Hi all,

I have been struggling with an coil/misfiring issue with my 1.0 Fiesta Ecoboost since just before Christmas(The earliest I could book it in was the 24th Jan). I cant really do much else until it goes back to the dealer so I wanted to try and read the error codes from it in the meantime.

I have a laptop and an OBD cable that I connected but I can't get the laptop to 'see' the car with a few different peices of software. Is it possible to read the ECU if you aren't a ford dealer/mechanic?

Id really appreciate some guidance on this.

If your cable is a generic ODB cable I actually doubt you'll be able to do it.
To read the ECU you need your hardware to be compatible with the protocol that Ford uses.
Maybe that could help you out for now without the need to buy a new cable : MK7 Error Codes

Its an ELM327 cable - not sure if that makes a difference but I thought I might follow along with this:

Thank you so much for the link - I had no idea I could do this. Im going to try it now.

I really appreciate your help :)

1 hour ago, BoopBoop said:

Hi all,

I have been struggling with an coil/misfiring issue with my 1.0 Fiesta Ecoboost since just before Christmas(The earliest I could book it in was the 24th Jan). I cant really do much else until it goes back to the dealer so I wanted to try and read the error codes from it in the meantime.

I have a laptop and an OBD cable that I connected but I can't get the laptop to 'see' the car with a few different peices of software. Is it possible to read the ECU if you aren't a ford dealer/mechanic?

Id really appreciate some guidance on this.

Yes it is.  You can use FORScan which is free to download and is a pretty powerful tool.  Where as a standard OBD reader will just give you generic codes, forscan will give you more ford specific codes.  You just need an ELM and a usb to plug it in.  

45 minutes ago, Albert27 said:

Yes it is.  You can use FORScan which is free to download and is a pretty powerful tool.  Where as a standard OBD reader will just give you generic codes, forscan will give you more ford specific codes.  You just need an ELM and a usb to plug it in.  

Thanks for your help with with :)

I have tried Forscan but I couldn't get it to see my car. I wonder if it is because I need a modiffied elm327 cable that can be found on Ebay.

I will give it another go anway!

17 minutes ago, BoopBoop said:

Thanks for your help with with :)

I have tried Forscan but I couldn't get it to see my car. I wonder if it is because I need a modiffied elm327 cable that can be found on Ebay.

I will give it another go anway!

You're welcome :) . I would recommend Tunnel rat electronics for a decent ELM327; it's a minefield trying to find a non cloned version, and ebay are full of them.  

With some ELM327 USB's you need to download an FTDI driver for it to work.  I'll post the link below too... https://tunnelrat-electronics.fwscart.com/page/help

 

https://tunnelrat-electronics.fwscart.com/

Agree with @Albert27 eBay is swamped. To clarify you do need a modified cable otherwise it will not read all the modules, you also best off getting a license for Forscan. License is free but only lasts 2 months, you can reapply though. I use Forscan to read error codes and change settings and activate features, my best advice is to make a backup copy of your AS BUILT data and if changing lines then do so one at a time and then test. It is so easy to brick your car and no Ford dealership will touch it after that. Saying that, it’s pretty easy to use.


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Just realised, it’s a Fiesta you have. That means Forscan runs a little bit more basically, I believe access is limited and it’s ‘on’ or ‘off’ options rather than coding.

Forgot to say, as previous poster has said, you will most likely need to download drivers.


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12 minutes ago, Jonro2009 said:

Just realised, it’s a Fiesta you have. That means Forscan runs a little bit more basically,

I didn't know that mate.  Why is it like that on the fiesta?

I didn't know that mate.  Why is it like that on the fiesta?

I’m not sure, I’m just going off what I’ve been told. I have never actually seen Forscan hooked up to a fez, someone on here told me about it. Not sure why it would be like that though


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i have the tunnelrat modfied usb cable reader with Forscan on my laptop. used on my Fiesta 1.5tdci it seems fine. although I have not used it much and probably not tried every single function.

Tunnelrat here:  https://tunnelrat-electronics.fwscart.com/

their software links page here: https://tunnelrat-electronics.fwscart.com/page/help

can't remember if I had to download drivers, probably did but my laptop is Windows XP, might be different with newer windows versions

i have the tunnelrat modfied usb cable reader with Forscan on my laptop. used on my Fiesta 1.5tdci it seems fine. although I have not used it much and probably not tried every single function.
Tunnelrat here:  https://tunnelrat-electronics.fwscart.com/
their software links page here: https://tunnelrat-electronics.fwscart.com/page/help
can't remember if I had to download drivers, probably did but my laptop is Windows XP, might be different with newer windows versions

Can you change lines of coding in the different modules or is it a simple ‘yes/no’ or ‘on/off’?


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can't remember, will have to have a look again