode in V6 and never experimented with anything else. I might want to change my selection with V7 since I keep my channels to 24 or less.

[Blacky]

Is the "Asynchronous 10fps" scan mode faster and more accurate than the "Dynamic" mode with 24 channels? I always used dynamic mode in V6 and never experimented with anything else. I might want to change my selection with V7 since I keep my channels to 24 or less.

See the graphs in Appendix E of ths Scan Tool manaual for scan mode speeds with varying numbers of channels selected.

Neither mode is more accurate. The difference, apart form speed, is this:

In 10fps mode, EFILive sends a single command to the PCM, the PCM then sends back to EFILive 10 frames of data per second without any further requests from EFILive.

In Dynamic mode, EFILive sends a command to the PCM and the PCM returns a single frame of data. EFILive must continually send commands to the PCM to receive each frame of data. With smaller frames (i.e. less channels) that process is faster than 10fps. With larger frames (i.e. more channels) that process is slower than 10fps. The crossover point is about 12 channels depending on the speed of your PC.

Regards
Paul

[mnotx]

Thanks, Paul!