I second the motion on cleaning up the thread - it's just not really useful anymore.

The bottom line seems to be that the cheap OBD2 port readers have basically weeded themselves out to reasonably working models.

I have bought 5 different ones, from 19 bucks to 79 bucks, and find not one iota of difference between their functionality. The ONLY differences lie within the comms methods ( bluetooth or wifi ) and device polling speed ( faster is needed for the racers / track monitoring - pretty much useless for troubleshooting )

Even the Apple bluetooth / wifi stuff have settled IMHO, simple because I have sucessfully hooked up all of my readers to: WIN 8.1 Pro, WIN Vista, WIN 7, OSX, IOS, and ANDOID, with nary a speedbump.

If your cheap OBD2 reader is not getting a P-code when you connect, you have a problem with the connection, not the reader in 99% of the cases. Go plug it into any modern car and see if you get a code, before diving into menus.

The JLR MANgoose stuff is another piece o' work...requiring people to reconfigure their terputers to run. Consensus from my coding buddies, is that the VM ( virtual machine ) path is the way to success, and since you can download the VM engines for free on nearly any platform, it just makes sense.

It would be fun to have a separate sticky for each variant - since they really have little to do with one-another, sharing the different ways of solving CAR problems with the software, instead of obsessing with SW/ HW / FW setups, configurations and hacks.

Just thought it might save some folks time and eyestrain - especially for us old farts.

 

Innova 3130c works on 2002 X-type 2.5. The fixassist works too... Told me the catalytic converter was clogged. Took it to the shop, they said the same thing... Very satisfied.

 

jonscot - can you let me know where to find downloads of the vm machines?

 

Why do you say that? It definitely should as newer cars are CAN and it does CAN.

 

Could it be he was referring to any software that had come with it?

So long as I can just get 'all the numbers' I'm not fussed to have to look them up online in a browser. Much faster navigation than the shop manual .pdf's already on the laptop anyway.

 

He says "cannot work ...", nothing about software. I've used various software and all worked. So did the elm327 devices. I think he was making a baseless claim but maybe he'll come back and explain.

 

Doesn't fit? It's a standard DLC. Maybe the Mini isn't?

Not that we think about OBD on non-jags much.

 

Any update on this? Curious if the Pro version worked with less problems. Also is the v138 ok for the pre-2005?

 

Update? Sure . . . First issue I struck with the V138 Mangoose PRO was the enormity of the s/w install . . . do NOT start this one late at night. The next was a real show stopper . . . the 3rd DVD in my setup fell over with a "crc error". If I remember correctly, "cyclic redundancy check" relates to a verification process. Failure implies a disc copying error. Anyway, Brit (read Chinese) supplier was most apologetic, replaced with a complete new set of error checked discs by air freight. I am waiting for them to clear Aussie customs to complete my install. However . . . reason I have plumped for the V138 Mangoose PRO is I have seen and used it elsewhere.

Please let me emphasize . . .

• V138 of itself may not be the holy grail. Why? Because I have seen it bundled with the standard Mongoose/Mangoose cable without any of the following benefits;
• V138 with Mangoose PRO provides full functionality on all Windows platforms from Win XP on. On my platform and that which influenced my purchase, this is 64bit Win7 natively - NOT a VM implementation of XP mode;
• Look up the web link to UK supplier . . . full dealer level functionality on all (I did not check every one of them) Jaguar models and MYs from 1999 to 2014 . . . and all Rover & Land Rover models from 2005 to 2014;
• Is there a downside? Sure . . . it's roughly twice the price of the standard Mongoose, even with V138 s/w; it should be irrelevant to point out that it is 3x the price of my U581 scan tool and 10x the cost of my ELM327. Why irrelevant? Apples and bananas!
• Not sure of the "problems" referred to. Beyond my initial "bad disc" issue, I have seen none on the V138 Mangoose PRO setup. If referring to earlier standard Mongoose "problems" I believe many of these flowed from two unsatisfactory areas. Firstly; some of the earlier code (or perhaps code cracking) appeared to be fragile - although most users found that by installing V130, they ended up with reliable setups. Secondly; some workarounds like backdating the system date, absolute requirement for Win XP PRO with SP3 and nothing else, all rankled with me. Thirdly; and I believe overwhelming was that many ignored both the mandatory setup issues; the models and MYs that earlier standard units were limited to . . . and then complained they could not get their system to work correctly . . . if at all.

Is it perfect? No . . . disc errors should not escape through any decent quality control verification process but, in my case, one of my three discs did. That is being redressed. However, when measured against my local indie specialist's outlay of AU$2,500 for the latest Audi or BMW tools, the $100 or less outlay is a joke. After copious tears of blood, he has ordered a V138 Mangoose PRO for himself . . . and that's good news for me too. I hope this explanation helps. STR of MY03 should be a doddle; but check list.

Ken

 

And right there is what is biting my anatomy.

Disclosure: More than half a century with wired logic, stored program controllers, military & civilian computers, and their local and undersea cable links.from vacuum tube to the latest Unix snapshots on my laptop.

Folks .. this sort of thing should REALLY be just a browser app.

As cross-platform, and low install load as can be. Not all that different from looking at the configuration of the router that provides your uplink to the web.

- The cable presents the codes.

- The database as to what they mean need be no more complex than a 'bookmark' or address database file. Browsers with Mail User Agent capability handle far more complex databases every day of the week. Most are in 'container' files, and have been cross-platform portable for Donkey's years.

- The eye-candy that determines where information displays on-screen is just basic layouts - much as a Mail User Agent with its preview pane, search functions and such is. Or a webmail app.

WHERE do we find such a product, so that we do not have to go through Version Hell or even a complex WinStall AT ALL.

Most especially for those of us who WILL NOT use Windows (Or Linux, or Apple, or ...... whatever any given person avoids).?

I could kiss it if it has an RJ-45, groks ethernet and IP adresses instead of USB, but may as well wish for Old Pulteney in my Christmas stocking.

NB: While I wait.for wishes to fall out of the sky ..I get the numbers manually, scribble on a 3 x 5 card, and DO go and look them up in an ignorant browser. The factory manual .pdf's don't navigate as quickly and easily.

My XJ doesn't misbehave often enough for that to be a major issue.

Not YET

 

I have a WDS scanner w/ Jaguar 43 SW for sale in the classifieds.

 

While I applaud Thermite's urgent work to design and roll out an Android (or whatever) $1.99 app, the reality is no-one else has yet, or appears even bothered to do so. Can you imagine, on the world wide market, how ridiculously small the target market would be?

I sympathize with the frustration evident in his post, for I too share a long background in IT and favour Linux and its derivatives down to Android, Open Office and all other non-proprietary open source apps, to the exclusion of Microsoft and Apple.

But here are the facts. The very nature of a fully symptom driven diagnostic system in a modern Jaguar is highly complex - my car uses no less than 4 different comms bus protocols, and carries 17 (of a possible max of 20 or so) different digital controllers. If our wish is to be able to read + clear + calibrate + manipulate every single feature or option in every one of these (ie replicate all dealer tool functions), and I want it now . . . ?

Taking as example, the late model bargain that comes with only one key. I want at least a second; perhaps also a third . . . then waiting for a smart-phone app will not crack it for me. And this is just one of the thousands of solutions that the full-blown SDD offers.

Not looking to provoke argument on this . . . just trying to explain my rationale for answering the questions [ednedwards] asked.

Ken

 

And on top of that, to write the app for Windows needs quite different software than for Android and different again for an iThing.

Plus most of the comms packets have internals whose details are unpublished and proprietary (though you can get some via huge payments).

All for a tiny market. Ain't gonna happen!

 

Weel.. I remember the then-CEO of Sweden's Ericsson's response when I mentioned having just come off a consulting project in London that involved sorting one of his 'International Gateway' telco switches...

.. before I could ask him what they were smoking when they implemented a certain version of a V.36 / RS-449 connector and the proprietary protocol on it, he tipped his head back, laughed, and said:

"On behalf of my company and all 100(something odd) thousand Ericsson employees, worldwide, you have our deepest sympathy!".

Seems that switch was a design that came in the door when they acquired some other company, and they, too thought it was a weird POS!



So, yes, these things can be sorted. It isn't rocket insemination.

That said, I am very retired, I am even MORE lazy, and I no longer traffic in five-figure acquisition cost protocol analyzers that need constant firmware and software updates themselves.

I'll just have to be happy to be able to get RAW CODES.. look 'em up online, and replace wotever breaks or wears out.

No fear. Not that different from any other motorcar in that regard.

 

Thermite, I do hear you and as I said in my attempted placatory post, I'm even sympathetic to your point of view (except retirement . . . coz I seem to be busier than ever).

But, despite my initial hiccups, these latter generation SDD platforms using pass-through hardware, are available right now; they appear to offer the full suite of capability of the Jaguar Dealer toolset; and land here for around one quarter of the cost of a new Varta H3 battery for your S-Type, although this doesn't cover laptop or notebook platform. No-brainer in my book! Same for the local Indie I now rely on for any major backup, use of hoist etc. It took him only half a heartbeat to order one also!

ATB
Ken

 

No indication so far that it will come to any such need.

Read the raw code. Look it up online. Free.
Why would one want to complicate that?

Program keys? Why? MOPAR has been using the same ignition switch on pickups since 1950. Unlike GMC's notorious FUBAR, it JFW.

Shed the complex POS, drop in a simple switch, and also MOVE it to where one's knee dasn't BUMP the key, and keys get cheap and available anywhere.

Just 'coz Jaguar was foolish dasn't mean I have to follow suit. Luxo cars are stolen with rollback wreckers. Not lockpicks.

Year and a half on, the used XJ8-L has been about as trouble-free as such things get. But I don't see a need even if it DOES go pear-shaped. Something has to be ID'ed, then repaired or replaced, regardless, not just interrogated and ratted-out. After all, the motorcar, its subsystems, and the OBDC were designed by humans. Not the other way 'round.

The only thing the 'puters hold hostage is what's adrift in their OWN tiny little high-speed-idiot innards. All the rest of the possible faults have identifiable consequences in the motorcar's real-world performance. Or lack thereof.

 

Because it is not all just about faults and codes, as anyone who has a working knowledge of the full functionality of JLR's SDD will advise you. Anyway, enough already ... you fellas call UNCLE? You obviously have a set position so I will leave you with it.

Beauty of a forum like this is we can all have different opinions, eh? But now also, perhaps, it's time to leave this thread to those who DO wish to discuss how to get the best out of this technology?

Regards,

Ken

 

Mini ELM327 bluetooth with free basic Torque application for Motorola Android phone and Motorola Android Zoom Tablet tested on 1995 XJS. It linked up first time and looked like everything was working as it should. I will put it to the test on our 1999 XJ8. If problems arise I will post, otherwise it worked fine.

 

I generally reach for my AutoEnginuity Pro with Jaguar Enhancement Pack first as it's faster to get results than using my Mongoose SDD. Downside is it's nowhere near as in-depth on available functions.

AutoEnginuity (AE) recently (26 November 2014) announced a new release version 13 which they are calling Giotto®. This is their first major design update in a long time and is claimed to be a first-of-its-kind touch-based interface which also incorporates a number of new features. This interested me as I'm using a touch screen Windows 8.1 laptop for AE. This same laptop has SDD 1.34 installed on a VM.

My experience with this AE update has not been without issues and I'm interested to know if any other members are using it.

The first problem came with the new Activation Code from AE which would not register.



Customer Support provided me with a new code within 24 hours which was successful so no complaints there.

Vehicle selection / connection is noticeably faster than with earlier versions



and the VIN is returned accurately:



System selection is improved:



Sensor detection doesn't appear any slower or faster than with earlier versions:



Options to retrieve 'All' or 'Current' codes work .........



....... but then there's a problem:



Clean boot, uninstall/reinstall makes no difference. The same error is returned and the only option is the close the program. I've reported this to Customer Support and await their response.

Graham

 

Try a Windows compatibility mode setting?