I cannot establish a link between my OBDII port and any scan tool. I've tried cleaning the contacts and sent the ECU to be checked (OK). I've taken the car to two separate mechanics and they could not establish a link as well (and would not service my vehicle as a result).

Any ideas welcome.

Chip

 

There's a couple of $0 multimeter checks you can make on the OBD port itself:

1 There should be B+ on both pins 16 and 9 (ignition on 'run' for the latter)

2 Check for a resistance measurement of ~60 ohms across pins 6 & 14

 

A cheap OBD2 breakout box can be a really useful tool. It can allow you to test each pin and provides indicators for each line. It's a better option than trying to back probe or make good contact with the pins on that connector. Good luck with your investigations.

 

Just ordered the tester, thanks. What if I find a bad connection? Is there any way to rewire to the ECU or otherwise repair the break?

Thanks.

 

I had a broken wire on my high mount brake light. Rather than replace the loom, I spliced a new wire into points on the loom that were more accessible. If you find a broken wire to the ECU for instance, it may be possible to do something similar. Most of the looms dissappear behind the dashboard making in line repairs quite difficult. Anyway, with a breakout box you can check pin to pin looking for any breaks and then determine if you can bypass the break with a new wire. Good luck!

 

Thanks!

 

I found that the OBD two port on my 06 STR used connector sockets that really weren’t very stout. After repeated connects and disconnects to the port I started losing communication with the car when I plug my mongoose cable in. I thought it was the connector Shell initially so I tracked down replacement and purchased it an online electrical supply house. but after removing all the pins from the original connector and inserting them into the new shell I had the same results.

I bought a breakout box for the OBD two port and noticed i wasn’t Getting 12 v on the pin 16 banana jack on the BOB as well as some other signals. But when I probed the connector with my DVM there was 12 v on pin 16. So I depinned several of the connector sockets and noticed that the little wiper runs down the center of the socket cavity had been flattened against the sockets wall and was no longer protruding into the cavity of the socket to make contact with the male pin from anything I plugged into the OBD two port.

see pics below.

I ended up taking a very fine jewelers screwdriver and pushed it through an opening in the socket body to push the wiper back into position where it would make contact with its mating pin.

I ended up doing that to all the sockets in the connector as most of them were either not making contact or just barely making contact with whatever pin was inserted.

came to the conclusion that the wipers on these connector sockets are not holding their intended position after repeated connections with a scan tool so I was loosing connections to the signals. so you might want to take a look at your sockets

not sure if your connecter is the same as mine but in order to get the sockets out of the connector body you have to take a fine screwdriver and insert it under the edge of this long rectangular plastic flap in the center of the side of the connector and it will release from the connector body like a little wing. Then you can use a similar small pointy screwdriver to push down on the release tab on the face of the connector to pull the socket pin out the back side of the connector. Took me a little while to figure out how to get those sockets out. But there are two retention devices holding the sockets in place

 

Well done....

 

This is incredibly helpful! I think I have the same issue. Any reader I plug into my port has lots of play in it. Very loosie. I just purchased the breakout box and will give it a try this weekend. Thanks again!

 

If you need to replace the parts I’ll get you the part numbers. I think I actually saved the mechanical drawings of the parts as well

 

Thank you! This has been a great help. No mechanic will look at my car without a OBDll connection.

 

Well I thought I was replying to an earlier bit of the thread... for what it's worth on my car I had to get one for my diagnostic pursuit as I could not find any position of my head and tri-focals that would acutally let me see and focus on the bloody OBDII port pins! Visuals in case anyone else needed it...

Here it is as I was testing for the CAN bus resistance. MUCH easier to work with...