[revvedup]

YouTube - Do Car Manufacturers Drive Up Repair Costs?

Saw this, strange is this happening in India too. Have never come across this having owned a carburetted Zen, but is this true and clearly did not get the fact that the codes need to be purchased everytime, I mean if one gets the codes who is stopping he/she from selling them at a lower price.

P.S- The Video is 6 months old and maybe a law may have made thes codes public now

[mithun]

Haven't heard about such a law/proposal in India yet.

[HKS]

Here I beg to differ. You need ECU codes only to change the performance of the engine and not to repair the engine parts.

The basic use of the ECU is to make engine more accurate and to reduce its emissions and various other luxury functions but not to repair engine parts.

[Kaizer Sozay]

Can the codes be changed for a Zen 2002 model mpfi? anyone does it in delhi

[memo45_m]

Originally Posted by HKS

Here I beg to differ. You need ECU codes only to change the performance of the engine and not to repair the engine parts.

The basic use of the ECU is to make engine more accurate and to reduce its emissions and various other luxury functions but not to repair engine parts.

I am SORRY but please do some reading up before posting, the basic ues of the ECU/ECM - Engine Control Unit/ Module it to deliver the right amount of fuel keeping it close to the ideal AFR - Air/Fuel Ratio of 14.7:1, by varying the injector ON-Time, the SPARK Timing(Advance or Retard) and also maintain the engine at optimum operating temperature of around 80-98derees. all the calculations are made base on the demand and load placed on the engine,
Secondly Codes are displayed to show you which part is malfunctioning or not has failed to function as required, set by the manufacturer,by parts it is specified as all components directly related to the Ecu, an Ecu on todays cars can completely compensate for loss of and injector or spark on a cylinder and still keep the engine running with the AFR running close to 14.7:1 and I completely agree with you that you will not know if you have hole in the piston but that will indicate a MIL/CHECK ENGINE light for you in other components related in that particular cylinder.
For a small test disconnect your car's O2 sensor and see what you get for fuel mileage on you car and what fancy lights show on the dash and when connected with a scan tool like the TECH II(maruti's scan tool) what a lovely friendly msg you get, where the ECU is asking you to make a correction to a faulty or not functioning part, if you do try this test be sure to re set the ECU by disconnecting the battery for not more than 2mins.

[revvedup]

One query guys, we all know that ECU's can compensate for the change in air densities at higher altitudes, but yesterday while I was watching the Mexico round of the WRC they showed the same driver going full throttle at different altitudes and at higher altitudes he was doing 150-160 KMPH while his speeds were much higher close to 190-200 KMPH at lower altitudes. How is this possible if the ECU was changing the AFR according to the altitude ?

And moreover my question still remains unanswered do you require ECU codes for everything as mentioned in the video of the first post or are there are some engine-related problems that can be diagnosed without these codes, it would be very helpful if somebody could elaborate about this with the help of examples.

[ananthkamath]

Actually an engine can be diagnosed without the need for any code-scanner at all with the right equipment.

However, it is easier and much cheaper to just have a OBD-II scanner which will read the basic code from the ECU.

For example, the complete list of OBD-II codes (example is given for VW specific codes) is here:

VW Volkswagen OBD-II Trouble Codes

Whereas the complete list of VW-specific codes which can only be read by a VW proprietary reader (VAG-COM) is given below:

Category:Fault Codes - Ross-Tech Wiki


Notice that the latter pinpoints the EXACT component which is at fault, but the former just gives a list of possible culprits. I think this is what you're refering to, and you're right, the list for model-specific DTC (diagnostic trouble codes) is getting bigger and bigger everyday.

To get around the problem to a certain extent, the US Federal Govt. passed a law long ago to standardize the DTC system across all makes. This is what's known as the mandatory OBD-I/OBD-II (on-board diagnostics I or II) system that HAS to be present in all cars sold in the US. Unfortunately I doubt we have such a system in place in India.

[tsk1979]

Forget this happening in India. Often manufacturers also try to control the supply of genuine spare parts in the open market.

[alias]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Forget this happening in India. Often manufacturers also try to control the supply of genuine spare parts in the open market.

you are so right my friends city was kept in the garage for 3weeks or so since the O2 sensor was not avaliable through out banaglore and we had to source out a 2nd hand one from some one