Newbie back! So l took my 2001 Z06 to get smogged 2day. l am in CA unfortunately btw. Anywho, the first guy l took it to spent 35 min trying to get my car to communicate with his smog machine via the OBD port. Didn't happen. l have my center and hvac/stereo console out oft the car at the moment due to the dreaded hvac control fade. He said maybe those items from both consoles need to be all plugged in to complete a circuit. l thought this wouldnt make a difference at all but at this point l was willing to try. So l went back to my garage and reinstalled everything and plugged all connections back in and away l went. Well 30 min later, same thing. Nothing. Would not communicate. Now, let me ad some info here at this point... l have my own hand held and not only did it have zero issues connecting/communicating with the car via the OBD, l ran the smog readiness check on it and it said all systems green, ready to go! Also, the smog tech hooked up his own Bosch OBD tool and it also connected immediately. But, his smog machine just would not connect. He had 3 customers waiting the first go around and he said while l was gone reinstalling the items he smogged all those vehicles with zero issues so his machine/interface is working fine. After l left his place empty handed, l went to 2 more smog stations,with the same result. The forth one (yes l was very persistent) after his 4th attempt, worked! lt was like a miracle! But my OBD/ECU/ECM obviously has some issues. So l came home and pulled out the OBD dongle and observed. All the female pins look good, none spread or loose.
l also checked pin 4 for ground, it was present and l believe pin 16 for voltage which it had to the tune of 12.34v l believe. Dont quote me on the pin locations but l believe those were the ones. Ok so..... anyone have any ideas? Thank you all in advance for taking the time to read my novel of a post!

 

Sounds like problem solved, you passed! As to the State testing system?? California???
🏄‍♂️

 

I had an issue with a scanner that could be used in a vehicle specific mode as well as generic OBD2 mode. The scanner was never able to to connect in its generic OBD2 mode to my car. I tried a few other scanners and they would intermittently connect. Never figured out why, but since it didn’t affect anything I never bothered with it. I still have the car 4 years later and it still has the issue I believe that you need an oscilloscope to look at the data bus signals to see what’s going on when you connect the OBD2 reader. You can also disconnect the battery and read the resistance of the OBD2 bus hi to low on pins 6 to 14 of the OBD2 connector. It should read about 60 ohms. If it’s low there could be a problem with one of the devices on the bus. If it’s high it a wiring issue.

 

Yeah, unfortunately l reside in stupid CA.Well problem kinda solved as l did eventually get it to pass but l need to find out why it is behaving this way

 

Thank you Pd l will try and wrap my head around that testing procedure. l was never good at 15a work, just light duty mechanics

 

Yep, I get it. I would feel the same way. The California thing was meant light hearted. This forum has some great guys that can provide accurate advise. Wish I could have been more help. Good luck hunting. :^)

 

Moved to C5 Tech.

 

Pd, l will try and do this today and post my results...

 

Thank you and l agree, there are some very wise people on here so l do feel confident l will get this resolved one way or another!