Vehicle Fault Codes

[Unimog]

Just a little rant about vehicle fault codes. I've been fixing a few things on my Freightliner crawler hauler in preparation for selling it. It had a few check engine codes after being in storage for 5 years, but on a heavy duty truck, it actually tells you what is wrong. Here is an example fo the last code I fixed:

It tells me code and sub code, it tells me exactly which component to look at (The left rear abs brake modulator), and it tells me if it is shorted, open, or if the voltage is lower or higher than expected. I just love working on stuff like this! Why can't new consumer vehicles be like this. The computer knows everything that is wrong. It is a tiny amount of programming to just show it. Cummins and Freightliner have books and tools available that would give a whole diagnostic series for each code. Cummins even has a smartphone app that you can plug all the error codes into. Oh, and the last rant, you can reset all of the codes right from the dash if you want.

I don't suppose there is anything the general public could do to influence car companies to do this, but I can wish!

 

[I Lean]

I would second that wish.

 

[Hickey]

Just a little rant about vehicle fault codes. I've been fixing a few things on my Freightliner crawler hauler in preparation for selling it. It had a few check engine codes after being in storage for 5 years, but on a heavy duty truck, it actually tells you what is wrong. Here is an example fo the last code I fixed:
View attachment 128507
It tells me code and sub code, it tells me exactly which component to look at (The left rear abs brake modulator), and it tells me if it is shorted, open, or if the voltage is lower or higher than expected. I just love working on stuff like this! Why can't new consumer vehicles be like this. The computer knows everything that is wrong. It is a tiny amount of programming to just show it. Cummins and Freightliner have books and tools available that would give a whole diagnostic series for each code. Cummins even has a smartphone app that you can plug all the error codes into. Oh, and the last rant, you can reset all of the codes right from the dash if you want.

I don't suppose there is anything the general public could do to influence car companies to do this, but I can wish!

That's gone away several years ago. I've only been able to get the code itself for at least 15 years now, unless I plug in a laptop.

I need this smartphone app. I have been googling the codes that pop up on my work trucks for years, but they aren't always very specific.

 

[Unimog]

That's gone away several years ago.

Wow! That is disappointing! I've really enjoyed this old Freightliner. The cummins app is here https://quickserve.cummins.com/info/qsol/news/qsol_mobile_app.html. The only problem is that the app takes a cummins code and at least my Freightliner translates all of the engine faults into a different set of Freightliner codes instead of just returning what the ecm tells it.