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You too can – advanced vehicle diagnostics Modern vehicles deliver impressive performance and many extra functions like semi-autonomous driving, live maps, streaming audio, motorised doors and hatches etc. This all relies on many computer control modules throughout the vehicle. What do you do when something goes wrong; how do you even know where to start? Luckily, most vehicles will tell you what they think is wrong – as long as you have the right diagnostic tool! A nyone who has driven a modern car cannot fail to be impressed by their many electronic systems. The engine and transmission are under computer control these days, but you might be surprised at how many other electronic modules are involved and all communicating with each other to deliver a seamless experience For folks raised on carburetted cast-iron engines, this level of sophistication was something that could only be dreamed of, but like so many things, the fabulous developments are a double-edged sword. The sheer complexity of onboard systems has resulted in a matching increase in the diagnostic and repair skills required to keep them running, to the point where even seasoned mechanics are struggling to keep up. On the other hand, all these computers also give us advanced diagnostic tools that are continually monitoring operating conditions, and they can be interrogated to ‘spill the beans’ and tell us not only what they think is wrong, but also give live data on the operating conditions and even information on what might go wrong in the future. The more advanced tools (often vehicle manufacturer-specific) used to cost thousands of dollars. Now they have come down in price significantly, and are accessible to even the most impoverished mechanic or tinkerer. dread that comes with knowing that a costly repair could be in your immediate future. But don’t panic; there are many simple and cheap repairs for faults that trigger this light. The key is in using the onboard diagnostics system to pinpoint the faulty component. In some cases, the path back to a fully functioning car can be long and expensive, and the temptation to do it yourself can be powerful. For anyone contemplating this, it’s important to understand just what this OBD technology has to offer. Before the 90s, most vehicles with digital engine computers already had some form of onboard diagnostics, but it was a hodge-podge of different plugs and protocols. Work to change that started in California in 1988, in an effort to provide a consistent diagnostic interface to ensure that vehicle emissions equipment was functioning correctly. This resulted in a mandate for all US passenger vehicles to implement the new OBD1 standard by 1991. Enter OBD For many people, the OBD (OnBoard Diagnostic) system is the onramp into the world of automotive electronics. When the dreaded “Check Engine” light (also known as the malfunction indicator lamp [MIL] or, to your mechanic, the “cha-ching” light!) comes on, many experience the existential 72 Silicon Chip OBD2 systems use a standardised 16-pin connector. While the pinout is standard, the communications protocols can vary. Australia’s electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au OBD2 By Nenad Stojadonovic Limitations surfaced soon after release. OBD1 monitored only limited systems and was consequently unable to detect common but important problems, such as misfires or malfunctions in the evaporative emissions systems. There was also a requirement for only one O2 sensor, meaning that the function of the catalytic converter was not monitored – owners looking for higher performance could (and did) remove the catalytic converter without triggering any trouble codes from the system. (By the way, in many cases it’s still possible to remove the cats and fudge the system to avoid a check engine light. This is stupid, in our opinion, as modern cats have little impedance on exhaust flow and thus minimal effects on performance. They do, however, reduce pollution dramatically). The OBD1 system further suffered from the disadvantage that the diagnostic tools were often proprietary and expensive, thus keeping the average owner from taking advantage of the system. Some manufacturers allowed access to basic malfunction codes by blinking the Check Engine light or an auto test lamp in Morse code fashion. This is triggered by actuating certain dashboard controls in a particular order, or by shorting pins of the OBD1 port together. While this was a crude system, having any access to a relatively sophisticated onboard computer was a boon to the home mechanic, who up to that point had been diagnosing problems by examining spark plugs under a magnifying glass or sniffing the exhaust pipe. OBDII In 1994, the OBD2 (or OBDII) standard was developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and mandated for all US cars from 1996 onwards. Australian-made cars adopted this same standard starting in 2006, although by then, most imported cars already used the system so that they could be sold in the USA. We reported on the emergence of this standard in several siliconchip.com.au past issues of the magazine, mainly in December 2003 (“A Self-Diagnostics Plug For Your Car”; siliconchip.com.au/ Article/4793) and then in February 2010 (“A Look At Automotive On-Board Diagnostics”; siliconchip.com.au/Article/6). The February 2010 issue also had a project to build your own OBDII-computer interface (“An OBDII Interface For A Laptop Computer”; siliconchip.com.au/Article/9). Back then, commercial devices cost hundreds of dollars. Nowadays, you can get a Bluetooth module using an ELM137 clone chip for just a few dollars! Those articles are still relevant, but many developments have occurred in vehicle diagnostics in the past ten years (even though the same OBDII interface is still used). Hence, we decided it was time for this update. OBDII history and details The history of this development makes fascinating reading, with massive input and negotiation from the various stakeholders which is beyond the scope of this article. But the outcome was the standardisation of data held by the onboard computer(s), together with the format and location of the diagnostic port, as outlined in Standard J1979 and J1962. These standards have slowly been introduced to the world’s passenger vehicles and light trucks – heavy vehicles comply with the substantially different J1939 standard, which is optimised to take into account the sophisticated hydraulic, pneumatic and other specialised systems that these vehicles often carry. A good place to find the data standardised under J1979 is contained in a Wikipedia page that can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OBD-II_PIDs Australia’s electronics magazine September 2020  73 The OBD2 port is mandated to be located close to the steering wheel – and is usually found behind a panel between the wheel and the driver’s door. It looks bewildering, but basically, it says that each chunk of data produced by a vehicle’s onboard computer is stored under a parameter ID (PID) in the same way as any processor stores values in memory – or like file folders in a filing cabinet, for the older readers. For example, PID 04 is the calculated engine load, and PID 05 is the engine coolant temperature. The PID numbers are often stated in hexadecimal so, for example, the engine RPM value PID 0C (hex) translates to 12 in decimal. For maximum flexibility, the PIDs are grouped into what used to be called ‘modes’ but are now officially called ‘services’. There are ten standard modes/services in all, and the above PIDs came from Service 1, which is the ‘Show Current Data’ service/mode. Refer to Tables 1 & 2 for more details; note that Table 2 shows a tiny subset of the available PIDs. Trouble codes problem somewhere in the vehicle. A DTC will automatically turn on the ‘Check Engine’ light, also known as the ‘Malfunction Indicator Light’ (MIL) or ‘Check Wallet’ light. Technically, the trouble codes are read out by a scan tool via a Service/Mode 3 (read stored DTCs) and follow the format of a letter followed by four numbers, eg, P0301. There are four letters available to indicate the broad subgroup that the problem belongs to, where P is Powertrain, B is body, C is Chassis and U is Network. The numbers indicate the nature of the problem – in this case, the 3 indicates a misfire and 01 indicates the misfire is in the no.1 cylinder. Finally, the zero after the P indicates that this code is generic. Codes can be generic or manufacturer-specific, and there is no easy way to tell which is which just by looking. For example, P2004 is a generic code that indicates an intake runner is stuck, but P3000 is manufacturer-specific while Service/ Description Mode No 01 Show current data 02 Show freeze frame data 03 Show stored Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) 04 Clear DTCs and stored values 05 Test results, oxygen sensor monitoring (non-CAN only) 06 Test results, other component/system monitoring (CAN-only) 07 Show pending DTCs (current or last driving cycle) 08 Control operation of on-board component/system 09 Request vehicle information 10 (0A hex) Permanent DTCs (Cleared DTCs) PID decimal (hex) 0 (00) 1 (01) 2 (02) 3 (03) 4 (04) 5 (05) 6 (06) 7 (07) 8 (08) 9 (09) 10 (0A) 11 (0B) 12 (0C) 13 (0D) 14 (0E) Table 1 – OBDII services/modes Table 2 – Abbreviated list of PIDs for Show current data (service 01) PIDs are separate from trouble codes. The correct name for these is Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC), and they are stored in memory when an onboard computer detects a 74 Silicon Chip Description PIDs Supported Monitor status since DTCs cleared Freeze DTC Fuel system status Calculated engine load Engine coolant temperature Short term fuel trim, Bank 1 Long term fuel trim, Bank 1 Short term fuel trim, Bank 2 Long term fuel trim, Bank 2 Fuel gauge pressure Intake manifold absolute pressure Engine RPM Vehicle speed Ignition timing advance Australia’s electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au P3405 is a generic code that relates to an exhaust valve. Fortunately, the internet is as ever ready to come to our rescue; a quick search for the trouble code will typically find detailed explanations of the meaning, and quite often a good video or two regarding a repair related to that code. An excellent source of the various trouble codes, including some manufacturer-specifics, is at www.obd-codes.com/ trouble_codes/ So where does this get us? It doesn’t take much perusal of the standard PIDs to realise that the main thrust of the standard OBD2 system is engine performance, fuel use and emissions. Given that it was the clean-air regulations that provided the initial impetus for its development, this makes good sense – and it was perfectly adequate for the cars available when it was initially developed. After all, most of them only had a single computer that was devoted entirely to engine management (and maybe one or two others, eg, for transmission control and miscellaneous functions like the instrument cluster and trip meter). As time went on, vehicles of all kinds became more and more computerised, and the modern car can have anything up to 100 individual computers operating via the vehicle’s own onboard internet. Even unexpected things like car radios can be connected and talking to everything else – I had the experience of a radio that had a data feed from the speedometer and wouldn’t allow itself to be programmed while the car was moving! To do this, manufacturers have gone far beyond the standard codes. As mentioned above, they have put in specialised PIDs and diagnostic codes relating to the features of a particular car or series of cars – such as data for sunroofs, security features, specialised entertainment options etc. See the panel reviewing the Forscan tool for a list of real computers in a few different, relatively modern vehicles. Fig.1: some DTCs found by Car Scanner and an ELM327based Bluetooth OBD2 dongle on a 2004 Peugeot. Hierarchy of scan tools Discovering and cataloging these many codes is expensive and time-consuming, and what this means for us is that the cheaper OBD2 scan tools tend to focus on the engine and transmission, and stick to the standard codes. The next step up from the cheap scan tools gives the ability to diagnose and clear faults in other systems such as the ABS (anti-skid brakes), tyre pressure and airbag computers. From there, the next step is the start of the sophisticated scan tools that are intended for workshops and repair facilities. To access the correct data files relating to the vehicle to be tested, these tools will ask questions relating to the make, model, transmission type, engine type and configuration, the type of central computer etc. Once they know this, they can interrogate everything down to such esoteric modules as touch-sensitive door handles, collision-avoidance radar etc. Finally, there are the top-of-the-line tools that will do all of the above, but can also inject data into the OBD2 port to command the actuation of various functions in the car (Service/Mode 8). These tools can, for example, turn the fuel pump on and off, actuate the transmission solenoids, change various engine parameters etc. There is even a function which will detonate the airbags siliconchip.com.au Fig.2: a live data plot of the output of two narrowband oxygen sensors on that same Peugeot, indicating failure of the catalytic converter. Australia’s electronics magazine September 2020  75 in the car to make them safe when they reach the end of their service life! (We hope that one asks if you really, really, really are extra sure that you want to go ahead…) The good news is that with the steady advance of technology and the intensity of competition, the price of scan tools is coming down, and the list of available functions is getting longer. It is worth noting that the functions available in any scan tool are mainly the result of the software that the tool is running. Many of the cheaper tools use a ‘dongle’ that plugs into the OBD2 port and communicates with a phone (or tablet) via Bluetooth or WiFi. One such device is shown in the lead photo. It is the App that does the work; the dongle is simply there to pass messages between the OBD2 port and the App. Thus, the functions available from a dongle type scan tool are somewhat dependent on the App that you download to your phone to drive the dongle (some features require extra hardware in the dongle, so the software can’t unlock those). I use an iPad, and my dongle is compatible with Car Scanner, which I downloaded from the app store. More info on this App can be found at www.carscanner.info For those with an Android phone, my dongle works with Torque Pro or Torque Lite (screengrab in the panel below). Numerous forums discuss this App, and you can have a look at the developer’s description of it on Google Play at siliconchip.com.au/link/ab2r What to look for There are countless scan tools available on the market, especially from overseas. I needed to work on several engine control systems, so I bought a dongle from OBD2Australia. I could have bought the tool from overseas for perhaps $15 or even less, but I paid the Australian dealer $39 for several reasons. The main one is compatibility. Many of the cheap OBD2 dongles use ELM327 clone chips, which are not fully compatible with the genuine ELM327. This limits what you can do with it, and will cause problems if you attempt anything other than the most basic scans. Secondly, compatibility has been a thorny subject in the way that data is delivered to and from the OBD2 port. The content is always the same, but the different manufacturers have encoded it in different ways. They have furthermore changed and evolved these over the years. Wikipedia discusses the different encoding or ‘signalling’ protocols that have been used over the years at and, given the fiercely individualistic nature of the car manufacturers, they are entirely incompatible with each other. So if your scan tool doesn’t understand that particular vehicle’s communications protocol, you won’t get the full details. A subtle ‘gotcha’ here is that Australian vehicles often have different specs from the same overseas model. I have found the reputable retailers either publish lists of vehicles that any particular scan tool is compatible with, or else have someone to ask – and remember that warranty issues for an expensive machine from overseas can be a nightmare. The ELM327 You can’t go far without seeing the ELM327 logo. Elm of Canada produces a range of chips that communicate with 76 Silicon Chip an OBD2 interface, and the ‘327 is a very capable chip that can handle most of the protocols that have been used over the years. Their web site gives an excellent rundown of these and the chips that work with them at siliconchip.com. au/link/ab2s But be warned that to get the full functionality of an ELM327 chip, you must have a genuine ELM327 chip, which is probably not what you will find inside any of the cheaper devices! What can I do with it? Good OBD2 dongles can do lots of things, including changing vehicle settings, running tests, resetting modules and so on. But the single most important feature for most people is scanning for DTCs, ie, trouble codes. These are set when one of the vehicle’s computers has detected a fault and turned on the Check Engine Light, and that there will be a corresponding trouble code available that can be read via the OBD2 port. In some cases, preliminary DTCs are generated even with the Check Engine Light off, only illuminating the light once the problem repeats frequently enough. This is especially true when using one of the better and/ or manufacturer-specific scan tools. You might find dozens of DTC ‘warnings’, which may give you a clue as to incipient or intermittent faults, even if the “check wallet” light is still off. When scanning for DTCs with most dongles, the operation couldn’t be simpler. Just plug in the tool, open the App (if it doesn’t have its own display) and wait while it downloads the appropriate data from the OBD2 port. Fig.1 shows my Car Scanner App displaying four codes thrown by a 2004 Peugeot, indicating a problem with the pollution control system. One of them says it is “pending”, so you wouldn’t necessarily know there was a problem without a scan tool. If you look carefully, you can see that the App has a function that will look up web pages relating to the particular trouble code, up to and including for the specific vehicle that is being tested. Genius! In this case, the P0410 test is incomplete but strongly indicates a problem with the secondary air injection pump, which turned out to be correct – the air hose from the pump had given up the ghost. Once the hose was repaired, I could have left the car asis and the OBD2 system would have automatically cleared the trouble code by itself after a certain number of drive cycles. But I wanted more data, so I hit the “Clear DTC” button and reran the scan. Sure enough, the P0410 code was gone, but the P0420 was still there. The P0420 codes indicate a problem with the catalytic converter. The internet link took me to a YouTube showing how to diagnose the trouble code using the live data function. Live data This is a function that most mechanics of yesterday would have sold their grandmother for. It lets you see, in real time, the data collected by all the sensors available to the particular scan tool, on the screen as a continuous flow of data. Australia’s electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au At a glance, you can see things like fuel mixture (air:fuel ratio), turbo boost pressures, engine torque and power output, fuel pressures, engine load and RPM, various temperatures etc. All of which are worth gold when troubleshooting. In this case, I investigated the P0420 fault by displaying the data from the two oxygen sensors, as shown in Fig.2. Modern cars have at least one O2 sensor close to the cylinder head (typically two in the case of V-engines with two heads), which produce a signal directly related to the richness of the fuel mixture. Most modern vehicles also have a second O2 sensor downstream of the catalytic converter, which monitors the efficiency of the chemical reactions inside the cat. As it is typically a narrowband sensor, which only works across a narrow range of air:fuel mixtures around the stoichiometric point, the first sensor can be expected to swing back and forth across its full range at idle. The top graph in Fig.2 shows this to be happening. The second sensor is expected to remain steady at somewhere around 0.5V once the cat is warmed up and doing its job, because it should be catalysing the reaction between the excess fuel at one extreme, and oxygen at the other, in order to burn all the fuel completely. Alas, this was not happening, as can be seen in the bottom graph of Fig.2. There are a few reasons why this could be, including simple things like exhaust air leaks. Still, a few gentle taps with a rubber mallet resulted in a loud rattle from inside the cat, which strongly supported the theory that it was an ex-catalytic converter. Freeze frame (Service/Mode 2) If that’s not enough, vehicles will take a snapshot of all PID data when a fault occurs and the corresponding DTC is set, and many scan tools can download that data for analysis. For those of us who have struggled to find elusive intermittent problems, having the operating conditions under which a fault occurs is a huge leg up. Note that not all scan tools will support this function. If you need it, check that it is available in the scan tool you’re ordering. Service/Mode 6 diagnostics Not all faults are serious, and not all faults have an eas- ily defined point at which they become a fault. Better scan tools will allow you to investigate problems which may be brewing before they trigger a trouble code, both to see them and also to see how close they are to a predefined threshold which will set the relevant trouble code. A good example of this comes in the form of misfires. Most cars will have the occasional misfire, especially when idling where the engine operates under the leanest fuelling conditions. To avoid every misfire setting a trouble code, the engine control computer counts misfires in each cylinder, then runs the tally through a statistical analysis algorithm that compares it to an upper limit. Screen1: some of the live In other words, the odd data parameters that can misfire is ignored, but be shown with the free App when they start to mount Torque Lite and almost any up to an unacceptable lev- OBD2 dongle. el, the computer will trigger the P03xx trouble code. Mode 6 is invaluable in this instance, as the raw count can be investigated and it can show patterns that facilitate diagnosis and repair. I looked at a car recently that would misfire noticeably under load, but didn’t trigger a fault code. I found a particular cylinder had a high count that turned out to be caused by a coil pack that was on its way out (a very common problem, unfortunately). Magic Hopefully, this brief guide will provide you with a good idea of where to go when the dreaded Check Wallet light comes on. OBD2 is not magic, and there will be no arrow floating in the air pointing at the offending component, but with the appropriate workshop manual and bit of practice, there will be few problems that will cause you much angst. At the very least, you will not be peering at spark plugs and sniffing the exhaust pipe like your grandfather had to do. Even if you have zero mechanical skills, being able to scan for faults before they become serious can be very helpful. And if you do have a serious fault, doing a scan immediately might tell you something that could be lost before you get the vehicle to a mechanic. It may also save you from unnecessary repairs, as we’ve heard of some unscrupulous mechanics who will quote for a lot of unnecessary work in addition to fixing the real problem, just to make more money. If you have a good idea going in what’s wrong, you may be able to head that off at the pass… siliconchip.com.au Australia’s electronics magazine September 2020  77 Forscan, Torque and other OBD2 software . . .         I purchased the Forscan dongles pictured here for $45 (Bluetooth version) and $39 (USB version), including postage, from www.obd2australia.com.au (believe it or not, I ordered them before Nenad sent in his article and I saw where he got his…). These can be used as generic OBD2 dongles, but they are designed to give full access to modern Ford and Mazda vehicles (hence the name). They will probably work well with other makes too, as they use genuine ELM327 chips. Why Ford and Mazda? Ford owned a stake in Mazda from 1979 to 2015, and they shared a lot of engineering, including engines and engine computers. In fact, many four-cylinder Ford engines today are derivatives of Mazda designs. And both companies appear to be still using compatible electronic protocols for their vehicle electronics. This is ideal for me because, in my immediate family, we own one Australian Ford, one European Ford and one Japanese-built Mazda. So this one cheap dongle gives us Screen2: page one of many of the vehicle info given by Forscan Lite for a 2015 Ford Kuga (which has since been renamed “Escape”). 78 78  S Silicon Chip dealer-level diagnostics and configuration support for all our vehicles! The accompanying screengrabs from an Android phone show this dongle being used by three different apps to communicate with my wife’s Ford Kuga (the latest model is called the Escape). Screen1 is from Torque Lite, mentioned in the main text of the article. You can configure the screen to show just about any combination of parameters, including running graphs. Here I have just selected some of the more useful parameters and taken the Screen3: page two of the Kuga module information. The car has over a dozen separate electronic modules. Australia’s Australia’s electronics electronics magazine magazine screengrab with the engine idling. Torque can also read DTCs, but doesn’t show anything much if none are found. I selected the option and simply got a message indicating that no codes were found. As Torque doesn’t seem to be geared towards reading DTCs, I had a quick look and found Car Scanner (the Android version this time). Its main screen is shown in Screen8. It appears to be pretty capable, but unfortunately contains ads (how does it know I need new boots?). Screen4: page three of the Kuga module information. The vehicle has two buses, so you need a dongle with a switch to scan them all. siliconchip.com.au by Nicholas Vinen Interestingly, as shown in Screen9, this software did find two DTCs logged in the vehicle. These appear to be communication errors between various modules in the vehicle. It wouldn’t show me any more information than this, though; pressing on these errors did however helpfully redirect me to a website indicating what might cause these codes. Then I fired up the Forscan Lite software, for which I paid less than $10. The full Forscan software runs under Windows and is free, except for its advanced features; more on that below. After connecting to the dongle, it spent some time querying data, with a series of LEDs pulsating on the dongle. I then pressed on the Vehicle Information menu item, and the result is shown in Screens2-4. This gives you an idea not only of how comprehensive this software is, but how many different modules are in the car! Interestingly, as well as listing the modules and their hardware and software revisions, it shows the odometer readings which are stored in several different modules. This gives you a way of checking whether the odometer reading is accurate, or if it has been messed with; they should all agree. I then went into the “Errors” menu item to read the DTCs (Screen5). While Torque Lite showed zero errors and Car Scanner showed two, Forscan found three, and also gave more detailed information in each case. So this shows you the value of having a manufacturer-specific or dealer-type diagnostic system for troubleshooting. Forscan Lite also lets you run vehicle self-tests (only some of which are shown in Screen6) and perform service tasks such as resetting or calibrating certain modules (see Screen7; again, this is a small subset of the available options). I plugged the same dongle into the Mazda CX-9, and I was surprised to find that even more modules were available! I suppose I should not have been so surprised, as it is an even newer vehicle. Rather than take up a lot of space with screen grabs, I’ll simply list what it found. It found the Engine Control Unit (ECU), Transmission Control Module (TCM), Powertrain Control Module (PCM), OBDII interface, Head Up Display (HUD_ MZ), Amplifier Module (AM), Connectivity Master Unit (CMU), Power Liftgate (PLG_MZ), Smart Brake Support/Mazda Radar Cruise Control (SBS/MRCC), 4X4 Control Module (4X4M), Antilock braking system (ABS), Electric Parking Brake (EPB), DC to DC Converter Control Module (DCDC), Driver’s Seat Module (DSM), Restraint Control Module (RCM), Adaptive Front Lighting System / Auto Levelling Module (AFS/ALM), Start Stop Unit (SSU), Electronic-Controlled Power Steering (EPS), Front Body Control Module (F_BCM), Instrument Cluster (IC), Forward Sensing Camera (FSC), Blind Spot Monitoring, Left and Right (BSML, BSMR), View Monitor Camera (VMC_MZ), Rear Body Control Module (R_BCM), Parking Sensor Module (PSM_MZ) and Electronic Automatic Temperature Control (EATC). Phew! I’m glad to report that those are all working, and there were no DTCs to be found. Screen5: some of the DTCs that Forscan Lite found in the vehicle. It’s handy that it shows which module has thrown them. Screen6: some of the procedures that Forscan Lite allows you to carry out, such as resetting various modules or running calibration procedures. Screen7: you can also use Forscan Lite to run some vehicle self-test routines, some of which are shown here. siliconchip.com.au Australia’s electronics electronics magazine magazine Australia’s USB, Bluetooth and WiFi Those are the three available communications options for the Forscan dongles. September eptember 2020  79 Screen8: I also tried Car Scanner with my Forscan dongle. It worked, but didn’t give as comprehensive results as Forscan Lite. Screen9: Car Scanner found some but not all of the DTCs that Forscan Lite reported. 80 80  S Silicon Chip I originally purchased the Bluetooth version as it’s the most convenient for use with a smartphone. Presumably, the WiFi version will work with a phone too; I haven’t tried it. But one of the main reasons I bought it was to turn on the auto-door-locking feature in my wife’s car. This is a feature that all our other cars had, but for some reason, the Kuga doesn’t. This is despite the “anti-carjacking” feature being mandatory in North America, where the same car is sold (in left-hand drive form, obviously). To turn this on, I needed to go into the vehicle’s “Central Configuration” mode. This involves uploading a small ‘bootloader’ to the body computer and rebooting it into a mode that lets you change the configuration. You need the full (paid) version of the Forscan PC software to do this, but it isn’t expensive – around $100 for a lifetime license, and less for a few years. However, when I tried this, I got several error messages and a warning that if something went wrong, it could ‘brick’ the car! Having failed on the first attempt, I decided that Bluetooth wireless comms was not reliable enough for this type of operation, so I ordered the USB version instead. It did seem to work much more reliably; I still got some error messages, but this time, I was able to get into the configuration and turn on that feature. We’ve been waiting to enable it for years, so I was very pleased when I went for a short test drive afterwards, and the doors locked and unlocked themselves. That alone was worth the total of under $200 for both scan tools and the software. The screens at right show some of the other settings which were available for me to change. I would say that these little units are excellent investments if you own any newer Ford or Mazda model (say, made in the last ten years). The Bluetooth version is great if you just want to read DTCs or run basic tests, but if you want to change the configuration, get the USB version. See www. forscan.org for extensive documentation and forums. By the way, one major advantage of the Forscan PC software compared to phone Apps like Forscan Lite is that the much larger laptop screen is that you can more easily display and log the dizzying array of data and parameters availSC able to scan. Australia’s Australia’s electronics electronics magazine magazine Above: the four pages of configuration settings I can change in the Kuga’s Central Configuration. siliconchip.com.au