I just finished installing this thing and cannot for the life of me get it to work. No lights ever light up on the unit. I only hooked up the wb02, didnt bother with the knock sensor. I have the serial cable going from the tuner to the utec, and the silver tuner harness (DB15) plugged in. All the dipswitches are in the up position. I use a serial cable to plug my laptop into the tuner. I have checked the voltage on the power wire to verify it is getting power, which it is, and the ground is good. I thought maybe the unit was dead, but if I plug in the 9v adapter I can connect with my laptop sometimes, it usually connects but it usually doesnt last long and starts counting little diamonds across the hyperterminal screen?? (I don't know what that is about). Is it possible the DB15 plug going into the back of the tuner is bad or mis-wired inside? Its the silver plug that you can take the 2 screws out it comes apart in halves. They don't show which wires inside are supposed to go to what pin on the plug itself, or I would try and verify them all. (see post below for my wiring on this plug) I don't know what to do at this point....I messed around with different power sources, fusebox, lighter etc and ground points and it never comes alive? I was so looking forward to finally do some logging and tuning and no such luck. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks

Oh and the UTEC itself is working perfectly fine, It was installed about a week ago.

here is a screen of the hypertext terminal when it starts doing the diamonds across the screen

 

Where are you getting your power for the tuner from?

 

Currently from the cig lighter in front, I was originally trying to pull power off the fuse box and wasnt having any luck, so I hooked it up to the lighter until I can go get a add a fuse. It is getting power off the lighter, I verified it with my voltmeter, 12v.

 

I just took apart the db15 harness, and the power wire is going to pin 13, and the ground is going to pin 15. Can anyone verify that is correct? I checked pin 13 with my voltmeter and it is getting 12volts.

The rest of the wiring colors are as follows on the DB15 plug:

PIN
1 - green coming from 02
2 - white coming from 02
3 - white coming from knock
4 - red coming from knock
5 - yellow coming from 02
6 - black coming from 02
7 - red coming from 02
8 - none
9 - none
10 - none
11 - none
12 - blue coming from 02
13 - red + coming from power
14 - none
15 - white - coming from power

 

i thought you needed switched power...i don't think the cig is but i am no sparky either. it even says in the manual NOT to use the cig lighter...try a switched power source.

 

I verified it is getting power, that isnt the problem. I am getting a new one shipped out, TurboXS said its either just a dead unit or the special fuse in it is bad. I should have the new one tomorrow or Wed.

 

cool...just called utec and they said that you CAN use the cig lighter for power...so disregard my previous post although that is what the manual says. that's an easy access too.

good luck

 

Got the new tuner today and plugged it in, nothing happened....still no sign of life. So I switched the db15 cable out with the new one, and It all works now....looks like a faulty cable was the cause of my problems. Now its time to tune this baby!

 

hey, was that cable supplied from utec...seems like a lot of people have been complaining about faulty cables. just curious....trying mine out today...hopefully no problems

also, i tested that cig circuit located near the ecu....and it is switched power...only comes on when the ignition is on so i don't know why the manual says not to use it.

 

the cig lighter is switched but it is "dirty" source of power. Ie., the accessory circuit is highly impacted by the ignition system (distributor) load (<-- over simplified).

At lower rpms this is not a problem. But at higher rpm's the ground for the accessory circuit becomes burdened trying to maintain a clean 12v load. So, at higher rpm's sensitive equipment can give erroneaous readings because, in a sense, the 12v load "flutters" a bit at higher rpm.

I'm not explaining it very well, but suffice to say that the cig lighter/acc port 12v loads are "dirty". This is why devices like the GTech instruct you to pull 12v from the cig lighter because they detect rpm via the interference caused by the ignition system. (And these devices read RPM very accurately, so that shows how dirty that 12v connection is).

For the tuner you should be fine, but in theory you should connect to a cleaner 12v (eg. direct to the battery using a relay to make it switched).