Diagnostic Scan Tool

[gocobra65]

Not sure if this is the right spot for this discussion. I'm looking for an OBD2 diagnostic scan tool that will allow me to read DTC codes and also do a forced DPF regeneration on a 2008 Cummins 8.3L ISC. Has anyone purchased one that they can recommend, that is reasonably priced.  I have seen NexLink NL 102 Plus, it will read DTC's but only do a forced regen on 2010 up.

Thanks in advance.

Greg

2008 Monaco Knight 40SKQ

 

[Gary M]

Following 

[DavidL]

Diesels don't use OBDII.  OBD2 is for passenger vehicles / light duty trucks.  Diesels use J1708 (pre 2003 ish) and J1939 (post 2003ish)  6 pin for J1708 and 6 or 9 pin for J1939 connector.   2003ish can use both at once for different things.   You need to look at your connector and / or contact the powertrain manufacturer to know which protocol yours uses (it's important to get this right).

 

Look at ScanGauge or Bluefire  https://bluefire-llc.com/website

Edited March 15, 2021 by DavidL

[gocobra65]

DavidL,

You are right on OBDII. I have the 9 pin J1939 connector. Will ScanGauge or Bluefire be capable of doing a forced regen?

Have you used either one to do a Forced regen?

[nocreek141]

Hi I purchased a NexLink NL102PLUS HEAVY DUTY scanner on Amazon. It's manufactured by Nexas.  It was $195 and worth every penny. Heartily recommend. I believe it does All codes + Dpf regen and reset.

[Gary M]

1 hour ago, nocreek141 said:

Hi I purchased a NexLink NL102PLUS HEAVY DUTY scanner on Amazon. It's manufactured by Nexas.  It was $195 and worth every penny. Heartily recommend. I believe it does All codes + Dpf regen and reset.

I’ll have to call them again because they told me last year it wont do a manual regen. I would need to purchase one in the $400+ range. But that was last year.

[Frank McElroy]

Why would you want to do a stationary forced regen? Are you in a situation with engine derate due a plugged DPF?

The only tool I know that can do a forced regen are high end diagnostic tools like the Cummins Insite software and because of the heat generated external fans would be needed so you don't damage the fiberglass body.

If your DPF dash light is on it basically means that you need to drive the coach at highway speed for the time it takes to complete the regen (could be up to an hour).  The engine ECM is programmed to stop doing a regen when coach speed is below about 30 mph or when using the engine brake.

High end code readers would also give you the ability to see what happened in the last ten regen cycles.  When soot level build up beyond a certain pressure, it will trigger a regen cycle.  If you are driving primarily at highway speed, you should be able to go about 100 hours of engine run time between regenerations.  Cummins set the time between regeneration cycles to be no longer than about 100 hours independent of soot load.  Going 100 hours between regenerations tells you that you don't have issues like a bad injector or egr.

[gocobra65]

Frank,

Currently I have no issues. I was only inquiring about what is available and any recommendations from the forum.  I guess I like to be prepared and be able to get DTC's and if necessary have the option to do a stationary regen, I like being prepared.  The NexLink NL 102 Plus apparently does read DTC and can do a stationary/forced regen for vehicles 2010 and newer for about ~$200. I was looking for a scan tool that has the above mentioned capabilities but for 2008 and newer vehicles and whether anyone on the forum has any experience with any scan tools.

Regards,

Greg

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the reply. Do you have a contact number for NexLink and any further info on the one that is in the $400+ range, I was having trouble finding any info on the higher priced unit or any customer service/tech number?

Regards,

Greg

[Frank McElroy]

Greg, thanks for the background.  Yes, it's good to have a scan tool to read codes but I wouldn't worry to much about getting a tool to do a forced regen. 

If you get to the point of needing to do a forced regen, you already have another problem going on that's generating soot (like a bad injector, a sticking EGR or sticking VGT) or you are not driving the coach at highway speeds to allow a full regen while driving when the DPF light comes on. 

A forced regen is not nearly as effective as doing one at highway speed under load. It's really meant to get the DPF clean enough to do a complete regen on the highway. What gets people in trouble is stop and go city diving with the DPF light on thinking that's doing a regen.  That light is just telling you to drive under conditions so the engine can go through the regen cycle. 

So, if you continue to drive in stop and go traffic, in fact it's just generating more soot and making matters worse.  Once you get to a point of engine derate and the check engine light comes on then your only choice is a forced regen or to remove the DPF for cleaning at a Cummins shop.

Also, sort of make a mental note of when you see the DPF light comes on.  If you are going about 100 hours of engine run time or about 5,000-6,000 miles between regens, the engine is working just fine.  If you are going say under 3,000 miles between regens at highway speed, you have something else going on that's generating soot and you should find out why.

[Bill C]

On 3/15/2021 at 5:50 PM, nocreek141 said:

Hi I purchased a NexLink NL102PLUS HEAVY DUTY scanner on Amazon. It's manufactured by Nexas.  It was $195 and worth every penny. Heartily recommend. I believe it does All codes + Dpf regen and reset.

I also purchased the NexLink NL102PLUS HEAVY DUTY scanner on Amazon, but it won't read my "warning light" even though the light is on. It reads codes, like active ones when I turn the key on and such, so I feel like I have it connected properly. What codes have you been able to read?

On 3/15/2021 at 2:21 PM, DavidL said:

Diesels don't use OBDII.  OBD2 is for passenger vehicles / light duty trucks.  Diesels use J1708 (pre 2003 ish) and J1939 (post 2003ish)  6 pin for J1708 and 6 or 9 pin for J1939 connector.   2003ish can use both at once for different things.   You need to look at your connector and / or contact the powertrain manufacturer to know which protocol yours uses (it's important to get this right).

 

Look at ScanGauge or Bluefire  https://bluefire-llc.com/website

I asked this question before, but no on ever answered me. Does the Bluefire read malfuction codes?

[Gary M]

46 minutes ago, gocobra65 said:

Frank,

Currently I have no issues. I was only inquiring about what is available and any recommendations from the forum.  I guess I like to be prepared and be able to get DTC's and if necessary have the option to do a stationary regen, I like being prepared.  The NexLink NL 102 Plus apparently does read DTC and can do a stationary/forced regen for vehicles 2010 and newer for about ~$200. I was looking for a scan tool that has the above mentioned capabilities but for 2008 and newer vehicles and whether anyone on the forum has any experience with any scan tools.

Regards,

Greg

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the reply. Do you have a contact number for NexLink and any further info on the one that is in the $400+ range, I was having trouble finding any info on the higher priced unit or any customer service/tech number?

Regards,

Greg

Based on Frank McElroy’s info whom I consider is one of the several gurus on this site, doing the forced regen did not help my situation last Nov. After doing the forced regen and codes cleared, my coach still would not run over 10 mph. The VGT was the issue plus Cummins had to do a ecm update.

I dont have Nexas info but found it on the internet last time for tech support.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Gary M

[Frank McElroy]

Gary, yes, I recall that discussion.  A stuck turbo actuator will create lots of soot and plug the DPF.

A number of years ago I also had a sticking VGT.

The problem first surfaced as a hesitation when going down hill with the jake on, then at the bottom of the hill turning off the jake and starting to accelerate.  When I did that every once in a while I would get a hesitation like the jake wasn't disengaging.  After a year or two, the problem became more consistent.

But, no check engine light or stored fault codes.

It was driving me nuts.

Once I figured out how to drive to consistently create the problem, I connected the cummins insite software and recorded in real time all the engine parameters.  Still no check engine code.  In analyzing the data at home, I noticed that the turbo boost would drop to zero each time I had the hesitation.

Hmm, on checking, I found that for the turbo actuator to throw a code, the target vs actual actuator position must be out of sync for more than 10 seconds before getting a fault code.

Every time I had the hesitation, I would let off the accelerator.  So, no code would be set.  Back out for another drive and this time I kept full throttle when it hesitated.  After ten second, a 2387 code popped up saying that the electronic turbo actuator was bad.

Replaced the actuator and problem solved.

Sharing just in case someone else out there runs into a similar problem.

[Gary M]

1 hour ago, Frank McElroy said:

Gary, yes, I recall that discussion.  A stuck turbo actuator will create lots of soot and plug the DPF.

A number of years ago I also had a sticking VGT.

The problem first surfaced as a hesitation when going down hill with the jake on, then at the bottom of the hill turning off the jake and starting to accelerate.  When I did that every once in a while I would get a hesitation like the jake wasn't disengaging.  After a year or two, the problem became more consistent.

But, no check engine light or stored fault codes.

It was driving me nuts.

Once I figured out how to drive to consistently create the problem, I connected the cummins insite software and recorded in real time all the engine parameters.  Still no check engine code.  In analyzing the data at home, I noticed that the turbo boost would drop to zero each time I had the hesitation.

Hmm, on checking, I found that for the turbo actuator to throw a code, the target vs actual actuator position must be out of sync for more than 10 seconds before getting a fault code.

Every time I had the hesitation, I would let off the accelerator.  So, no code would be set.  Back out for another drive and this time I kept full throttle when it hesitated.  After ten second, a 2387 code popped up saying that the electronic turbo actuator was bad.

Replaced the actuator and problem solved.

Sharing just in case someone else out there runs into a similar problem.

Glad u remembered my situation. One year before the VGT problem, my DPF plugged up. Wondering if that was the problem as I too had hesitation but was worried my pedal sensor was failing again from previous year when Tom was able to find the part I needed on Ebay.

[Bill C]

2 hours ago, Frank McElroy said:

Gary, yes, I recall that discussion.  A stuck turbo actuator will create lots of soot and plug the DPF.

A number of years ago I also had a sticking VGT.

The problem first surfaced as a hesitation when going down hill with the jake on, then at the bottom of the hill turning off the jake and starting to accelerate.  When I did that every once in a while I would get a hesitation like the jake wasn't disengaging.  After a year or two, the problem became more consistent.

But, no check engine light or stored fault codes.

It was driving me nuts.

Once I figured out how to drive to consistently create the problem, I connected the cummins insite software and recorded in real time all the engine parameters.  Still no check engine code.  In analyzing the data at home, I noticed that the turbo boost would drop to zero each time I had the hesitation.

Hmm, on checking, I found that for the turbo actuator to throw a code, the target vs actual actuator position must be out of sync for more than 10 seconds before getting a fault code.

Every time I had the hesitation, I would let off the accelerator.  So, no code would be set.  Back out for another drive and this time I kept full throttle when it hesitated.  After ten second, a 2387 code popped up saying that the electronic turbo actuator was bad.

Replaced the actuator and problem solved.

Sharing just in case someone else out there runs into a similar problem.

How did you use the Cummings insight software? I would like to use that myself but I never heard of it before.

[Gary M]

1 minute ago, Corkman said:

How did you use the Cummings insight software? I would like to use that myself but I never heard of it before.

Its very expensive. U can look it up on their website. I haven’t done it yet but Cummins will do a complete diagnosis with printout for around $95. May be more now.

[Ivan K]

52 minutes ago, Gary M said:

Its very expensive. U can look it up on their website. I haven’t done it yet but Cummins will do a complete diagnosis with printout for around $95. May be more now.

If we were to ever cross our paths, I would do it for a beer ... but I only carry a 6 pin cable since that's what we have.

[Bill C]

12 hours ago, Ivan K said:

If we were to ever cross our paths, I would do it for a beer ... but I only carry a 6 pin cable since that's what we have.

Where are you located Ivan?

[Ivan K]

1 hour ago, Corkman said:

Where are you located Ivan?

We are outside Quartzsite right now, will move north of here with the weather and probably home in TX for early summer. 

[gjh2916]

Has anyone used a Nexas NL102 Plus code scanner. I was thinking about buying one to use on my 2001 Monaco Dynasty with 8.3 CAPS engine to read diagnostic codes.

[Tom Cherry]

13 minutes ago, gjh2916 said:

Has anyone used a Nexas NL102 Plus code scanner. I was thinking about buying one to use on my 2001 Monaco Dynasty with 8.3 CAPS engine to read diagnostic codes.

Gary,

In the future, please use the SEARCH box function.  I used a couple of key words.  Nexas and then Code and then Scanner.  I got many hits.  There are two comments in his thread that talk about it.  If you use some of the others, you might find more....but I took the latest or most up to date.....as Nexas seemed the best.  There is one in "Jittery Speedometer.  Here is that link.

Scroll down about midway to CORKMAN's comment.  He talks about the Nexas and such....these is the only ones that has NEXAS in it....

I then had to do the housekeeping to merge this thread with the existing discussion of "Diagnostic Scan Tool".  Thanks for doing so in the future.  We are getting fragmented and trying to clean up these oneies generic posts and put them where there is information.

Moderator

Tom Cherry