After searching and reading a bunch of posts, I haven't found the specific problem I'm having with hooking up WinALDL to my stock 85 Z28 TPI. I've built the one-transistor cable interface and used pin 4 of the serial port as the power source (puts out 9V according to my meter). The design is in the link below. I think that this is correct since my car has a 160 baud computer. The program was set to use COM1 at 2400 baud on both the program and on Device Manager. I selected 1226870 as the ECM type (I physically checked and this is what is in the car). I hooked up the cables to pins A and E on the car, started WinALDL on the laptop (which has a built-in serial port, not using a USB adaptor) and checked all four boxes to log data and clicked Start, then started the car. The MW2 row started showing numbers across the row that seemed to change over time, but none of the other rows got any data. Also, the Dash display on WinALDL showed 0 for all values. None of the other tabs on WinALDL (flag data, sensor data, etc.) showed any values either.

I know that 85 is a one-year only computer that may have some quirks. If anyone has gotten WinALDL to work on an 85 TPI, I'd be very grateful to hear what I need to do differently so I can collect the data.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...-interface.gif

 

I have a 85 T/A with 305 TPI, the way I got mine to work was to use the 10K resistor (R3) between A and B. My dash display worked and flags, even showed the dreaded code 32 has returned. I have not road tested the car yet with the computer hooked up. I have been too busy repairing the t tops and interior.

I hope this helps.

Bill

 

Bill - thanks a bunch. Were you able to pull R3 out after the data started or did you have to leave it in? From the description, it looked like a 10K resistor does some weird things to the car's settings.

 

I had to leave mine in, I believe leaving it does not allow the knock sensor to operate. I still need to work more with the program.

 

Yes, you need to leave the resistor in. It will have a high idle and no Knock retard.

If you dont use it, it will not transmit the data.