Swapping OBC's as diagnostic - safe?

[kiev]

Wrong VIN is a show stopper.

If it were my car i would put everything back into the car it came out of, then pull DTCs and do troubleshooting with those.

This thread started with an off-hand question but has developed into a case of full blown car aids and the throwing of parts.

Swapping parts without knowing why is not troubleshooting and not diagnostics either. That should have been the answer to the OP.

 

[MickeyS70]

Wrong VIN is a show stopper.

Agreed, but I’m curious how far one can get before the show eventually stops

If it were my car i would put everything back into the car it came out of, then pull DTCs and do troubleshooting with those.

But what do you do if there aren’t any relevant DTCs?

Swapping parts without knowing why is not troubleshooting and not diagnostics either. That should have been the answer to the OP.

Like you, I’m old school and like to pinpoint a fault before replacing a part, however in the absence of a ‘smoking gun’ ruling out components by changing them is another strategy that is quite commonplace these days.

Also just unplugging and putting connections back can be surprisingly productive..

 

[pbui19]

The VIN block is so ridiculous and malicious. There are clever people out there who can program in the new VIN. Once I had to ship an ebay HMI (Human Machine Interface) unit from a Chevy Volt to an outfit in to Canada, may be Vancouver (can't recall exactly right now), to reprogram the VIN. Obviously it's only possible with the proper set up and VIN is stored on a flashable chip.

 

[MickeyS70]

The VIN block is so ridiculous and malicious. There are clever people out there who can program in the new VIN. Once I had to ship an ebay HMI (Human Machine Interface) unit from a Chevy Volt to an outfit in to Canada, may be Vancouver (can't recall exactly right now), to reprogram the VIN. Obviously it's only possible with the proper set up and VIN is stored on a flashable chip.

Dealers do this work regularly, it should be a quick job with a MUT3 or Diagbox diagnostics tool

 

[jpr]

Wrong VIN is a show stopper.

If it were my car i would put everything back into the car it came out of, then pull DTCs and do troubleshooting with those.

This thread started with an off-hand question but has developed into a case of full blown car aids and the throwing of parts.

Swapping parts without knowing why is not troubleshooting and not diagnostics either. That should have been the answer to the OP.

I initially wanted to swap OBC's because the initial diag (no relevant DTC's) led me to believe the OBC was faulty. That's doing it for a reason, IMO. I should probably have just swapped them, because in fact the OBC was fine.

I did list the DTC's in post #28 but again it seems like there are none relevant.

 

[jpr]

Oddly, the good car does charge fine with the bad car's EV-ECU, or battery control unit, or body control unit, installed. Didn't expect that, for a couple reasons.

 

[MickeyS70]

Oddly, the good car does charge fine with the bad car's EV-ECU, or battery control unit, or body control unit, installed. Didn't expect that, for a couple reasons.

Agreed, but at least we know now what isn’t causing the issue, no active components left as far as I can see therefore back to the wiring loom?

Might be worth swapping all the ECUs back and closely examine the corresponding connectors on the ‘bad car side’ while you’re at it.

What’s also intriguing is the B1108 fault that shouldn’t be there with the heater turned off? What dongle/app do you use to read DTCs? Do you see any fault codes on the ‘good’ car?

 

[jpr]

Agreed, but at least we know now what isn’t causing the issue, no active components left as far as I can see therefore back to the wiring loom?

Might be worth swapping all the ECUs back and closely examine the corresponding connectors on the ‘bad car side’ while you’re at it.

What’s also intriguing is the B1108 fault that shouldn’t be there with the heater turned off? What dongle/app do you use to read DTCs? Do you see any fault codes on the ‘good’ car?

Yeah, the B1108 makes absolutely zero sense to me, yet it shows up consistently.

I use an Autel MK808 scan tool since it's what I have in the shop and allows me to communicate with all modules. Certainly open to making a Diagbox setup but haven't grokked what the best cable/version would be yet. The good car also gives me some codes - I don't remember offhand exactly what they are, but I believe they're all in the "CAN timeout/not equip" category for options that car doesn't have - like the infotainment system, steering angle sensor, etc.

 

[MickeyS70]

Yeah, the B1108 makes absolutely zero sense to me, yet it shows up consistently.

I use an Autel MK808 scan tool since it's what I have in the shop and allows me to communicate with all modules. Certainly open to making a Diagbox setup but haven't grokked what the best cable/version would be yet. The good car also gives me some codes - I don't remember offhand exactly what they are, but I believe they're all in the "CAN timeout/not equip" category for options that car doesn't have - like the infotainment system, steering angle sensor, etc.

Might be worth trying to access OBD data of the current, good car’s OBC when it’s charging, just to see if your scan tool works as expected?

 

[Rational]

Yeah, the B1108 makes absolutely zero sense to me, yet it shows up consistently.

I use an Autel MK808 scan tool since it's what I have in the shop and allows me to communicate with all modules. Certainly open to making a Diagbox setup but haven't grokked what the best cable/version would be yet. The good car also gives me some codes - I don't remember offhand exactly what they are, but I believe they're all in the "CAN timeout/not equip" category for options that car doesn't have - like the infotainment system, steering angle sensor, etc.

I've also been wanting to figure out which is the best cable/version to use for diagbox and openport 2.0, etc. So I posted this here in the thread on these devices: https://myimiev.com/threads/using-t...-as-a-universal-j2534-adapter.5594/post-50241

Also in this thread here: https://myimiev.com/threads/i-miev-and-lexia-3-and-diagbox.4042/post-50250

I ended up ordering one of the cheap Lexus 3 cables this week from aliexpress as I was told I don't need all the extra cables that come with the $100+ kits. So if the cheaper version (non chip without the extra cables) works well enough it may be adequate for me. I'm unlikely to use it a lot on other cars so the full chip version may not be needed. I'll only be using it on my single miev at home. So low volume use. Testing will reveal all though.

Here's the one I ordered for $43 this week:https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005887135255.html?

I also ordered an openport 2.0 clone this week as well: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005605112895.html

I'll report in on the results of both this coming week once I test.

Hope that helps.

 

[jpr]

Another data point gained over the weekend - I temporarily swapped the J1772 harness (between charge plug and OBC) from the bad car into the good car, which then charged without incident.

This narrows down the problem area to, I guess, somewhere battery-side of the OBC.

 

[MickeyS70]

This narrows down the problem area to, I guess, somewhere battery-side of the OBC.

That depends, can you clarify on the schematic below which wires you changed as part of J1772 harness?
Did you ever swap the A-06X charging relay?

 

[jpr]

That depends, can you clarify on the schematic below which wires you changed as part of J1772 harness?

View attachment 1136

It's part #1 on the below diagram, or connectors G-03, G-12, and E-03 on yours.

Did you ever swap the A-06X charging relay?

Yes - no change.

 

[MickeyS70]

It's part #1 on the below diagram, or connectors G-03, G-12, and E-03 on yours.

Yes - no change.

Ok, what about the other (PP) side, i.e. continuity between G-12/C-111?

Do you get 12V (14.6V) on E-03 pins 7 (permanent) & 2 (when attempting to charge), might check out good car for comparison.

Did you check the CP path from the OBC (E-03 pin 12) going to the EV-ECU (C-06 pin 11)?

Another possibility why charging doesn’t work/you’re not getting any related DCTs could be that the OBC is disconnected from the CAN bus:
OBC E03 pin 13 (CAN L)/pin 6 (CAN H) should ‘bell’ to the Inverter (MCU) E-06 pin 8/3 respectively

 

[jpr]

My esteemed friends and colleagues... it is fixed.

I noticed the other day while sitting despondently in the cockpit that, huh, neither the overhead lights nor the radio work, key in or not - and the headlights do not come on unless the key is on. So I decided to fix that, starting with the dome lights. May as well make some progress.

I found that #13, the dome light fuse, was blown, and replaced it.

With no other changes made, all problems on the car are now, apparently, fixed. Dome lights, radio, headlights, and... OBC. It's been on the 8A slow charger overnight and has gone from 0-80% so far. I'm eager to put some miles on it, test out the fast charge port, and give it a badly needed deep clean.

I don't understand why the dome light fuse broke *everything* on this car, and maybe I'll find out later. Nothing in the wiring diagrams I could find suggest a causal link, but again, maybe I'm blind and missed it.

Thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions along the way!

 

[kiev]

I found that #13, the dome light fuse, was blown

Good catch to find that bad fuse--sometimes you get lucky

 

[MickeyS70]

Well done, looks like fuse 13 also supplies the “regular charge port lamp” feeding into the the ETACS-ECU…

 

[Rational]

My esteemed friends and colleagues... it is fixed.

I noticed the other day while sitting despondently in the cockpit that, huh, neither the overhead lights nor the radio work, key in or not - and the headlights do not come on unless the key is on. So I decided to fix that, starting with the dome lights. May as well make some progress.

I found that #13, the dome light fuse, was blown, and replaced it.

With no other changes made, all problems on the car are now, apparently, fixed. Dome lights, radio, headlights, and... OBC. It's been on the 8A slow charger overnight and has gone from 0-80% so far. I'm eager to put some miles on it, test out the fast charge port, and give it a badly needed deep clean.

I don't understand why the dome light fuse broke *everything* on this car, and maybe I'll find out later. Nothing in the wiring diagrams I could find suggest a causal link, but again, maybe I'm blind and missed it.

Thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions along the way!

Veeerrry nice find. That's fantasatic. Feels good I bet.

Well done. I'll keep that fuse #13 in mind if I ever have those same symptoms.