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-   -   OBDII on Obiwan 96-97 Link ecu (https://www.miataturbo.net/ecus-tuning-54/obdii-obiwan-96-97-link-ecu-97703/)

cj9694 08-06-2018 10:37 AM

OBDII on Obiwan 96-97 Link ecu
 
i just recently picked up a Link ecu for my 96. It’s mint, never been installed and I got a really good deal on it. I was wondering if this ecu produces normal OBD2 codes like the OEM ecu does. I would like to purchase a Race Capture track module that uses OBD info to gather car data. Any info is greatly appreciated!

Ken Hill 08-06-2018 12:32 PM

No, Like other programmable ECUs, the Link Obiwan does not return any OBDII codes or diagnostic information.

jstck 08-06-2018 01:07 PM

The Link ECUs do have a CAN bus though, which is one of the things commonly found in an OBD2 port and what many data loggers use to read sensor data from the ECU. So it might work for that, depending on what the Link is sending there.

Edit: WTF is an "Obiwan" in this case?

AlwaysBroken 08-06-2018 01:18 PM

No, it would be illegal for FM to have sold it if it could spoof obd2 codes. Despite the fact that 99 percent of them are street driven, it's technically a race only ECU. If you want an obd2 simulator you're going to have to roll your own.

The Link for the 96-97 cars was not just a rewire of the earlier boards. It has slightly different software and some very minor improvements to injection behavior and autotuning. I remember the earliest boards had bugs. FM referred to it as the obiwan for some reason. This was right around the time of the Star Wars prequels tho, so there is that.

cj9694 08-06-2018 04:36 PM

Wasn't looking to spoof codes, this is going into a race only car. Was just wondering if after replacing the ecu with the obiwan ecu if there was data pushed out to the OBD2 port so I could run a race capture and collect data the easy way.

AlwaysBroken 08-06-2018 09:20 PM

You gotta log using the ribbon cable and the serial interface, which is a huge pain in the ass.

cj9694 08-06-2018 09:44 PM

Hmmm maybe I can still get it out to the race capture via a usb cable

jstck 08-07-2018 12:26 PM

Race Capture loggers, as most aftermarket dashboard and logger things, read data off of the CAN bus. And the Link ECUs (at least current models, assuming "obiwan" isn't too ancient or weird) can send sensor data over the CAN bus. Wether using the OBD2 connector or not to physically connect them, I don't see any obvious reason why that setup wouldn't work for data logging.
Of course it won't do trouble codes, but the logger wouldn't care about those anyway. It wouldn't be "real OBD2", it would just be a somewhat roundabout way of physically connecting up the CAN bus.

AlwaysBroken 08-07-2018 12:33 PM

Are you taking about the current products made by the (I think Australian) company that originally made the Link ECU? The FM Link isn't connected with any recent versions of the Australian Link.

I think FMs Link and software are forked from the mid early 90s versions of the ozzy Link. The FM stuff is a big improvement over that and the obiwan was a further development on that. But FM stopped development on Link stuff in the early 2000s. And the original manufacturer kept making improvements as well. The FM Link ECU wouldn't have any of the features that the Australian company built into later versions of their stuff.

concealer404 08-07-2018 01:01 PM

By "really good deal" i hope you mean you gave the dude a 6 pack of Bud Light, at most.

cj9694 08-07-2018 06:40 PM

Yes its a FM Link I paid $150 shipped for a never used setup. Its for Lemons so im trying to stay within the budget rules. Whats wrong with the link other then its old? DLL isnt terrible. Sure its not as nice as a MS3 but so is having an extra $450 and I'm not out to make championship winning power or anything.

concealer404 08-07-2018 06:44 PM

Well, good luck then. OEM ecu would sound pretty nice to me in a Lemons situation, though. :lol:

cj9694 08-07-2018 06:45 PM


Originally Posted by jstck (Post 1495220)
Race Capture loggers, as most aftermarket dashboard and logger things, read data off of the CAN bus. And the Link ECUs (at least current models, assuming "obiwan" isn't too ancient or weird) can send sensor data over the CAN bus. Wether using the OBD2 connector or not to physically connect them, I don't see any obvious reason why that setup wouldn't work for data logging.
Of course it won't do trouble codes, but the logger wouldn't care about those anyway. It wouldn't be "real OBD2", it would just be a somewhat roundabout way of physically connecting up the CAN bus.

I guess thats what I am trying to figure out. Is there a way to get CAN bus or some other data from the ecu to out to a race capture. the cable that this Old FM Link uses is some wonky 14 pin ribbon cable. 13 grey and 1 red (im guessing power) most of the data Im looking for is streamed to the handheld keypad which is neat but you have to scroll though menus to find it and that data logging isnt exportable. Actually that just got me thinking, you can data log all that back to a laptop VIA the DLL program, I wonder if I can somehow get that serial data to talk to a Race capture.....

cj9694 08-07-2018 06:46 PM


Originally Posted by concealer404 (Post 1495279)
Well, good luck then. OEM ecu would sound pretty nice to me in a Lemons situation, though. :lol:

hard to run a turbo FE3 off from the oem 96 ecu and program it....

concealer404 08-07-2018 06:48 PM

Sounds like the difference in ways we would approach a Lemons car goes far beyond just ECU choice, then. :rofl:

AlwaysBroken 08-07-2018 09:59 PM

If you want data logging on a link you have to roll your own. I had a datalogger up and running years back, but the laptop I used to use died (it had a serial port) and I've been too lazy to get everything working with USB adapter.

As for the ECU itself, there's nothing wrong with it and it can make perfectly good power so long as you stay below say.... 18-20psi of boost. Manifold pressure is an unsigned byte, so aiming for 230 or so and leaving 25 kpa of leeway for boost overshoot is about as high as you can go without causing bad things to happen.

AlwaysBroken 08-07-2018 10:04 PM

If you can get a 3 or 4 bar map sensor to send the same voltage signal as the stock map sensor, you'd have to redo your fuel maps but you could theoretically run much higher boost. Of course, the ECU would think it was sea level when you were at like 10 psi of boost, but you can work around that I think.

jstck 08-08-2018 01:56 AM


Originally Posted by AlwaysBroken (Post 1495225)
Are you taking about the current products made by the (I think Australian) company that originally made the Link ECU? The FM Link isn't connected with any recent versions of the Australian Link.

Ah, that explains it. Stuff related to the current linkecu.com product line were the only things Google was interested in showing me.


Originally Posted by cj9694 (Post 1495280)
I guess thats what I am trying to figure out. Is there a way to get CAN bus or some other data from the ecu to out to a race capture.

If the Kenobi ECU has a CAN bus (which seems dubious) and you can somehow figure out which two pins it is, you should be able to wire that to a race logger thing and get whatever data comes out on it.

x_25 08-09-2018 10:14 AM

The link ECU is useable, and for $150 not a bad choice. My friend has one on his 1.6 turbo car. Works fine, bit oldschool to tune but whatever. The car runs great. I don't know how it will do running a totally different engine though.


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