whilst many finally woke up and realised a wifi connection is bad news, and a dongle that does comms via BT is now known to be the better way... it should be noted - its ONLY for unreliable convenience - a connection without a cable is what everyone wants - but its never as reliable, secure or as fast as using a proper cable

and today on this car whilst I might get everything I need done - tomorrow with a different tool's software it may be incompatible and then whilst it was convenient the day before, today I can't do the job....

 

cars radios used to get two power feeds one to remember stuff and one to power it - back to front = flat battery

when I retrofitted an OEM Ford BT module I used a VW Chinese loom.... and they have they have the power wires back to front (and or missing)
ISO means the plug fits, it says NOTHING about which wires go in what hole for what reason - car manus are IDIOTS!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

18 hours ago, MK2.5Hippo said:

After all this, I have a feeling it's going to be something simple that was mentioned and not hacking the ECU. Either way I'm all for it, I needed a hobby anyways and this is a lot of fun. 

Well, it's just the radio. After I completely unplugged it from the quadlock, the car eventually went to sleep. (Not exactly and that will follow). But lesson learned.... even if you unplug a fuse, it doesn't necessarily mean that connection to the car is dead. 

Here are the results and procedure from the parasitic draw test:

Radio unplugged test - everything else in 

Starts at 0.47A -> 10 mins down to 0.17A dash turns off

After 30 mins -> dash wakes up and it’s back to 0.29A reset GEM timer -> after 10 mins draw went to zero -> likely below what the meter could read (I’m stuck on 10 amp setting since we start over 200mA and it blows my fuse when I do that, and resets the timer when I change settings.)

Reset by unlocking the car and locking again to see if it happens again. Same thing happened again. 

At this point, I'm going to look for a new radio instead of trying to figure out how to make this one work. Namely because the listing on the Amazon page said it was specifically for this car, model, and year. Eff that, I'm going to find a more reputable dealer and start the install over. 

 

@botus we do have an instrument cluster issue going on as you can see, but it's not preventing the car from sleeping. Weird what it does though, have you ever heard of that happening? Probably worth a peak to see why it would wake up and then sleep 10 mins later. It does seem like only the cluster turns on. 

modern cars do strange things when going to sleep.... as they age they tend to become 'interesting'

ANY disruption from adding aftermarket stuff just adds to the fun - but its MOSTLY designed in obsolescence to make it behave weird till you throw it away and 'buy a new one that works properly' !!!

ridiculous features no one needs like :

a) residual heat (most german stuff) - adds a silly electric pump to circulate engine coolant and runs the interior blower motor for 30 mins

b) cooling fan run on, pointless rubbish to switch it on as you walk away - to flatten the battery

c) convenience headlamps - stay on for set time after taking the key out to flatten the battery and go wrong to stop the car starting 

e) turn the radio back on without needing the key for x minutes - another feature to play up and cause misery

d) cigarette lighter, stays powered - so you needlessly unplug and rip the socket out of the dash so it shorts out and pops the fuse- when it should have reliably gone to sleep on its own

f) etc.

Why something seems to re-wake - (if that's what you are saying) - no idea that's the joy of canbus - all the way back to earlier posts any moisture, aging, corrosion or wobbly voltage can have any effect it feels like

Is it keyless, does the alarm play up, are hoddies trying to unlock it - all possible added fun.

Back on the radio - just coz it fits the hole and is 'suitable for a focus' - doesn't mean you don't have a responsibility to wire it up correctly - if it came from china they probably claimed it came with a free winning euro lottery ticket as well

 

As you get used to the UK - you'll find we tend to tell it as is - rather than pandering to our therapists lies that its never been better

FYI 'works properly' is a euphemism - for redesigned, with all the good features messed up, now it will fail, and cost much more to repair.  Luckily we engineered in so many causes for failure you won't catch us out under consumer rights laws with consistent single point failures - as this leads to class action issues that hit our bottom line...

well i'm balls deep now. installing VMware to get windows on my computer. Orderer the scanner, and going to see how this goes. 

52 minutes ago, MK2.5Hippo said:

well i'm balls deep now. installing VMware to get windows on my computer. Orderer the scanner, and going to see how this goes. 

forscan 2 month trial - https://forscan.org/support/prepare_trial_el_request.php?lang=en

You don't have to get the 2 months free licence for FORScan to work. You only need a licence to do certain types of programming.

https://forscan.org/download.html

What version of Windows are you using ?

6 minutes ago, unofix said:

What version of Windows are you using ?

Just got windows 11, was able to get Forscan and ELMConfig downloaded and working. I just want to see what the computer is doing and what it's thinking. 

 

win 11 - ugh - its like win 7 with all the good bits hidden or missing

they are making software so bad its almost time to walk and stop using electricity forever

 

with diagnostics on most cars - as few have the tools and fewer use them correctly - it likely has lots of gibberish listed all the way back since the day it was sold - nearly 100% misleading and needlessly stressing you out....

check and make a note of strange ones - then delete everything - go for a 10 min drive anything that matters will now be a fresh one you should seek to fix or at least know the drivers of the nagging irritation

low volts tends to put a spanner everywhere - running whilst scanning or coding is not the correct way (and can cause fun) many do it and think its OK its not really.   If you steer away from diagnosing or playing on drive-line stuff they tend to cope.  But engine off and a stable voltage supply with lights and blower motor off is a cleaner way to work

 

Try Tiny 11 for a bloat free windows product.

1 hour ago, Jimpster said:

Try Tiny 11 for a bloat free windows product.

will try this if 11 gets to be too much, i'm just happy 10 was phased out quickly. 

Quote

low volts tends to put a spanner everywhere - running whilst scanning or coding is not the correct way (and can cause fun) many do it and think its OK its not really.   If you steer away from diagnosing or playing on drive-line stuff they tend to cope.  But engine off and a stable voltage supply with lights and blower motor off is a cleaner way to work

new radio coming in today, will test it right away with the GEM for sleepiness, the scanner should be coming in a couple of days. i'll only be doing the car not running analysis for now. I never intended to be a "tuner" unless i can get more mpg. 

NOTE: the UK have a proper gallon made up of 8 pints - not the funny baby one

its a lot like american football where its almost identical to rugby, but you got the one important rule back to front

1 gallon [US, liquid] = 6.661 393 477 pint

when is some one going to explain to me what a quart is ?  I guess they mean 250ml but where did that magic unit come from?

In imperial measure (uk) I quart =2 pints =1/4 gallon ( imperial not US)

 

Apologies for disrupting your vibrant discussion of liquids. 

I think i've made some progress with the new radio, specifically due to the newer connector they sent over with a CANBUS adapter on it, and matching programming. 

Honestly everything else on the radio is the exact same, and it seems the two major radio types are a 9" and a 7" one. They all come from different "sellers" but it's the exact same equipment. 

But radio turns off, doesn't add any current when it's off, and lets the dash go to sleep. 

I'm still going to investigate some stuff with FORScan and ELM but I think we're on a good track for now. I will be doing some further testing when I don't need the car as much, or maybe the diag tool i'm getting will do it for me instead of disconnecting and re-connecting for the parasitic drain test. 

14 hours ago, RL123 said:

In imperial measure (uk) I quart =2 pints =1/4 gallon ( imperial not US)

 

thanks so a US qrt is not a UK qrt brilliant ?

but when the oil level is low you usually need to top it up by an international standard of 1/2 litre - not 1 whole litre

it is the same only in that it represents a quarter of a gallon. 

 

i'll get a better picture of the connector for you guys so if anyone else reads this thread in the future, they'll see what I did to get to the end(-ish) here. 

so the pins on the old loom ISO quadlock were probably muddled for a ford and likely set correct for VAG....

2 minutes ago, Botus said:

so the pins on the old loom ISO quadlock were probably muddled for a ford and likely set correct for VAG....

it might be for the pre-canbus Ford? also I have a bit not plugged in, so i think i needed to maybe configure the wires in a weird way to make it work... the manufacturer should be the ones providing support, and I hadn't seen an article talk about it. however, because they are across the world, they only respond in the middle of the night, so i can't do any serious debugging. i'm always sleeping when they reply. 

one did say cross the acc and batt wires, but I tried that and the car sparked too much for me to want to continue. 

I thought you were going to comment on which rule you guys remembered was critical (when you first started playing rugby - later renamed American football) but then applied it back to front....

and nothing more on traffic circles !  how about Robots (as they say in RSA)

9 minutes ago, MK2.5Hippo said:

 

one did say cross the acc and batt wires, but I tried that and the car sparked too much for me to want to continue. 

batt - would be perm live

acc - as in accessory would be switched feed (goes live with the key on)

and are back to front on VAGs....

'cross' means swap pins not short out.... 

got to love translations - maybe it would help ⛔ if English was a standard, without someone adding funny spelling with Zeds everywhere and bits missing 🤣

 

on the topic of roundabouts. you lied.... i had to navigate the "Magic Roundabout" and my god it was hard to clean the shid stains from the seats of the ford, maybe I should start a new thread on that?

6 minutes ago, Botus said:

batt - would be perm live

acc - as in accessory would be switched feed (goes live with the key on)

and are back to front on VAGs....

 

This is the one I ended up with that solved it (for the most part). 

https://www.incarmusic.co.uk/seat-skoda-vw-car-stereo-iso-wiring-lead-with-canbus-ignition-supply.html

 

This is the one that came with the first radio and I couldn't figure out how to re-wire it to make it work

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-Android-Standard-Steering-Control/dp/B08GH69KPT/ref=asc_df_B08GH69KPT/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=463119490023&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17848992280701132917&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046133&hvtargid=pla-995999688856&psc=1&mcid=0f8616afc0033a22b0f8095a758aa2b8

 

They're not completely correct, so for anyone else, dont use this as a buying guide, but note CANBUS adapter vs no adapter. I think you are correct though, I'm not using the CANBUS on this one, but it works. When I do use the CANBUS adapter, the radio won't shut off, but it and the CANBUS are having a lively discussion because the dash won't turn off. I'm hoping that with the ELM tool, I can see what they're talking about and hopefully shut it down.

I want to try to do this thing completely if I can. 

9 minutes ago, MK2.5Hippo said:

on the topic of roundabouts. you lied.... i had to navigate the "Magic Roundabout" and my god it was hard to clean the shid stains from the seats of the ford, maybe I should start a new thread on that?

they are the best ones, as you can basically go round a single very large roundabout in whichever way is shortest (clockwise or back to front anti-clockwise) based on the traffic flow in front of you on the day.....

as for rules - nope - with multiple mini roundabouts like Hemel Hempstead, High Wycombe, or Swindon - the very same two rules still apply, but...

almost as soon as you entered it you have priority on that one, but still give way on the next one a few 'yards' later

 

 

canbus adaptor is usually to allow the steering wheel buttons to behave for how that manu wired up their mess (aka on the focus the strange pod of extras on the steering column - that are so confusing and out of the way, its easier to reach the radio and do it like a grown up)

was totally worth it to get the FORSCAN and ELM tool. if you have a mac, VMware is free to install and shouldn't be a barrier. 

 

had a bunch of hidden warnings that I cleared, the only one to come up now was - 

===GEM DTC B2092-0F===
Code: B2092 - Remote Key Low Battery

Module: Generic Electronic Module

I don't have a remote key on this car, does it mean the fob key that makes the doors lock and unlock? 

Doing a GEM scan, i got

===DTC B1300===
Code: B1300 - Power door lock relay coil circuit failure

Module: Generic Electronic Module

Diagnostic Trouble Code details

Power door lock relay coil circuit failure

===END DTC B1300===

===DTC B1311===
Code: B1311 - Power door unlock circuit failure

Module: Generic Electronic Module

Diagnostic Trouble Code details

Power Door Unlock Switch Circuit Open

===END DTC B1311===

 

I stopped because I started just clicking buttons, and I want to watch more youtube videos about this powerful tool. My next projects are getting the reverse camera installed and figuring out why my windscreen wipers don't spray great on the front and nothing at all in the back. 

 

After leaving it for 2 days, my battery voltage was 12.55V, which I think is like almost no drain on it. I started it, went up to 12.8V quickly, ran it for a bit. Then when I was ready to call it a day, the battery was down to 12.53V. For now, I'm going to ease up on my concern about anything brought up on this long thread about GEM units and the volume measurements of fluids. 

 

2 hours ago, MK2.5Hippo said:

===GEM DTC B2092-0F===
Code: B2092 - Remote Key Low Battery

Module: Generic Electronic Module

I don't have a remote key on this car, does it mean the fob key that makes the doors lock and unlock? 

Yes the remote keyfob.

You say that you don't have one ?

I suspect that you do, even if you don't know about it. That warning only happens when the keyfob is inside of the car and I've never known it to be wrong. I think you need to do a full search of the car, under seats, down the side of the centre console, in the boot.