Comment by consp
15 days ago
My experience is J2534 support is sketchy and if you want to do the things you actually want to do you need a manufacturer approved device with an insane markup. Also the subscriptions are insanely expensive, not even close to reasonable and you need to be a company (at least you used to be with Ford last time I checked, but they accept the UK or Dutch royal residence as a valid company location so there is that...)
I agree that J2534 is sketchy. The standard isn't very good to start with, there's usually no matrix (ie x systems * y devices) conformance testing but instead just a brief QA step done at some compliance stage in a release process, and most manufacturers don't really want to support it (preferring their in-house dongles). So, a lot of dealer tools do non-standard stuff and a "conforming" J2534 cable doesn't actually work.
Many subscriptions are painful, yes - VW brands / ODIS for example are awful to try to get as an individual and annoying as an independent shop; I'm sure the fraction of independent shops who pirate it are quite high. It's funny you mention Ford though, as they are incredibly easy to buy from in my experience, although the login/licensing backend is frequently broken.
However, there's a good cottage industry of companies reverse engineering the compatibility issues back out, and for better or worse these companies are cloned almost immediately too. I recently did key programming on a newer Ford (where Forscan can't) using a $125 VXDiag cable which I could have bought cloned for $30 and a short-term FDRS subscription that cost $50.
What about using ForSCAN? It allows anyone with the software and a dongle to monitor and to update modules in the ECU AFAIK. I paid under $100 (can't remember) for a dongle and downloaded the free software and it is extremely handy working on one of my vehicles. The other two Fords I own are both pre-OBDII so there is less bullshit on them to begin with. Ford forums are full of owners who use ForSCAN to modify their vehicle's operation. Lots of hacks available.
Just do as /u/bigfatkitten suggests and get the service manuals when you purchase the vehicle.
ForSCAN is awesome but it's an orthogonal conversation since it's a reverse engineered diagnostic tool rather than a first-party one. If we expand the conversation to that space there are tons of options with varying capabilities depending on manufacturer, including also pirating the OEM tools directly. Also worth noting that ForSCAN also doesn't _quite_ support all common operations, for example Remote Keyless Entry enrollment on newer BCMs with push-to-start needs FDRS still.
Thanks for this explanation. I knew that ForSCAN was a RE tool (Russian guy?) and that there were others out there for multiple purposes on various product lines. I also knew that ForSCAN did not support customizing all OEM functions. I just wasn't bright enough to make the connection between this being a first party versus anybody's tool type of mods that one might make. I do most of my own auto maintenance so I use the tools that best facilitate the process and since I am only mechanically experienced and not an accredited tech I lean towards using third party tools, custom tools I cobble together, OEM manuals, etc. to guide all the work I do here in my driveway or shop.
> at least you used to be with Ford last time I checked
Certainly not any time in the last 15 years that I’ve been buying IDS/FDRS and service manual access.