ECMlink [RESOLVED] ECMLink Connection Troubleshoot

[cswindel]

Well I have been on a 2 week kick (almost 3 week) of trying to figure out why I can't connect to my ECMLink. I feel like I have tried almost everything but looking for some areas to check that I haven't yet.

Below I have listed what I have done so far. I believe it is worth mentioning that I am running the OHM Racing engine and fusebox harness, my whole interior is pretty much out of the car (dashboard, carpet, seats, console), I have done my own battery relocation but that has been verified thus far.

Items I have troubleshot:
- Software and Drivers are installed on computer properly (I have tried both the 64bit and 32bit application and gone through every possible configuration between the two apps)
- Device manger shows COM populates when ECMLink cable plugged in and the cable light flashes
- ECMLink chip is V3 and installed properly (This ECU and cable came from a working setup from one of the users on here)
- Yes I have the key in the ON position when trying to connect
- Diag port pin 16 has 12v
- Ignition wires have 12v
- ECU is getting 12v to pins 12 and 25 and IGN pin
- MPI relay is responding to key being turned to the "ON" position
- Tried a different cable and laptop from someone else's known working setup
- Gave that guy my ECU to plug into his car and it connected so the ECU is fine
- All fuses look good on both fuseboxes (interioir fuse box under driver side of dash and engine fusebox)
- Measured continuity between diag port pins and ECU pins:
- Diag pin 1 to ECU pin 56: No response in resistance from multimeter
- Diag pin 4 and 5 to ECU ground : Varying resistance response from multimeter
- Diag pin 7 to ECU pin 62: No response in resistance
- Diag pin 14 to ECU pin 86: No response in resistance
- Diag pin 16 to ECU pin 80: No response in resistance
- Replaced 20A fuse for door power locks and replaced incorrect 10A fuse for cig lighter to a new 15A one
- Checked pin 1 on the diag port for at least 5v but no voltage read
- Pulled tape off interior harness around where diag port wires come out of but didn't see anything unusual
- Tried a stock EPROM ECU but still no change in pin readings
- Tried to hook up an OBDII diag tool and it powered on but did not communicate with the ECU
- Ensured connector B63 was connected to corresponding connector on OHM harness

At this point I will try anything so any input is valuable. Thank you for your time if you read through all this haha.

 

[19Eclipse90]

Break down the problem, then. You’ve mentioned checking end to end but nothing in between.

Check continuity from pin 1 of data link connector to pin 17 of connector B-63.
Same with pin 7 of data link connector to pin 18 of connector B-63.
And pin 16 of data link connector to pin 15 of connector B-63.

How does the OHM harness connect to B-63, specifically?

Basically, start localizing the issue, i.e., figuring out where the connection is “lost”, be it something that may have been wired incorrectly or a connection that hasn’t yet been made. I like the pins 1 and 7 of the above because they should be very direct with only the minimal intermediate connectors (B-63). It will at least tell you the state of half the wiring that should join the two together.

 

[cswindel]

Break down the problem, then. You’ve mentioned checking end to end but nothing in between.

Check continuity from pin 1 of data link connector to pin 17 of connector B-63.
Same with pin 7 of data link connector to pin 18 of connector B-63.
And pin 16 of data link connector to pin 15 of connector B-63.

How does the OHM harness connect to B-63, specifically?

Basically, start localizing the issue, i.e., figuring out where the connection is “lost”, be it something that may have been wired incorrectly or a connection that hasn’t yet been made. I like the pins 1 and 7 of the above because they should be very direct with only the one intermediate connector (B-63). It will at least tell you the state of half the wiring that should join the two together.

You know I got so worn out with double and triple checking all this stuff I didn't even think to check the in-between part. I will get right on that and see what I can figure out.

From what I can tell at least is that the OHM harness does have the wiring for pins 17 and 18 of B63 directly connected to pins 56 and 62 of the ECU but they aren't labeled except on the ECU side so I'm just going off of coinciding colors since I don't want to tear up the harness haha (and there are other yellow and orange wires throughout the OHM harness so color isn't really a pinpoint identifier). I'm just assuming the yellow and orange wire they used for 56 and 62 are the same yellow and orange wire in the connector that hooks up to B63

Am I correct with checking the continuity through a resistance reading though. May be a silly question but just want to verify that as well. Thank you very much for this response!

 

[19Eclipse90]

Yes. The “beep” mode is good for quick and dirty continuity checks with digital meters, where the meter beeps if the probes are touched together. You aren’t concerned so much about the resistance value as much as you are that the wiring is continuous, i.e., not broken. For analog meters, any twitch or sustained movement of the needle is all you’re looking to see.

 

[cswindel]

Im running the cheap harbor freight multimeter so no beep mode but these are the resistance readings I got

Continuity between diag port and connector B63
- Diag pin 1 to B63 pin 17: 001 to 002 ohms (on 2000 ohm multimeter setting)
- Diag pin 7 to B63 pin 18: 0.00 to 001 ohms
- Diag pin 16 to B63 pin 15: 0.91 ohms


Continuity between pins 15, 17 & 18 of B63 connector to OHM connector
- Pin 15: 0.00 ohms
- Pin 17: 0.00 ohms
- Pin 18: 0.00 ohms

Continuity between pins of OHM connector to pins of ECU
- OHM pin 17 to ECU pin 56: No response from multimeter on any load range setting
- OHM pin 18 to ECU pin 62: No response from multimeter on any load range setting

So now I am kind of convinced the problem is with the harness, more to follow I guess but two pins on the OHM connector that goes to the B63 connector just came out on their own so there's that.

 

[19Eclipse90]

That is what it sounds like, unfortunately. At least, now, you have a direction.

Do you have pictures of OHM’s side of the B-63 connection? Just curious what they provide there.

 

[cswindel]

Yeah this is extremely frustrating. I guess a lot of money doesn't equate to the level of quality. I mean it very well could be something else but the more I check the more doubtful of that I become.

These are the pictures

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[cswindel]

Looking more closely at wire sizes i think they mixed up the two sets of yellow and orange in that connector because the ones on the bottom left are closer to the wire gauge of the wires for ECU pins 56 and 62. I don't know what harm can come from swapping the wires and testing it but if they are already backwards and nothing happened thus far...

There is also this connector (smaller one on the left of first picture) that hooks up behind the radio next to B63 but it's the one that hooks up to the white dash connector and the yellow and orange wire gauges look too small on this connector

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[19Eclipse90]

Check them rather than blindly swapping wires. If it’s not correct and you start moving stuff around without cause, it will become more convoluted than not.

Keep one probe connected at ECU pin 56 and probe the pins at OHM’s side of B-63 until you find the position. Same approach with ECU pin 62.

I won’t speak to wire colors or gauge sizes as they may have changed those. But this way you determine exactly what position each of these wires ends up. Then compare that against the FSM to determine if it was done correctly or where it needs to be moved to.

 

[cswindel]

Check them rather than blindly swapping wires. If it’s not correct and you start moving stuff around without cause, it will become more convoluted than not.

Keep one probe connected at ECU pin 56 and probe the pins at OHM’s side of B-63 until you find the position. Same approach with ECU pin 62.

I won’t speak to wire colors or gauge sizes as they may have changed those. But this way you determine exactly what position each of these wires ends up. Then compare that against the FSM to determine if it was done correctly or where it needs to be moved to.

So basically I can keep all the wire where they are and probe for continuity between said wires of the B63 connector even if they don't lead to the ECU? For example, I keep the set of the other yellow and orange wires in their spot but test for continuity of them with pin 56 and 62 of the ECU and if they are in fact in the wrong spot but lead to the ECU it will still give a resistance reading. This may be a dumb question but electrical isn't my tong suite and just want to back brief what you stated to ensure I am comprehending haha.

 

[19Eclipse90]

Let’s start with a single wire as an example.
You’re trying to determine whether the OHM harness has the wires going to the correct place. We are assuming that they are at least on the right connector, just maybe out of position.

Try this:
1) Disconnect the OHM harness at the ECU.
2) Connect one probe of your meter to ECU pin 56.
3) Set your meter to any resistance setting. The value is not important for this.
4) If you want to narrow it down by wire color, do that, but probe each pin at the OHM side of B-63 of the same color until your meter moves or shows some reading. Ultimately, that pin on OHM side of B-63 should mate with the pin on the vehicle harness side that leads to data link connector pin 1. For now just make a note of which position that pin is in.

Repeat for ECU pin 62. There are wires at the ECU but you need to know where they ended up in order to solve or correct anything.

Once you know where the wires on the OHM harness go, you can present that here or compare against the FSM and make the appropriate plan to move them, if necessary. You know where they need to be to mate with the vehicle side of B-63. If the two do not lay over on top of each other, then they are in the wrong spot.

_________________________________________
This is a very elementary example, but imagine the alligator clips on the right side are representative of the connector on the ECU end and the clips on the left side are representative of OHM’s side of B-63. Basically, you’re looking at this and determining which wire is which. And assume that you cannot easily wire trace (like the wires are sheathed).

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A continuity test will show you. Continuity means the circuit is closed, no wire breaks. It displays on the meter as a reading. This is shown by touching the two probes together. The way the meter moves / reads should be the same when you find both ends of the wire. You will only get a resistance reading if it’s actually the same wire you are probing or they are somehow joined where you cannot see.

Open- not continuous

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Closed- continuous

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Pick a starting point, one red wire on the right side and connect one side of your meter to it. Then probe the wires on the other side until you find it.

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Nope.

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Nope.

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There it is.

Once you find it, write it down, take a picture, make some note of reference to remember what is what. Continue for the other red wires until you know where they go.

The yellow is the same process.
Tricky one here, the first yellow wire I attempted to find did not show any continuity to any of the clips on the left side. Matter of fact, it actually loops back and ends up on the right side, not the left. Which means one of the wires on the left side will do the same since there are equal number of wire ends on each side. Just to impress on those reading that the test shows where the wires lead, not necessarily where one expects they ought to be.

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Hopefully that doesn’t make things more confusing for you.

 

[cswindel]

Welllllll shoot man they did mix up the wires! The orange wire of smaller gauge goes to the orange pin 62 of ecu and the smaller gauge yellow goes to the yellow pin 56 of ECU! I'm going to assume that it's a direct swap because the pair of wires are the same color combo. Not good practice I know but I am not sure how the rest of this harness is routed and I'm not good with electrical schematics.

Basically on the OHM connector, current 21 should be where current 17 is and current 22 should be where current 18 is.

 

[19Eclipse90]

Definitely moving in the right direction!

Did you check ECU pin 80 as well? Should go to pin 15 of B-63. Easy to check and smart to verify while you’re in there, especially knowing it isn’t exactly right on those other pins.

I will mention my other concern with the connector you pictured. Here’s what I see in the manual for B-63 - the struck through pins do not have a wire. So it would seem more than a few “misplaced” wires.

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The vehicle side of B-63 should mirror this.

 

[cswindel]

I will definitely check pin 80 as well!

With this harness there are a handful of things that have been deleted/bypassed so I didn't question much of the connectors with missing pins...at least before all this discovery

Thank you so much for all of this! Your time towards this has been invaluable and has gotten me out of a seemingly endless cycle of troubleshooting. I now hope that swapping a couple of wires will at least let me communicate with the ecu

ECU pin 80 and OHM B63 connector pin 15 have continuity!

We are connected! Let's go! I love this community!

 

[19Eclipse90]

Nice. Congrats!

 

[cswindel]

Nice. Congrats!

Thank you again man! You have no idea how huge this is