Bought a ELM 327 and it doesnt work!!!

**mckarnak** · 07-31-2008, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by pjw

- Connect with hyperterm on 9600 8 n 1
- if the rx/tx flash when typing you know your usb drivers are ok

Tried with hyperterm, no flashing of rx/tx on typing. Com port on com3, with 9600,8,n,1.

Originally Posted by pjw

- Next thing is to check if the ELM get's the correct power from the car:
- what do you see in scanmaster when connecting ?
- does the ELM reply with a message like:
"ELM327 Chip detected"
"Interface connected"
and so on;

If you see these messages you know you can talk to the ELM.
If not there can be two things going on:
1) The ELM is dead -> Bad luck
2) The ELM does not get the right Power from the car
Although the Power Led is burning this does not mean the ELM is
right powered; I know this from my own experience; When wrongly
connected the ELM can get power from a data line which is not
enough to let the ELM work properly but is enough to flash the power LED;
Measure the Voltage between pin 4/5 (ground) and pin 16 (+12V)
on the OBD2 connector; If not 12V you are wrongly wired;

I got my ELM powered correctly for now and can communicate with
hyperterm/scanmaster and so on; My version of the ELM327 shows on
startup of scanmaster also the message "Car battery voltage: 11,8V";
At this point you know the ELM is correctly powered.
At startup of the ELM you can see the OBD2 rx/tx flash one time.

If you are at this stage only thing left is to get the ELM communicate
to the car ECU; SCAN master show a message like "Please wait for connection";
At this time my wiring is not ok so I get an error "Unable to connect";
I have been playing around with the wiring and the protocol options in
Scanmaster but no luck so far;

Ooh euh ... make sure you turn the ignition key to "on" and the
immobilizer of the car (if you have one) is turned off.

All the above is my own experience; Hope this helps in your case .....

PJW

Most of the time I get ELM interface not found or something to that effect.
Once in a blue moon I do actually appear to get life from it, at least I'm assuming I am:

ELM327 Chip Detected
Interface Connected
Interface Type: #&58913862&#
Interface Version: ELM327 v1.1
Car Battery Voltage: 12.8
Connection Protocol: SAE J1850 PWM
Please wait for connection
ECU Detected --> SAE J1850 PWM

If I go to trouble codes, I get a result of no trouble codes when I hit Read. This is only the demo version of Scanmaster though, and I doubt I can get much other info from a 2001 Focus anyway.

To get that result though, I pretty much need the following sequence:
1. ECU end of cable connected to ECU.
2. Ignition to on
3. Plug Serial end of ECU cable into the ELM.
4. Plug USB connection into ELM.
5. Attempt to connect with Scanmaster.

If I don't do that sequence, I just get ELM Interface not found :-/

Also decided to try it on my better half's Modus as well. Again most of the time does nothing (less can be said for the Modus though - it goes daft). Also fails to identify a protocol for the Modus.

Scanmaster is the only program to give any sign of life though. EasyOBD doesn't find an interface all the time, no matter what I do.

I'm reckoning my mate has been done.

Cheers.

**tico** · 08-07-2008, 02:20 PM

i lost my cd drives by any chance someone outhere can send me the files

**pjw** · 08-07-2008, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by tico

i lost my cd drives by any chance someone outhere can send me the files

Be a bit more specifiec ......

If you mean the usb drivers you can try download at:
http://www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm
If you mean the software to connect with the ELM you can try download at:
http://www.scantool.net/index.php?mo...y=ScanTool.net

Cheers;

**pjw** · 08-07-2008, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by mckarnak

Tried with hyperterm, no flashing of rx/tx on typing. Com port on com3, with 9600,8,n,1.

Most of the time I get ELM interface not found or something to that effect.
Once in a blue moon I do actually appear to get life from it, at least I'm assuming I am:

ELM327 Chip Detected
Interface Connected
Interface Type: #&58913862&#
Interface Version: ELM327 v1.1
Car Battery Voltage: 12.8
Connection Protocol: SAE J1850 PWM
Please wait for connection
ECU Detected --> SAE J1850 PWM

If I go to trouble codes, I get a result of no trouble codes when I hit Read. This is only the demo version of Scanmaster though, and I doubt I can get much other info from a 2001 Focus anyway.

To get that result though, I pretty much need the following sequence:
1. ECU end of cable connected to ECU.
2. Ignition to on
3. Plug Serial end of ECU cable into the ELM.
4. Plug USB connection into ELM.
5. Attempt to connect with Scanmaster.

If I don't do that sequence, I just get ELM Interface not found :-/

Also decided to try it on my better half's Modus as well. Again most of the time does nothing (less can be said for the Modus though - it goes daft). Also fails to identify a protocol for the Modus.

Scanmaster is the only program to give any sign of life though. EasyOBD doesn't find an interface all the time, no matter what I do.

I'm reckoning my mate has been done.

Cheers.

Sounds lika a connector problem; Check the pins.
If all is ok it is not a most to stick to "the sequence" but I do see sometimes
that my laptop doesn't recognize the device and com3 does't come available;
Unplugging the USB an sticking it back mostly resolves this problem.
Are you sure your car is OBD2 compatible ? At my side I am more and more
convinced my 3-pin-DLC Honda Integra Type-R isn't.

But hey ..... if you have any doubt about the correct working of the ELM
interface itself just order another one for a few dollar or so .....

Cheers

**RMW_Tommy** · 08-09-2008, 10:10 PM

hi, i had the same issue as you guys, i installed the driver that came with the elm 327 from ebay and it didnt work so i googled it and found this site. i went to http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
and installed the 2.04.06 drivers and it seems to be working fine now.
this is what i did:
1. uninstall the drivers that came on the cd with the "ebay elm327"
- the instructions on how to do this should be on the cd (mine were"
2. download the drivers from the link provided and unzip them in a folder that you can remember.
3. connect the elm to the usb port, it should say something like new device detected and the driver installation should pop up, instead of trying to load drivers from the "elm cd" select install from a specified location and select the folder with the newly downloaded drivers.
i then unplugged the elm and restarted the computer , then i connected it to the computer and launched the free scantool software, and it worked !!! you might not be as lucky but so far so good for me, i've used it on two cars today and it seems to be communicationg just fine. good luck

**efun** · 06-04-2009, 11:48 PM

Same issue. Until now, only PCMSCAN can work and others like SCANMASTER, SCANTOOL still can not connected to car. Here is the detail.

1) Driver version above 1.0.2115 will not work. For example, the current new driver (version 2.4.16) fail to work

2) Even 1.0.2115, only PCMSCAN can connect to car. SCANTOOL, SCANMASTER report interface not found.

Suggestion?

**ghost2010** · 03-31-2010, 06:05 AM

if some one can help....
I've got a ELM327 usb interface with FTDI232BL chip. I've installed the drivers on a laptop and it worked just fine. When I tried on my PDA (FS N520) , after I managed to install the drivers all I get when I connect to the car is the TX led flashing. What did I do wrong?

**berylliu** · 03-19-2012, 02:45 AM

hello ，how are you ? hope everything is ok around you ,now we have one OBDII interface for truck ,can would pls let me know your brand of your truck ?

**ace42588** · 03-24-2012, 03:52 PM

I'd like to share what I found to work. I had similar issues to others who have posted about the ebay/Hong Kong/Cheap ELM327 not working. After messing with it for quite some time here are the settings I settled on:

Install the drivers available online (google ELM327 drivers...these might be the same as the one on the disc)
Open the Device Manager and find the ELM device
Go to the Com tab and hit advanced
Make sure that baud here is set to 9600 and that flow control is set to "none"
In whatever program you are using to connect, set the correct com port and set the baud to 38400

Obviously, YMMV, but it worked for me in HyperTerminal, PuTTy, wOBD, and the Centrafuse app.

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