Ok...I downloaded the program and I had one of the electricians a work make me a cable.
Do I put (ie:twist them up and shove them in) the 2 wire ends directly into my diagnostics terminal or is there some kind of plug ends I need?If so,anyone have a radio shack part #?
Once in,do I start the car and drive around?How many miles should I go?Normal daily driving style or should I hit the interstate a let 'er rip?

 

I've just put compatible pins in the end of the wires and pushed them into the ALDL connector.

You talk about 2 wire ends, but on many of the ALDL's you need minimum 3- ground, data and 10k Ohm resistance to ground.

I also pick up 12 V to power the ALDL cable- so I have 4 wires.

And as for how long to drive, you'll need to look at the BLM display window to see whether you've collected data in each of the cells you're interested in. This means driving long enough to cover all the range that you're interested in logging.

John

 

Thanks for replying.
Im about to show my ignorance!

You have to power the cable with a 12 volt?I though it just ran between the aldl and the laptop and all the resistors were so you didnt blow anything up!

I had the electrician follow a print out of these instructions
http://w1.601.telia.com/~u60113744/s.../aldlcable.htm

He made the bottom scematic.Should it of been the top one?Is this a 12 v battery?Ahhh!!!!It wasnt on the parts list!I printed the parts list and went to radio shack and said "here, I need these".Oh well...when I got one where/how do I attach it?

If you look at the very bottom pic,it doesnt look like he has a 10 k in there.All I see are his 2 wires.

 

You didn't state which ECM you're using.... but the bottom schematic one is essentially the same as the upper one. The upper one picks up 12V from an external source and runs it through a 10K resistor. The bottoms one picks up 12V from pin #4 from the serial plug and runs it through a 10K resistor. I use the bottom shcematic cable on my 1227747 with no problems... just two wires.

Also note in the text, that R4 is NOT used for fuel injected vehicles... only for carbed vehicles. If you just gave your electrician a copy of the picture, he probably added R4 as well. If so, you'll need to cut it out before the cable will work on fuel injected vehicles.

 

The electrician asked me about the r4 and I told him I didnt need it.
my ecm service # is 1228746 . So do I need the external power supply?

 

You don't need the 12V if you get it from the laptop as Torc said, and the power supply is reliable. I think I recall some people on this board saying they had problems until they took the 12V from the car supply, but I may be wrong.

John

 

The 1228746 is listed on WinALDL's site as a supported ECM. If you built the cable according to the bottom schematic, then you don't need an external power source. The cable is setup to pull 12V from the serial port on the PC. You'll just have two wires.... GND and Data.

 

So just plug the 2 wires into the corresponding holes and drive around until the blms are full.Sounds easy enough.Thanks guys.