87-88 IL4 ECU Comms (Page 2/2)
phonedawgz MAY 08, 01:35 AM
For scanning the only thing needed along with TunerPro RT is the .adx file.

With TunerPro RT, once you load the .adx file for the 87-88 Fiero 2.5 you can read in technical english the parameters it uses to activate and receive the data stream.

After activating TunerPro RT and waiting past the nag screen go to Acquisition - Load Definition File - 1987 - 88 2.5 Fiero $48.ADX

Then with the proper cable attached you have to tell TunerPro RT where it is. Tools - Preferences - Data Acquistion/Emulation - and in the box to the LEFT (Data Aquisition and Logging) make sure the top box says Interface type USE PLUG IN and then hit Configure Plug In Component

Select the COM port your computer assigned your cable. Typically this is COM3 but it might be different depending on how many COM devices you have used with your computer.

As a test (only works with bi-directional cables) hit TEST FOR VALID INTERFACE USING SETTINGS and see if it passes. As a test the program will send a byte out on transmit and look for it to be returned on receive.

Assuming this is all working close the dialog boxes and then with the vehicle connected and key on (engine on or off) hit the "left & right" arrow icon and the laptop should make contact with the ecm and start scanning. A status box on the bottom, the fourth one over should change from yellow DA NOT CONNECTED to pink CONNECTING and then to blue CONNECTED.

Bottom status boxes 1 and 2 are for an emulation function, which you are not using. So ignore the fact that status box number 2 says HARDWARE NOT FOUND. That is talking about the emulation hardware.

Now back to the top tool bar - A few icons to the right of the double left right arrow is a speedo icon and a sprial topped notebook icon. The speedo icon is used to display a programmable dash function. The notepad icon is to display the real time data inputs along with the error codes. You will have to resize these screens to see all the data.


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With the data flow off - you can view and if you want, edit the .adx file. Acquisition - Edit Defintion will get you there.

Under COMMANDS - see TRANSMIT STREAM SEND - That is what is sent to activate the single stream of data

Then the data stream will reply

And then you send it again and receive again. And again. and again. That is how it works with the bi-directional.

Under VALUES is where how to decode the data stream

BITMAPS are the CEL codes

There is only one look up table - for temp - well two one in F and one in C
phonedawgz MAY 08, 03:46 AM
There was no OBD1

Just like there was no WW1. Just "The Great War". Then when the next great war came along the Great War was renamed to WW1.

GM called the data stream ALDL - Assembly Line Data Link. It is now colloquially known as OBD1. Well technically GM OBD1. Ford had their own OBD1. And so did Mopar and all the others. TunerPro only works with GM OBD1 (and anyone who did use GM ECMs)

There is a guy who wrote a scan version of TunerPro RT for Android. He chose to use the same .adx file definitions. It's ALDLdroid

The .adx files are more from end users than from the author of TunerPro RT.

So lets say you used the .adx files just as is and adapted to them. And then you included all the .adx files on your install disk. Not just the Fiero ones, but all of them. Then the user could select the vehicle by selecting the needed .adx file. And now your program works for all of the vehicles listed that have .adx files.
Romsk MAY 08, 08:54 AM
Thanks for all the tips, that helps a lot. It looks like I will have to buy TunerPro RT to learn what is in the ADX files. Ok, no need for BINs, but that does pique my interest into what is in the PROMS.

So, ALDL is sometimes called OBD-I due to the "WWI Naming Effect", got it.

My GUI is really only for the Fiero. I could write an ADX interpreter for it and that would open it up to hundreds of models of vehicles. But here is the rub, I also offer free consultations on hunting down Fiero issues... if folks that, say, own a BMW, I would not be able to help them. Besides, I dont like BMWs... I am a Mercedes-Benz man - I love my SLK280; I am springing it from its winter cage this weekend. Also, the guages on my GUI look like the Fiero dashboard. I would have to make it more generic. I read TunerPro RT is over 100K lines of code. My GUI is only 33K lines of code so far.

The saga:
The tool started out 10 years ago. I was bored so I slapped together a simple application just to display the ALDL data in hex. My first adapter was for RS-232 and was based on the homemade cables that are common on the web. I didn't like "fooling" the UART in my PC with ALDL pulses looking like ASCII characters as pseudo RS-232 frames, it was creating comms errors and just like my code compiles with zero errors and zero warnings, I don't like errors operationally. So, I used a Parallax P-Stamp to measure the ALDL pulse widths and sent proper data to my serial port as ASCII '1's and '0's - no errors. That adapter had a knob on it to set the 4 ALDL modes using open/10K/3.9K/short. So, I expanded the GUI for fun. I wrote it all in National Instruments LabWindows/CVI because Microsoft's Visual Studio can be quirky at times. CVI is a more robust tool and used in the Aerospace and Defense industry. I posted a download for my GUI on my minimalist website, and included drawings on how to make the Adapters. One issue with my GUI back then is that it dropped every other ALDL frame. This was because while I was displaying data I didn't grab the next frame in the background. So, I made the comms routine multi-threaded and now while I display one frame, the next is being grabbed in the background. I had a whopping 3 users world wide! The P-Stamp was about $72 dollars at the time, so I switched to an Arduino UNO which was only $23. But I was getting e-mails from my users if I could make the new Adapters for them. The box to hold an Ardunio was costly, so I went to an Adafruit Trinket M0 (smaller than a P-Stamp) and is only $9. I sold a couple of those Adapters at cost for around $54 in order as I need it pricing - my idea was keep it low cost to my fellow Fiero followers. Because the Trinket is 3.3V I/O, I had to have a tiny circuit board with Zener Diode Limiters to protect the I/O pins. I was selling about one every 6 months. The circuit boards were hand wired proto boards, not a lot of circuitry, but still slow to build. I found JLCPCB in Hong Kong and they made PCBs for me at 33 cents each (with shipping factored in for lots of 25) and they 3D printed my ALDL connector backshells for about $3 each (with shipping for lots of 25) very high quality - they look like they were injected molded after they sand blast them. This made assembling the Adapters a breeze. The new circuit board can now select the ALDL Mode via comms to the Trinket. Since the Trinket has a Dotstar multi-color LED on it, I display that on my Adapter for status (a soda straw/hot glue light tube that looks like a standard LED outside the case). The ALDL connector on Fieros have a pin to power up the Fuel Pump so I added a jack for that. I had 2 I/O left on the Trinket so I use them for the SES and Shift signals (if the user wants to add those wires to the ALDL Connector in their car). If wired in the car, my GUI and Adapter can read the Error Codes for you! I let the computer count the SES flashes and light up LEDs in the GUI as to which EC is set. But if you go old school and count the flashes yourself, you still use the GUI to look them up. Then you can left click on an LED and you get a pop-up with more info on that error code and what to look for in the Fiero.

At this point I was selling about 1 a month (still at cost). The Fiero Store caught wind of it and we made a deal to sell my adapters through them. They insisted that I stop building them for cost and add in my time for labor and profit. I did, but kept it all very modest. Now I am selling about 10 per month retail. But no good deed goes unpunished... the 'Tariff War' is increasing the cost. But at least I can now go with US companies (if they stay tariff competitive) for my PCBs and 3D printed backshells.

So, expand this beyond Fieros? No thanks, I have my hands full right now (laugh). This was only supposed to be a hobby.

[This message has been edited by Romsk (edited 05-08-2025).]

phonedawgz MAY 09, 03:04 AM
No need to buy TunerPro RT. It runs 100% after a 10 second nag screen.
Romsk MAY 11, 04:24 PM
For those of you following the saga:

My GUI now reads in a DLL (that works sort of like a ADX file, but a direct library code - its very fast and efficient) for the 1227170 ECM. It contains all the info the GUI needs to read/convert/and display the ALDL data for that ECM. I have tables in the DLL for:
Rally (Normal) Mode Data
Rally Mode Flags
Test (DMALDL, DMFACT, and DMDIAG) Mode Data
Test Mode Flags
Error Codes
Polynomial Coefficients to Calculate Non-Linear curves: IAT, CTS, MAP

Right now my GUI has interactive help on all the Status and Malfunction Flags, as well as Error Codes. I think I may expand the DLLs to include that text in the DLLs if it differs much among the Fiero ECMs.

A DLL for each of the Fiero ECMs (5 in all) will be included with the GUI - when I figure out their comms.

I simulated using the GUI at 8192 baud and my text display was faster than that frame rate!
But when I added in updating the graphical gauges, it slowed down.

I am going to add a feature where you can select (a la cart) which overhead functions to disable so you can get true real time at 8ms per frame display that my GUI can handle. Of course the more you turn on, the slower the update rate, but 8192 baud data will still be pretty smooth even with everything turned on.

Overhead:
Saving data to a recording file
Displaying the data as text
Doing just the two above can keep up with the 8192 baud data with plenty of time to spare.

Less important in real time (can still be viewed on playback):
Updating the Guages in the GUI
Updating the Performance Curve Display
Updating the Knock Counting (there are no knock counters on Fiero - I estimate them only)
Updating the Status and Malfunction LEDs in the GUI
Updating the Air/Fuel block display
Updating the O2 Sensor response curve
Updating the Graph.

Even with everything enabled, I still expect a better than 10 frames per second update rate in 8192 baud.

But when driving (where you shouldn't watch the GUI anyway), the Capture button (instead of Record) just records data with nothing else being displayed (not even text). So you can take it on a long drive (your assistant can mark the recording with events as you drive), and then play it all back to see how the ECM is working.

I hope to have the 1985 V6 ECM in my hands next week. It's only 160 baud, so it's easy to keep up with the data even with everything enabled.

[This message has been edited by Romsk (edited 05-11-2025).]

Romsk MAY 16, 09:31 PM
I just borrowed a 1985 2.8L V6 MPFI ECM. It has all the same pin outs as the 1986 to 1988 2.8L V6 MPFI ECM, except the 'TCC OR SHIFT' signal is on pin A2 instead of A7.

I plugged it into my ECM test fixture and the ALDL Data looks identical to the later V6 ECM version. The Rally/Fuel Consumption data in NORM Mode is different as it was premilinary for all Fieros as it was never offered, so that is what it is.

If the 1985 ECM used all the same sensors as the 1896-1988 ECM, then I am all set to support the 1985 V6 ECM in my GUI. If any sensors are different, I just need to add in new conversion factors/polynomial coefficients for those sensors. I think I read somewhere this ECM has an input for a Knock Detector (which was not used on Fieros) but none of the unused ECM pins were shown on the wiring diagram I have for it.

Does anyone know which of the 5 Fiero stock ECMs have a Knock Detector input?

So it looks like I am close to have all Fiero V6 ECMs covered in my GUI... 3 more (IL4 ECMs) to go.