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Anyone use an ACTRON ALDL Adapter Cable and ACTRON CP9145 Scanner on their C4 ??
I have an Actron CP9145 Scanner (OBD-2 and OBD-1 capable with proper cable).... like this one:
Does anyone use this same scanner along with the available OBD-1 adapter cable on their C4 ?
I know that data is pretty basic but was wondering what info is available with this setup.
(Anything more than just jumping the pins in the connector under the dash)? I've been debating picking one up. Just curious if anyone else has this scanner.
Actron uses a proprietary serial to OBD-2 connector which is removable to attach other cables for some other older GM , Ford, Chrysler etc connectors as well as the standard OBD-2 that works on pretty much any OBD-2 car.
A few years back, I actually picked up a cheap generic serial to OBD-1 cable hoping to make a custom cable, but the serial data pin(s) on that generic cable don't seem to be "wired" (at all)! The few pins that are wired on the generic cable are not the ones used for transmitting data. (which is odd since it's a ALDL cable adapter. You'd think the serial data pins would actually be wired) ! Only 2-3 are actually wired, and they don't correspond to the data pins on pretty much any ALDL that I've ever seen. They seem to be just random. I'm sure I could cut it up and rewire it, (if I had a diagram for the Actron Scanner cable wiring - which I don't.
Wondering if anyone uses this setup. My gut kind of says the adapter cable isn't really worth it (if it only provides codes), but if engine temp, TPS sensor voltage and other data is provided, it could possibly be more appealing.
I dont use that particular Actron model, I think mine is a 93xx that displays more, but I do have that setup with the OBD1 cable adapter. It is useful to read off the instantaneous data when making a quick adjustment or quick diagnosis.
If I need to log data or really dig more then I use the laptop and Tunerpro.
To be more clear, the manual for this scanner claims it can read all the PIDs in the GM ALDL datastream. What PIDs are available depends on what year car you have. If you post what you have, I can tell you what your computer broadcasts.
A laptop computer with a cable is more useful since you can log data, graph data, and share data with people so they can help you diagnose things. But as vader86 said, if all you want is to glance at a single data parameter, the Actron can do it.
Thanks for all of the comments. That's pretty much what I was thinking as well. I just "dug out" my last '87 Silver Biege Metallic that I had in storage. I think Tuner Pro obviously is the way to go. I was just curious to see what was read by the Actron. This car is pretty much a driver. Mild Edelbrock cam and slight port job is pretty much it. All of my fun cars are manual , but I love the Silver Biege "non-2 tone" C4's and picked this up as a cruiser even though it was an Automatic. (Which is why it's pretty un-touched).
I did have some info bookmarked for Tuner Pro and appropriate cable / adapters etc. I'll have to do some research on that.
Originally Posted by Nomake Wan
To be more clear, the manual for this scanner claims it can read all the PIDs in the GM ALDL datastream. What PIDs are available depends on what year car you have. If you post what you have, I can tell you what your computer broadcasts.
A laptop computer with a cable is more useful since you can log data, graph data, and share data with people so they can help you diagnose things. But as vader86 said, if all you want is to glance at a single data parameter, the Actron can do it.
Thanks for all of the comments. That's pretty much what I was thinking as well. I just "dug out" my last '87 Silver Biege Metallic that I had in storage. I think Tuner Pro obviously is the way to go. I was just curious to see what was read by the Actron. This car is pretty much a driver. Mild Edelbrock cam and slight port job is pretty much it. All of my fun cars are manual , but I love the Silver Biege "non-2 tone" C4's and picked this up as a cruiser even though it was an Automatic. (Which is why it's pretty un-touched).
I did have some info bookmarked for Tuner Pro and appropriate cable / adapters etc. I'll have to do some research on that.
I have an Actron 9650 which can be used on both I and II. While I had my 91 it worked well and was able to log. Also have used on my 95 and a couple of my current II with good results.
Hey thanks for the detailed info Nomake Wan,
I guess it could be helpful to know things like coolant temp, TPS, MAP, (and a bunch of items in the 8192 section if it was able to).
In the end I guess the proper cable and tuner pro would be better. I'll have to do some research on that...
03-16-2021, 10:22 AM
Anyone use an ACTRON ALDL Adapter Cable and ACTRON CP9145 Scanner on their C4 ??
