1995 Range Rover P38(A) diagnostics tool.

Hi all,

Suspect this is a well versed topic and probably an ever changing one at that but I'll stick the cat amongst the pigeons and ask:

Does the 1995 DT Rangie have an ODB2 plug?

What's the best value diagnostic reader type tool (i.e. cheap but maybe not cheapest) that can read, reset codes and maybe empty the air suspension etc for maintenance jobs such as replacing the air-spring bags?

I've heard Black-Box Solutions on here and they seem pretty straight. Are there alternatives? Has anyone tried a range of these tools and can offer comparative advice? If not, maybe we should get a meet and try all the different ones out and grade them then stick the results in a maintenance section or similar?

I await the opinions and evidence!

Cheers,

J

im thinking of getting the hawkeye from Bearmach at £300 looks pretty good

As a starter try contacting Datatek on here, he will supply you with a suitable lead and EASUNLOCK software for EAS related activities - and you'll get change from £20 - bargain!

I'm not sure about ODBC on older cars as there was no compulsion to comply with standards in Europe prior to 2001, the fuel and emissions system on later (Thor) P38s is readable by generic ODBII readers which understand the ISO 9141 protocol. ODBC was mandatory in the US from 1996 so I guess EU models will be too as I cannot see there being two versions of the car. Yours is a 1995, look under the glovebox to see if there's a diagnostic connector! Early diesels could have a "low-line" limited functionality BECM as well - I don't know if this complicates matters.

You will have to buy kit that is specifically designed for your type of P38 if you want anything more fancy than fuel and emissions or EAS UNLOCK. Black-box faultmate, bearmach hawkeye, etc. And you'll be spending ~£280 - £1000 depending on what option you go for.

The diagnostics socket is under the glove box, next to the central console, near where your knee might be if you sit in the passenger seat.

There are no cheap fault readers for the P38. Cheap (free) readers might read some of the engine codes, but the rest of the system is custom built, and so you need to get a specific reader to take full advantage of the system.

Hawkeye, and Blackbox Solutions are the only choices I think....?

Blackbox Solutions (no afiliation) make two fault reading systems for the P38, the Nanocom and the Faulmate.

Nanocom does most things you need for DIY maintenance, diesel engine version part number is NCOM06. It will work on any diesel P38 not the first one it's plugged in to. Currently 408 Euros.

Faultmate and it's big brother with it's own screen Faultmate Extreme does everything that Land Rovers own testbook does for the P38, but not much more than the Nanocom. I think you can re-program BECMs and change the lock set and a few other things, but it's a lot more to pay for functionality you'll may never use. Also, unless you pay big money for a multi-car licence, the Faultmate also locks it's self to your VIN so it's only useable on your car....until you sell it. Then it's only usable on someone else's car unless you buy another licence. BBS call it an anti theft advantage, I call it a licence to print money.

You can see what vehicle systems are covered by each product on their website.

I think for day to day use Nanocom is the way forward. You can keep it in the glove box so you've always got it with you, it'll read, reset, and clear any faultcodes. Plus you can empty your suspension, open and close your windows, and resync your engine ECU to your BECM.

I have used a Diesel Nanocom on my Petrol V8, and whilst it couldn't read the engine management system, it was able to read the HEVAC, BECM and all the other systems, and clear the fault codes.

See it in action here...

Nanocom Evolution II, Range Rover P38 EAS Diagnostic - YouTube

On the P38 - only the Petrol Engine is OBII (EOBD) compliant - all the other systems use their own protocols....

The Only solutions for Diagnostics are the Hawkeye, Faultmate (Extreme or FCR), Nanocom Evolution, EASUnlock (For EAS Only)....

Saint.V8 said:

On the P38 - only the Petrol Engine is OBII (EOBD) compliant - all the other systems use their own protocols.....

Click to expand...

Ah yes, diesel ODBII compliance was not mandatory until 2004 - which automatically excludes diesel P38s!

Interestingly the Black Box Solutions Nanocom claims it handles all diesel P38s on its website!

OK. That's useful info. I'll bear it all in mind while I decide whether it is worth the investment or someone local can help out for a few squid once in a while.

Grrrrrr said:

Interestingly the Black Box Solutions Nanocom claims it handles all diesel P38s on its website!

OK. That's useful info. I'll bear it all in mind while I decide whether it is worth the investment or someone local can help out for a few squid once in a while.

Click to expand...

It does connect to the Diesel ECU - it just does it using the bespoke protocol in use on the P38 not the OBDII language....

I should have said 'Diagnostic Socket' not 'OBD2 socket' in my earlier post. Pedants!

Grrrrrr said:

Hi all,

Suspect this is a well versed topic and probably an ever changing one at that but I'll stick the cat amongst the pigeons and ask:

Does the 1995 DT Rangie have an ODB2 plug?

What's the best value diagnostic reader type tool (i.e. cheap but maybe not cheapest) that can read, reset codes and maybe empty the air suspension etc for maintenance jobs such as replacing the air-spring bags?

I've heard Black-Box Solutions on here and they seem pretty straight. Are there alternatives? Has anyone tried a range of these tools and can offer comparative advice? If not, maybe we should get a meet and try all the different ones out and grade them then stick the results in a maintenance section or similar?

I await the opinions and evidence!

Cheers,

J

Click to expand...

Nanocom EVO does more on the P38 than the Hawkeye. I have a Faultmate Extreme which is professional standard and does more than the LR Testbook can do Actually there is nothing to compare with the Faultmate.

OK. So to summarise (correct me if I'm wrong):

Hawkeye (and now the Hawkeye Pro) http://www.bearmach.com/downloads/Diagnostic/Hawkeye_12pp_pages_d.pdf seem to favour the L322 and costs around £250. Can clear some diagnostic codes and program some things. Not convinced it works with vehicles before 1998 so presumably cannot handle the mysterious plug I have in my passenger footwell? However, it can handle more vehicles and doesn't seem to be locked to a particular vehicle, although unsure of the cost of the extra licensing should you need it. The manual (http://www.bearmach.com/files/_download-files/Version 5 Manual.pdf) in appendix A claims it does:

EMS
Transmission
ABS
Airbag (SRS)
Climate Control
Air Suspension
BECM

The FAQ says it can synch the engine ECU with the BECm saying look in the manual but I didn't see it when I skimmed the manual.

The BBS Nano Evolution seems to handle most things (http://blackbox-solutions.com/downl...Software_Modules_for_Range_Rover_P38_(SV).pdf) and costs E326 (Euros) just for the software (single vehicle locked to the VIN) and a further E221 (Euros) for the hardware. So we're probably looking at £550 - £600 for a working system, delivered? Nanocom claims it does:

EMS
Transmission
ABS
Airbags (SRS)
Climate Control
Air suspension
BECM
Cruise control (1 up on Hawkeye and as mine is a DT I don't have this!)

So, the nano costs over twice as much but handles cruise control and allows you to change some parameters the Hawkeye doesn't. Also, Hawkeye claims to allow synching but jury is out on that unless someone can point out the page in the manual for the P38 diesel in there!

Have I missed anything?

There seem to be an awful lot of optional leads with both. Does this mean there are lots of sockets around and you need a seperate lead for each system? At £20 a pop that's a lot of leads!

Same Socket - different leads....

I believe for the Hawkeye you get the main systems Diagnostic Lead and another one that is bespoke for the EAS.

Also the Cruis Control on the Diesel is handled through the Diesel EDC (EMS)

Grrrrrr said:

OK. So to summarise (correct me if I'm wrong):

Hawkeye (and now the Hawkeye Pro) http://www.bearmach.com/downloads/Diagnostic/Hawkeye_12pp_pages_d.pdf seem to favour the L322 and costs around £250. Can clear some diagnostic codes and program some things. Not convinced it works with vehicles before 1998 so presumably cannot handle the mysterious plug I have in my passenger footwell? However, it can handle more vehicles and doesn't seem to be locked to a particular vehicle, although unsure of the cost of the extra licensing should you need it. The manual (http://www.bearmach.com/files/_download-files/Version 5 Manual.pdf) in appendix A claims it does:

EMS
Transmission
ABS
Airbag (SRS)
Climate Control
Air Suspension
BECM

The FAQ says it can synch the engine ECU with the BECm saying look in the manual but I didn't see it when I skimmed the manual.

The BBS Nano Evolution seems to handle most things (http://blackbox-solutions.com/downloads/vehicle_coverage/List_of_applicable_Software_Modules_for_Range_Rover_P38_(SV).pdf) and costs E326 (Euros) just for the software (single vehicle locked to the VIN) and a further E221 (Euros) for the hardware. So we're probably looking at £550 - £600 for a working system, delivered? Nanocom claims it does:

EMS
Transmission
ABS
Airbags (SRS)
Climate Control
Air suspension
BECM
Cruise control (1 up on Hawkeye and as mine is a DT I don't have this!)

So, the nano costs over twice as much but handles cruise control and allows you to change some parameters the Hawkeye doesn't. Also, Hawkeye claims to allow synching but jury is out on that unless someone can point out the page in the manual for the P38 diesel in there!

Have I missed anything?

There seem to be an awful lot of optional leads with both. Does this mean there are lots of sockets around and you need a seperate lead for each system? At £20 a pop that's a lot of leads!

Click to expand...

You have confused the Blackbox MSV NANO and the BLACKBOX NANOCOM.

Nanocom is a standalone unit not linked to a single VIN.

MSV NANO requires a PC to run on and can be tied to a single VIN or to a multivehicle licence.The MSV Nano can also do many different model LAnd Rovers and can become expensive for multivehicle Licences.It can also,with the applicable software, be used to unlock BECMs.

If you go to the BBS website they have product descriptions and costd there.

You have confused the Blackbox MSV NANO and the BLACKBOX NANOCOM.

Nanocom is a standalone unit not linked to a single VIN.

MSV NANO requires a PC to run on and can be tied to a single VIN or to a multivehicle licence.The MSV Nano can also do many different model LAnd Rovers and can become expensive for multivehicle Licences.It can also,with the applicable software, be used to unlock BECMs.

Correct! Bit of a mix thrown in! The Nanocom works out at about £400, I think whereas the full blown MSV locked to a VIN is the more expensive product. I think the Nanocom has pretty similar functionality to the Hawkeye?

Grrrrrr said:

Correct! Bit of a mix thrown in! The Nanocom works out at about £400, I think whereas the full blown MSV locked to a VIN is the more expensive product. I think the Nanocom has pretty similar functionality to the Hawkeye?

Click to expand...

The Nanocom Evolution has more functionality than the Hawkeye - it can read and set some BeCM parameters whereas the Hawkeye can't (I believe)

Grrrrrr said:

You have confused the Blackbox MSV NANO and the BLACKBOX NANOCOM.

Nanocom is a standalone unit not linked to a single VIN.

MSV NANO requires a PC to run on and can be tied to a single VIN or to a multivehicle licence.The MSV Nano can also do many different model LAnd Rovers and can become expensive for multivehicle Licences.It can also,with the applicable software, be used to unlock BECMs.

Correct! Bit of a mix thrown in! The Nanocom works out at about £400, I think whereas the full blown MSV locked to a VIN is the more expensive product. I think the Nanocom has pretty similar functionality to the Hawkeye?

Click to expand...

I read that the Hawkeye will not re-sync the BECM and the Engine ECU wheeas the Nanocom EVO will. The Faultmate will with the correct software module (expensive) allow direct access to the BECM.

Grrrrrr said:

Hi all,

Suspect this is a well versed topic and probably an ever changing one at that but I'll stick the cat amongst the pigeons and ask:

Does the 1995 DT Rangie have an ODB2 plug?

What's the best value diagnostic reader type tool (i.e. cheap but maybe not cheapest) that can read, reset codes and maybe empty the air suspension etc for maintenance jobs such as replacing the air-spring bags?

I've heard Black-Box Solutions on here and they seem pretty straight. Are there alternatives? Has anyone tried a range of these tools and can offer comparative advice? If not, maybe we should get a meet and try all the different ones out and grade them then stick the results in a maintenance section or similar?

I await the opinions and evidence!

Cheers,

J

Click to expand...

hi i have a p38 on a 1995 2.t dt i cant find a code reader to fix it do you no of the right one cheers

range rover 1995 said:

hi i have a p38 on a 1995 2.t dt i cant find a code reader to fix it do you no of the right one cheers

Click to expand...

If you read all the above posts it details the various code readers and diagnostic devices available to the P38.

Best at the price is the Nancom....best of the best is Faultmate Extreme....

range rover 1995 said:

hi i have a p38 on a 1995 2.t dt i cant find a code reader to fix it do you no of the right one cheers

Click to expand...

What's the problem?

As above the Nanocom from Black Box Solutions seems to be the tool of choice for the home mechanic.

If you check the Landyzone International Rescue map then there may be a member nearby willing to help for the right sort of beer / cake.

Grrrrrr said:

What's the problem?

As above the Nanocom from Black Box Solutions seems to be the tool of choice for the home mechanic.

If you check the Landyzone International Rescue map then there may be a member nearby willing to help for the right sort of beer / cake.

Click to expand...

ok cheers for that