first off im hoping this is in a suitable location if its not then im sorry. ok so i read on here that you use a pin to join 6-12 then turn on the ignition but not the car. so i did that and nothing happened except for it flashed once and then all of the lights came on. the site also said that later model cars are 5-6 now when i looked into the 12 port thing i noticed i only had the top row of them, so i tried 5-6 together and it made a strange noise and once again did nothing.

 

Our cars are ODB1. The pins to jumper are A & B to flash the codes. IIRC, from the home page, to the tech pages, there is then a page that shows the procedure to flash the codes.

RBob.

 

im aware i read the tech pages. and i did what they told me to do but it doesnt seem right, when i look into the 12 holes box(which name escapes me) i can see that only the top row has the metal connectors in it and not the bottom

 

Looking at the tech article I can see where the confusion is. Go to this link and check post # 3. There is a drawing of the ALDL connector. Short pins A & B together and do a key-on, engine-off. Do not start the engine with A & B shorted.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/dfi-...ring-help.html

RBob.

 

i tried a and b and the car made an odd noise and no lights flashed

 

Does the SES light turn on at key-on, engine-off?

RBob.

 

my brake light comes on because its always on and the check engine light goes on other than that nothing else goes on

 

Sounds like the ECM is bad. Try this:

Observe the SE Slight. At key-on, engine-off, the SES should turn on briefly, blink off, then turn on solid.

If there isn't a blink off then the ECM is bad.

Do this with no jumper between A&B. To repeat the test key-off for at least 10 seconds.

RBob.

 

ses im assuming is check engine light, i feel dumb that i dont know what it is. but when i put it on and b which is 5 and 6 for me then the check engine light comes on goes off then comes back on and satys on, but when i was reading the article it sadi there should be a pause and then it should blink another two times to read code 12 which it is not doing unless the pause is longer than a minute and a half

 

Yes, SES, CEL, same thing. The blink off is good. Means that the ECM is actually running.

As far as not being able to flash codes. Maybe it isn't A & B that is being jumpered.

RBob.

 

well i looked at it from straight on and saw that the metal connections inside the plastic housing is only located on the top six ports and the bottom six are completely blank

 

Maybe the pictures on this link below will help...

http://winaldl.joby.se/aldlcable.htm

 

that helps the fact that now i understand my ecm, but i still dont get why its giving me the ses light

 

OK do you have an SES light on while driving?

Or are you asking what the SES light does when it is jumpered? When it's jumpered you will watch the light flash. Flash pause flash flash pause is 12. That is good it means the test is working. Now keep counting and you will see a pattern. Should be 12 then a code like 24 and maybe a second code like 32 then 12 again at the end and it will start all over again. It's good to have a pen and paper to keep track and you will get a sense of the rythom.

Let us know what numbers you come up with?

 

its on while im drving. when i try to test it it will flash once when a and b are together then it does nothing unless the pause is a minute long. i cant get any numbers out of it but it is working

 

If you followed the procedure at the link below and don't get the flashes? that would lead me to believe the ECM was faulty...

https://www.thirdgen.org/service-eng...ht-error-codes

 

i did i followed it step by step, and it only flashes once. maybe i need to wait alot longer for the rest of the flashes. i was just trying to see if the car could tell me why it was chugging so bad that it makes the car shake, and i encountered this. i was also led to believe that if it was faulty and didnt work at all, then it wouldnt even attempt to flash

 

I'm not sure exactly what car you have or it's flash procedure... But if you are doing the test correctly as outlined in the link a pause is about 2 seconds and a long pause is about 6 seconds.

Without the test shorting the pins when you turn key on, not start the light should come on and flash once quickly then sty on till car is started. HTH

 

I'm having a simular problem reading mine as well. I have an 85 IROC with the 305 TPI. I have older style where you jump 5&6 (or A&B) depending which thread you follow. But when I jump mine, I get no flashing at all and it actually turns my electric cooling fan on??? I was quite puzzled by the fact that it engaged my fan by jumping 5&6....

Anyone out there had this happen?? Any sugestions what else to test? How would I go about testing the ECM?

 

fan on is a good sign its supposed to do that. when you jump it you should get flash, flash flash that shows code 12 saying everything is ok with the ecm then you should get more flashes ex. flash flash,flash means code 21. it doing something else is strange

 

Good thing about the fan, I was a little worried at first. As for the light, I just realized that none of the "idiot" lights come on when first turning the ignition on. I know the previous owner had the cluster out because it is not working properly as well. I need to take it out and check all the connections, then I will try to read the codes again.

Thanks again for the clarification on the fan issue!!

 

During the A/B short and key-on, engine-off typically the ECM will activate all of the outputs. So the EGR solenoid, TCC lockup, AIR solenoids, fan and so on will be activated. And the IAC will be continuously stepped closed (pintle extended).

Good possibility that the bulb is missing. This is a common repair method for a constant SES/CEL light.

RBob.

 

I'm thinking the light was disabled too. I'm going to remove the cluster today to check it out. I am also having issues with my speedo and tach, hpoing just bad connections.

 

my 89 had a similar issue when I bought it; previous owner had stuffed the hole full of aluminum foil to block the light from shining through.....

 

Now that's taking lazy to a whole new level. Can't even be bothered to remove the bulb!

 

that's what I said. can't imagine trying to diagnose that short if the bulb ever broke