FORDMAN41291
Full Access Member
can you turn an old vehicle say like my 84 Ford F250 into total OBD that can give trouble codes and what not?
OBD for Trucks
- Thread starter FORDMAN41291
- Start date
You could if you either got a new engine with all the sensors, computer and hardware necessary to make it work. If it were a gas you could adapt an ecm and sensors to it but, with the diesel, a powerstroke computer wouldn't adapt to a 6.9L feasibly, so I will say in your case , no.
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69dieselfreak
well that nice
***? why ?
punkmechanic
diesel tech
a trouble code is generated by the pcm (tcm, ecm, ccm, what have you) by have a stored value range for a given sensor or array of data. When that data goes out of range a code is generated to inform the driver of that. Trouble is most people are too stupid to figure out what is wrong, so the designers just flash an orange light at you that states "CHECK ENGINE".
A system such as could monitor the engine parameters and generate trouble codes based on input data is possible, but how advanced do you want it? The gas versions of our trucks have an eec system (eec 3 or eec 4 Im not sure, eec = electronic engine control) that will generate a code but it isnt very specific. Instead of "o2 sensor bank 1 sensor 1 out of range" it just says "system lean".
That type of system wouldnt be to hard to trick into work on our trucks as long as the fuel was taken out of consideration.
In short yes it is possible, but what all do you want it to monitor and how specific do you want it to be when generating said code?
obd is on board diagnostic, we all have that. Eyes, ears, and feel all "diagnos" our own trucks every time we start or drive them. intuative obd, works great as long as you dont over think it.
punk
A system such as could monitor the engine parameters and generate trouble codes based on input data is possible, but how advanced do you want it? The gas versions of our trucks have an eec system (eec 3 or eec 4 Im not sure, eec = electronic engine control) that will generate a code but it isnt very specific. Instead of "o2 sensor bank 1 sensor 1 out of range" it just says "system lean".
That type of system wouldnt be to hard to trick into work on our trucks as long as the fuel was taken out of consideration.
In short yes it is possible, but what all do you want it to monitor and how specific do you want it to be when generating said code?
obd is on board diagnostic, we all have that. Eyes, ears, and feel all "diagnos" our own trucks every time we start or drive them. intuative obd, works great as long as you dont over think it.
punk
jperecko
Diesel Ape
I actually want to do something like this with mine but with great emphasis on the fact that it will in no way drive the car. I will basically have a bunch of sensors hooked up to something that can record data and display it on demand or if something abnormal is picked up, warn me on the fly so that the problem can be diagnosed and hopefully be solved before any damage is done.
An alternate approach is just a bunch of gauges but that can get very cluttered and expensive. Once you have a computer rigged up to record and display data, adding more sensors will be very cheap... compared to close to $100 for a sensor+decent quality gauge.
Anything is doable with a little thought, planning, time, and money. Do you have these to invest?
An alternate approach is just a bunch of gauges but that can get very cluttered and expensive. Once you have a computer rigged up to record and display data, adding more sensors will be very cheap... compared to close to $100 for a sensor+decent quality gauge.
Anything is doable with a little thought, planning, time, and money. Do you have these to invest?
It's called a power stroke, move up a couple of forums 
We buy these old trucks to get AWAY from all that garbage, to have nice, simple trucks , that aren't all tied to a rats nest of wires that cripple the dang thing at the drop of a hat because a mouse farted behind the dash.
We buy these old trucks to get AWAY from all that garbage, to have nice, simple trucks , that aren't all tied to a rats nest of wires that cripple the dang thing at the drop of a hat because a mouse farted behind the dash.
k_williams1982
'01 Excursion 4x4
I like the SIMPLICITY of the IDI engine without all the sensors and wiring. Anything is possible with enough time and money, but I'd never add a computer or OBD system to mine.
adam g
Full Access Member
Most of the obd2 cars that come into the shop with a check engine light on have codes for emission related data. Evaporative emissions leaks(fuel vapors) Catalyst ineffeciency, and egr's not properly functioning comprise most of the codes. We get very few misfire codes on the vehicles we maintain and the misfire codes that we get can be incorrect. You can run a car out of oil or coolant and the light won't come on until an emissions system is affected. These systems were not designed to make these cars simple to work on but to please environmentalist. I'm want to be environmentally responsible but it doesn't make sense to me. My 91 f-350 make 14 to 15 mpg most of the time. The new strokes with all their computers and more horsepower struggle to do that. When I finish my intercooler my truck will pull with them all day long and oh yeah its cheap.
I was gonna say.... if you ever look into what ODBII really does, it has very little to do with running the car. Mostly, it's like having a little government gremlin who's only job is to make sure your car doesn't polute. And heaven help you if you fail to tighten your gas cap. The government installed trunk monkey will come out and beat you sensless. 
If you really want a system to monitor your engine parameters and record everything into a neat little datalog that you can look over then you could look into megasquirt. It was designed to fully operate a gasoline engine, but does very well at reading sensors and recording data, and can be programmed to do about anything you want it to. I have one in the basement but I don't really want to add any complications to my truck, I like my 90 the way it is nice and simple and easy to work on. When I had the turbocharged gas engine in it, I was using the megasquirt system in place of the stock ford ecm and it done a great job, but took lots of programming and needed to be fiddled with and updated from time to time. BUT, if you were just using it for a datalogging device it would be very simple to hook up and you could add all the sensors that you want. I have some datalogs from my old engine set up somewhere if anyone who is serious about this is interested, it done a really good job of putting it all into a nice graph that you could look over just like a dyno graph and see at what RPM, you had what Fuel Pressure and what boost, and oil pressure and water temp as well in Intake Air Temps, and O2 readings. But it will cost you about $400-$500 to get it all setup and a little ingenuity finding sensors that will do what you want. It does require a laptop to datalog but it can be sitting in the seat with the lid closed if you want. I think my truck still has the com port plug up under the dash for my laptop to plug up to. To my knowledge they have not designed one yet that will datalog without an eternal device (such as a laptop) to save the log to.
But really why overcomplicate the engine, it is so simple and easy to work on, a few decent gauges will tell you about everything you need to know about this engine, and after you drive it for a while you will be able to notice when somehting isn't quite right and you can start to diagnose, using simple tools.
But really why overcomplicate the engine, it is so simple and easy to work on, a few decent gauges will tell you about everything you need to know about this engine, and after you drive it for a while you will be able to notice when somehting isn't quite right and you can start to diagnose, using simple tools.
FORDMAN41291
Full Access Member
I want to do what jperecko is looking into, not for trouble codes and what not, just for system monitoring, like engine temp, coolant temp. oil and transmission temp. and to tell you horsepower, and all that stuff, I hate the whole trouble code thing
The only way you are going to know horsepower is if you dyno the truck. There used to be little devices that plugged into the cig light and you programmed it with vehicle weight and what not and then you took off as fast as you could till you reached 60 and it would give you a horsepower estimate, but I don't think those were very cheap. Maybe you could just send me some money and I will print you out a graph with your hp on it , the first one would be free because I know how much these engines make when they aren't running, 0 hp, the same as any other. I am not trying to be mean just trying to have some fun. It sounds like all you need to do the things you want to do are a set of gauges, you don't need a computer to monitor the things you want to monitor, except for hp and that is going to be very subjective if you found something to monitor it.
, the first one would be free because I know how much these engines make when they aren't running, 0 hp, the same as any other. I am not trying to be mean just trying to have some fun. It sounds like all you need to do the things you want to do are a set of gauges, you don't need a computer to monitor the things you want to monitor, except for hp and that is going to be very subjective if you found something to monitor it.
FORDMAN41291
Full Access Member
ok, so what your saying is, get the som gun runnin, and put a Turbo in it along with some gauges? let me ask you this what has more power, a IH 6.9l (3rd party turbo installed) or a Cummins 6 cyl. with a Turbo?
Dsl_Dog_Treat
I lost my face to the jaws of a poodle
Don't put the cart in front of the horse.
Get the truck running FIRST!
Get the truck running FIRST!
