What actually is MUT III in detail?

[datom]

Hello fellow iMiev drivers,

I wonder what makes the V.C.I. (-Lite) so special? Can we use the MUT sofware with a "normal" OBD dongle?
Also, would it be possible to "fake" a VCI with an Arduino or the like?


Best,

tom

 

[datom]

Nobody?
I would like to have the functionality of the MUT III but without having to spend much money for it.
Would it be possible to connect to OBD with a dongle (like OBDLink LX) and build a VCI-like interface with an Arduino?

Best,

tom

 

[coulomb]

I think it's possible to write an open source MUT clone. I have a copy of a Mitsubishi update CD which may contain the required information. But it will require a lot of reverse engineering and time. There is a small chance I'll find the time to attempt this, and that I have enough skills to do it.

 

[datom]

That would be possible with a lot of reverse engineering.
What about leaving the MUT software alone and just "faking" a VCI?

 

[JoeS]

Um, sorry, I'm delinquent in trying to keep up with acronyms -

VCI = Virtual Circuit Identifier?

 

[coulomb]

What about leaving the MUT software alone and just "faking" a VCI?

You still need to know the various CAN IDs, data formats, how to clear error codes, etc. All that required detail is only contained in the MUT software, as far as I know.

Certainly, we'd want a hardware platform more convenient than the actual MUT, which I believe requires ancient Windows versions and the like. So yes, fake in that sense.

 

[coulomb]

VCI = Virtual Circuit Identifier?

Vehicle Communications Interface. That's the hand-held part; the MUT looks like it's a smallish ruggedized laptop. There are two models; the one with the small display and three buttons, and the VCI-Lite without a display at all.

I believe that the VCI can communicate over USB with a computer running a suitably ancient version of Windows using special software... is that correct? Please pardon my lack of expertise here (and laziness of reading the below-linked manual).

Some information here: Mitsubishi M.U.T. 3 Manual .

 

[philou]

The MUT III software can be found here:
http://mmc-forum.ru/viewtopic.php?p=1173#p1173

I haven't found time to start analyzing/decompiling the software to see how it's made.

But creating a replacement for the hardware USB to CAN can be tricky without actually having one to experiment with.
We need to know if heavy data treatment is done inside the hardware (which would be very complicated to reproduce without having the specs), or if the hardware acts just as a serial-to-CAN like most of the OBD interfaces. In that case, imagining a compatible replacement would be feasible.

 

[datom]

It would be really great to replace the VCI with an OBD dongle or a simple microcontroller without having to change (much of) the software (MUT) side.
More ideas, experiences or insights anyone?

Best,

tom

 

[hjdlsnbc]

Because this gets unanswered but the information available have updated since then, lets summarize:
Since 2019/2020 there is now a VCI replacement for the MUT3.
The original MUT3 is crazy expensive and the china clones are reported widely to be not be working properly and also stopping to work completely. Going the original MUT3 would cost about 1500$.

The protocol the car is talking is named j2534. Since over 10 years there is the adapter named Tactrix Openport 2.0 that works about 4 to 10 times faster then original MUT3 hardware. The Price of the original Openport 2.0 it is about 200$. Because the Openport 2.0 is out for so long, there are also rebuilds for about 10-20$ with free shipment. They are also reported to work, but if you plan to reflash your firmware of the car, then its recommended to use the original Openport 2.0.
This hardware is of course not detected as original MUT3 because its not a MUT3. But the user registered with the username @kolyandex in this forum here wrote a driver to use j2534 adapters as MUT3.
The driver of kolyandex of course got hacked at some point by someone else that now sells his driver. Even this person who sells the cracked kolyandex software recommends to not use china clones for really crtitical operations here: https://mhhauto.com/Thread-MUT-3-J2534-FULL-DRIVER?pid=2406799#pid2406799

Here you can find the forum of kolyandex discussing about the MUT3-driver : https://forum.kolyandex.su/viewforum.php?f=14

kolyandex also reverse engeneered the BMU and EV-ECU of the imiev: https://forum.kolyandex.su/viewforum.php?f=22

The latest version 2.2 from 29.02.2024 of the MUT-3 driver and the attached ECU modification tool have added many benefits for the imiev that have been developed since version 2.1 (05.12.2021).
kolyandex seem to have changed the licensing of the driver since 2.1. In exactly version 2.2 there is now mostly a usb-dongle required to run it. This adds at one side the benefit to be able to reinstall it on any hardware you like and to run MUT3 software with the driver in a virtiual machine (licencing in a virtual machine was not possible before).

Back to the main topic:
Yes, it would be nice to have even a hardware replacement for the Openport 2.0 build by an arduino, but getting a china clone of the Openport 2.0 for about 10-20$ would cost about the same as an arduino setup with MCP CAN transceiver and so on. I do not think it would make sense to change anything on the hardware side.

Of course it would be awesome if someone could release a opensource driver for the MUT3 support. I think this is the part now to go further in the as free as possible MUT3 solution. Maybe at some point kolyandex would opensource the MUT3 driver by himself? It currently does not look like kolyandex is releasing much or any opensource software, but lets not loose the hope about that.

 

[piev]

I believe it’s not that complicated.

I put a can recorder on the OBD II port in parallel with the MUT3 and recorded the bus as I issued commands from the MUT3.

I believe a simple can device can do the same thing as the MUT3. You would need to create your own GUI or just report results on a simple terminal program like Tera Term.

Someone with fair SW skills could whip it out in a week or two.

I can provide what I found if someone is interested in writing the code.

It could also be done on a dongle and a phone just like Canion or OBDZero.

 

[MickeyS70]

I believe a simple can device can do the same thing as the MUT3. You would need to create your own GUI or just report results on a simple terminal program like Tera Term.

Good point, but in the end you’re still going to be ‘limited’ to what a MUT3 can do, i.e the “wish list” @hjdlsnbc compiled will remain just that…

 

[piev]

Good point, but in the end you’re still going to be ‘limited’ to what a MUT3 can do, i.e the “wish list” @hjdlsnbc compiled will remain just that…

The MUT3 can program anything in the car. You still need the file.

 

[hjdlsnbc]

the file

What file did you talk about? The one you have to calculate the new checksum after you modified things inside it before writing it into the memory of the car?

 

[piev]

What file did you talk about? The one you have to calculate the new checksum after you modified things inside it before writing it into the memory of the car?

I am spe4aking of a firmware file to reprogram a device like the BMU or EV-ECU for instance when the tech has to install a new one. I believe the files are on their web site but you have to buy a subscription.

 

[MickeyS70]

Great find, if I understand correctly, it all comes down to the correct ‘file’:

- MUT3, Diagbox and similar are just a means to program the various ECU.

- The stock files that are available online (with a subscription) are encrypted.

- In order to flash custom mods one needs to find a way to ‘hack’ the file??

 

[hjdlsnbc]

The 'Immobilizer Key Register Password' for the i-miev is: 8035

 

[piev]

Great find, if I understand correctly, it all comes down to the correct ‘file’:

- MUT3, Diagbox and similar are just a means to program the various ECU.

- The stock files that are available online (with a subscription) are encrypted.

- In order to flash custom mods one needs to find a way to ‘hack’ the file??

Yes, as I understood kolyandex.... he downloads the file from your BMU and modifies it. Then he re-flashes the BMU with the changes. I don't know how you read the file because that ability is grayed out (non-functional) on my MUT3 driver. He said I could do it from the MUT3 but I can't find that command.

 

[kiev]

- The stock files that are available online (with a subscription) are encrypted.

i doubt that they are encrypted, but just that they are binary or hexadecimal files of the load dataset.

The files are in machine code and not human-readable. The structure and format of the data might be reverse-engineered if you knew the target processor and firmware, but otherwise it looks like garbage.

Binary or Hex is more compact than ASCII numbers or letters. To represent a decimal number such as "188" requires 3 bytes in ASCII, 0x31 0x38 0x38, but only 1 byte in Hex, 0xBC, sent as 8 binary bits 10111100

 

[MickeyS70]

Yes, as I understood kolyandex.... he downloads the file from your BMU and modifies it. Then he re-flashes the BMU with the changes. I don't know how you read the file because that ability is grayed out (non-functional) on my MUT3 driver. He said I could do it from the MUT3 but I can't find that command.

IIRC Diagbox has an option to clone a BMU i.e. read (and store?) the current the settings, replace the BMU and then flash the new hardware, MUT3 must have a similar repair function.

If one knew how to find, decode and then change the information, this function could be used to customise the BMU, e.g. increase the capacity…