9 replies to this topic

[amchardy]

Hello all,

Did have an account here previously but can't seem to retrieve it.

As both myself and my father own an MPI (both of which live in his garage!) I thought it would be worth while buying him an ACR4 for Christmas. I was able to source a manufacturer refurbished ACR4 from ebay a Rover Pod v3 and a 30212400 cable (based on peoples recommendations over rover cable). I haven't been back to the parents house since Christmas so I haven't had a chance to play about with it yet but left it with my father to have a go.

He's been able to read the codes from both Minis but hasn't been able to clear from either of them. Apparently it goes through the steps to clear i.e. it says clearing faults, then to switch off ignition, does a count down and then says to switch the ignition on again. But when you switch the ignition on again the faults codes are still there.

I have no idea if my father is doing something wrong or the code reader is faulty so can anyone who has experience of this please tell me the steps involved in clearing the fault codes to see if I can rule out human error/stupidity!

Thanks in advance.

Edited by amchardy, 26 January 2011 - 09:51 PM.

[minidaves]

there are 4 fixed fault codes on mpi's

[icklemini]

I got the later device - the SPi, and had a similar problem... spoke with SP and there are two different versions of MEMS in the MPi.


Been quite a while since i used the ACR, but if you can, try selecting a different ECU version.

Edited by icklemini, 26 January 2011 - 10:04 PM.

[amchardy]

there are 4 fixed fault codes on mpi's

Ah, he did say that it was 4 codes. You wouldn't happen to know what they would be?

[tmsmini]

So this is different versions of the MEMS 2J for the MPi? and the part numbers are actually different?

I have not run into this, but I have only connected to a few MPi. My own is 1999 and the part number is worn off the ECU.
I knew there were a number different Rover SPi units.

Dave(icklemini): Does the Sykes Pickavant SPi tool manual have a good description of resetting the idle for Rover SPi and MPi and other Service Reset items?

The Rover 3 pod manual has little information:
http://www.tmsmini.c...r_mg_pod_3a.pdf

The Rover 1 pod manual has a bit more but does not cover MPi:
http://www.tmsmini.c...ic_30056500.pdf

Terry

[amchardy]

I certainly wasn't aware that there was different versions of MEMS2J. It's an early 97 and late 98 he's tried it on so far.

I'll get him to try a different ECU version and see if that helps (any suggestions?)

Thanks
Alex

[amchardy]

Just spoke to my Dad. There's 3 codes on one car and 4 on the other, they are all different with the exception of low battery voltage.

It seems like the 4 fixed codes was a red herring in this instance.

[icklemini]

I spoke with SPDiagnostics when I had a funny with an MPI not clearing its codes down,
the chap suggested that running the code reader as if it were talking to MEMS 1.9.

Now this maybe a bug in the SPi diags gear, or indeed a different version of mems on some MPIs.

Been so long since I used an ACR4 now I cant recall if you can select a different ECU (rather than go through make/model/year of car menu options)

[amchardy]

Decided to visit the parents this weekend and see if I could get anywhere with clearing these fault codes.

Selected MEMS 2J and went through the clear fault codes procedure but again no luck, the codes are still there are trying to clear them. Tried selecting MEMS 1.9 to see if that would do it be the ACR won't communicate with the car at all with that option.

The ACR4 I bought from eBay also came with a multiple application pod which contains the software for most cars up to 2007 including Rovers. Again, no luck clearing the codes using that pod.

I'm beginning to wonder if I should have bought the Rover 16 pin harness (30214000) rather than 30212400 that someone recommended to me?

Is it likely that the cable could be causing these problems? I've tried it on 2 different MPIs with two different pods and I can read all the live data fine.

[amchardy]

Good news - I've got the codes to clear!

For anyone who's interested the problem was down to a modification I'd made to the relay pack to stop the main relay from staying energised after turning off the ignition. We made this modification because we we're having problems with batteries going flat because the main relay would stay energised permanently.

It turns out that the ECU needs the main relay to stay energised for a short period after turning off the ignition before the codes will clear (presumably some sort of reset?). Anyway, holding the main relay closed has done the trick.

Thanks for your help guys.