Hello,

I purchased and ALDL/USB cable from aldlcable.com around five years ago. I haven't spent much time on it, but I have yet to be able to read any vehicle.

First question, do I have to have a .ads file to read the engine parameters/ service engine codes with tunerpro?

The three main cars I'd like to read are an 82 Trans Am(LG4 Q-jet), 90 Formula(TPI), and an 87 Monte Carlo(?L67?).


I emailed OBD diagnostics(?The parent company?) and asked them about a resistor, and was told try with it on or off, and see what works. There are four pins sticking out, and the resistor takes up two, does it matter which pins I connect?

I'll start off with those questions, then try to figure out how to read the cars ECU.

 

Yes, you need to use the proper .ads file for the vehicle that you are scanning.

For the q-jet vehicles you will need the 10K between A&B on the ALDL connector to get data. Note that doing this changes how the ECM controls the engine. And it isn't recommended to drive the vehicle while the 10K is in place.

The '90 TPI car does not need the 10K to get data. So best to not use it on that vehicle.

RBob.

 

Thank you for the informative response. Now my next step is to find a .ads file for the 87 Monte and the 82 Trans Am. I remember seeing files for the 90 TPI in TunerPro.

I assume the ABCD configuration is like this?

 

I don't know. I'm not sure what the pic is really of. See this thread for the pin layout of the ALDL connector:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/dfi-...wot-knock.html

RBob.