Therefore any device can be used for programming any vehicle regardless of the manufacturer.
The vehicle manufacturers programming application is not dependant on the hardware connection. RS-232, USB or maybe a wireless interface.
The connection between the PC and the J2534 hardware can be freely chosen by the manufacturer of the device i.e. This pass-thru device translates messages sent from the PC into messages of the protocol being used in the vehicle ECU. is J2534 the hardware works like a gateway between the vehicle ECU and the PC. They used to be two thousand pound or so, nasty Chinese ones are coming out (for £300) but as is usual, all these different ones can have slightly different capability, the wrong hardware, fake chipsets, some can, some can't be flashed with updated firmware to add new capabilities or fix bugs etc.Īs the manu are often trying to stop privateers getting the job done, technology is flying forward so the kit changes frequently. The part of the diagnostics kit (when connected on the same vehicle) that copes with all the different comms protocols down the OBDC port at the same time is called a multiplexer. Anyway we still need to be able to communicate correctly with all the current different brand vehicles, so you will still need expensive hardware that knows all the comms out there But even when they do some idiot manu will choose not to use it. They are very similar but the communications protocols are all a bit wild and or proprietary, they are trying to unify a std. Listen to this guy (and his wife making the tea,) brave lad and quite amusing - a lack of mechanical empathy at the end.
(but you need to have paid for the privilege of getting at them - which is what a working version of xentry connect is)įor Ford you can get everything including coding keys and immobilisers if you register off the internet right now for freeįor BMW you can get the exact dealer stuff installed and working on a laptop of your choice with every element of the latest software for every module on every model since 2005 to now (running Dec 2017 released software) for 40 quid installed from scratch in 40 minutes (downloading 80gig of files might take you longer) Most files are 150 meg of rot and 10kb of what its supposed to do.īoth to combat the issues with appalling coding and get a revenue stream back for the dealerships, they are all moving to online downloads for the modules from Manu exclusive servers We have almost reached the point where the original functionality has been forgotten.
These days software would be better described as "compiled junkware" its mostly bloated, buggy, defective rubbish.
Japanese stuff is less than 1/10 the file size and installs almost instantaneously - (as does the new Volvo stuff) on Merc and BM its copy protection rubbish, which is a waste of space because EU law means exact capability must be available to third partiesīMW used to run one software update cycle a year and most cars +98% would NEVER have a single part changed from the day its made to the day its dead in a breakers yard.īMW now have 3 update cycles a year often with 5 minor bug fix derivatives released in between. Autel (and others do multi vehicle products) the kit can be identical (but pricey) but every manu does software differentlyįor example merc update files are massive and take ages to load (as are BM ones)