I keep forgetting to post this, so I'm forcing myself to do it. My OBD port seemingly does not work while having my scanner/code reader hooked up. The reader says there's no communication. First thing I did was plug it into my DD to ensure the scanner works, and it does. I talked to @Dusty Landrum since he's also local to me, and we went through testing the connections between the ECU and OBD port. Everything checked out fine. I've even had 2 other spare ECUs in the car with the same results.

Another "test" of sorts, is the process of programming a key fob by bridging pins 1 and 4 on the OBD port. I e done this process on past DSMs with no issue. This one will not even register that the pins are bridged, thus won't allow the programming procedure to happen.

I'm out of ideas on what to try. Any help would be great.

Which vehicle? What model year? Original harness?

Original harness, 97 gst spyder.

did you check the power locks fuse in the footwell that controls power to the obd2 port

I have looked at every fuse under the dash and under the hood, all are good. Power locks do work, but the driver door look is a bit slow when moving. I'm assuming that's the lock actuator though. Even the security light illuminates when the lock switch is pressed.

Do you have battery voltage at pin 16?

Double whammy, here, but do you have continuity between pins 4 and 5? Do pins 4 and 5 have continuity to ground?

19Eclipse90 said:

Do you have battery voltage at pin 16?

Double whammy, here, but do you have continuity between pins 4 and 5? Do pins 4 and 5 have continuity to ground?

Click to expand...

I'll double check those when I get home and let you know.

spyderdrifter said:

I'll double check those when I get home and let you know.

Click to expand...

Everything mentioned above with voltage and grounds is exactly what we ran though with the meter. All checked out good.

19Eclipse90 said:

Do you have battery voltage at pin 16?

Double whammy, here, but do you have continuity between pins 4 and 5? Do pins 4 and 5 have continuity to ground?

Click to expand...

We troubleshot all the OBD pins for correct placement and also correct voltage/ground. Also verified continuity between the pins and the ECU such as the comm wire and all checked out good.

If everything has been checked and verified, I can only imagine there might be an issue with the pins in the data link connector not able to make good contact with the scanner.

Have you tried jumpering between the connector and scanner to rule that out?

Are you able to use a voltmeter to read anything from the ETACS ECU?

I realize that the ETACS is different from reading the engine ECU, just curious if you can get readings out from the connector of any type somehow.

19Eclipse90 said:

If everything has been checked and verified, I can only imagine there might be an issue with the pins in the data link connector not able to make good contact with the scanner.

Have you tried jumpering between the connector and scanner to rule that out?

Are you able to use a voltmeter to read anything from the ETACS ECU?

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Click to expand...

We did troubleshoot through Inspection 1, tree 54-8 but no at the time Tom and I were troubleshooting we did not run through all the pins to look for deflection.

Just to be sure, the car doesn't have DSMLink? I've seen a bunch lately configured to default to the ECMTuning startup mode and they won't talk to a OBD II scanner that way.

Correct Steve, no DSMLink, yet, and even pulled the cover off the ECU to verify that as well as a visual check of the components. I will start probing the ETACS and check to see if all the OBD pins are fully seated, corroded, or anything else out of the ordinary.

All pins on the OBD port look good and are fully seated. What's this orange block on the harness? OBD test port? I'm probably just reaching for an answer that doesn't exist with that idea.

19Eclipse90 said:

Have you tried jumpering between the connector and scanner to rule that out?

Click to expand...

How can I jump across the 2? Just run the same amount of wires between them and hope they don't touch?

That may sound sarcastic, but it isn't. I honestly don't know.

19Eclipse90 said:

Are you able to use a voltmeter to read anything from the ETACS ECU?

I realize that the ETACS is different from reading the engine ECU, just curious if you can get readings out from the connector of any type somehow.

Click to expand...

Is there a troubleshoot guide for what to check on the ETACS?

***EDIT***

I never noticed this before. Got this random black wire spliced into the ETACS, and in front of my middle finger, there's a black w/ white stripe wire, that's cut.

Looks like I'll be pulling the ETACS box out and investigating further.

spyderdrifter said:

All pins on the OBD port look good and are fully seated. What's this orange block on the harness? OBD test port? I'm probably just reaching for an answer that doesn't exist with that idea.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Click to expand...

It’s a diode on Spyder models, for the convertible top.



I mean actually pulling pins out of the data link connector and adjusting as the manual suggests to improve contact, like these:

spyderdrifter said:

How can I jump across the 2? Just run the same amount of wires between them and hope they don't touch? That may sound sarcastic, but it isn't. I honestly don't know.

Click to expand...

That would be the basic idea, yes. I don’t have a great way of explaining it past that. This only goes to determine whether the issue is the connection between the car and the scanner or not.

spyderdrifter said:

Is there a troubleshoot guide for what to check on the ETACS?

Click to expand...

The Chassis Electrical section of the FSM highlights a number of tests. I want to reiterate I realize that the ETACS and engine ECUs are different - this is solely to determine that you can obtain some information from the data link connector. It would at least let us know that something is working there.

spyderdrifter said:

I never noticed this before. Got this random black wire spliced into the ETACS, and in front of my middle finger, there's a black w/ white stripe wire, that's cut. Looks like I'll be pulling the ETACS box out and investigating further.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Click to expand...

I’m probably MIA most of the rest of the weekend so hopefully you find where this is supposed to go and, more hopefully, it helps you get to the bottom of this issue.

If that black and white wire comes from the connector (B-66) just above the right relay pictured, unfortunately, I don’t expect it is related.

Found where the other end of the added black wire ends, and where that location got cut from...



I really wish people would leave the factory wiring alone. This is gonna be a pain to reach for repairs, even if it ends up not being the problem.

Did you ever get this sorted out?

Not yet. I even swapped the entire wire harness and got the same outcome. Haven't messed with it since. I want to swap out the ETACS with another to check that possibility, but don't think I have a spare to check with. Been busy with life and other things, so the car has just been sitting.

spyderdrifter said:

Not yet. I even swapped the entire wire harness and got the same outcome. Haven't messed with it since. I want to swap out the ETACS with another to check that possibility, but don't think I have a spare to check with. Been busy with life and other things, so the car has just been sitting.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the solution is in the pages from the TSB posted by @19Eclipse90 . But that's something general to all harnesses, and for the OBD2 port that white retainer clip probably needs to be detached. I haven't figured out how to do this, or what all the clips are that hold it in there.

I think it's a general problem on 20+ yr OBDII ports (many good YT videos on the subject). What I don't know is how Mitsubishi designed it differently from other manufacturers to make it all more difficult. Not something to find in a FSM.

In my case it's a slightly different problem: Intermittent connections to the ECU, that I need to be more stable. Possibly ground #5 could make a difference, but it's almost certainly some pin slots being too wide.

spyderdrifter said:

Not yet. I even swapped the entire wire harness and got the same outcome. Haven't messed with it since. I want to swap out the ETACS with another to check that possibility, but don't think I have a spare to check with. Been busy with life and other things, so the car has just been sitting.

Click to expand...

Did you ever verify that the code reader you are trying to use is compatible to work with your car. Have you used this code reader on another 2g DSM?

Have you tried a different basic OBD2 reader that works with other DSM’s?

The code reader I have has worked perfectly on the past 4 DSMs I've owned, as well as my truck. I've had this reader since 2014 (if I recall right) and never had issues with it. It did fully connect once with this car, but was very brief.

I did take my car down the road to O'Reillys and let them try to connect. Not sure what the code reader was but the guy connected and pulled 1 code. However he didn't read the code from the reader itself, but said we'd have to go back inside the store to see what the code was. Either way he was able to communicate with the car. So I'm not sure what's going on with it. Maybe I'll buy another code reader to see if that works. No idea why my current one would work on every vehicle it's been connected to other than this one.

You know, it's quite straightforward to probe your OBDII port for loose female connectors. I've used a micro Allen wrench and also a safety pin. There's various videos on YT on it. Maybe you had bad luck and replaced one bad OBDII port with another bad one.... or maybe they just both have loose contacts as expected after 25 years of normal use. I think there should be a "sticky" or "FAQ" on this issue since there's not much chance that the connections in a 25-old OBDII port will be as tight as they were at time of manufacture.
FYI, I did make progress with my connector and did successfully de-pin and adjust a couple of female connectors. Some more adjustments might be necessary and one could be damaged, but the connection is already better.
One option is to just purchase a new J1962 connector and splice it into the OEM wires, which I haven't explored.