OBDII socket issues
 

A week or so ago the Rear Brake Service light came on, but I was unable to get her into my tame mechanic, he was booked solid for 2 weeks (he is a great spannerer, so it isn't surprising). Anyway, so I persevered until my booked appointment was due. Unfortunately, on Saturday, the "Check Rear Brakes" came on, "Oh bugger I thought" and still a few days to go until my booked appointment, so I went on the hunt to see if I could find another local garage, and they were either too busy ( even though there wasn't a car on any of their ramps), or they were closed. I did a search on t'internet and found a mobile mecanicky bloke, he said that he could fit me in on Sunday (yesterday) morning, so the appointment was booked.
He duly turned up yesterday, with parts in hand and promptly changed the pads and the wear sensor, put the wheels back on and all was good....... until he came to plugging in his box of tricks to reset the service light, it wouldn't connect, the OBDII socket definitely worked when the A/C bloke was doing stuff a while ago, and I would guess when the car has been serviced, my usual mechanic would use it to reset service lights etc, so why would it not work now ?
I don't have a code reader yet, but as it would happen, I have already got one flying itself here via mail order from China or some place where it was made.
Does anyone have any ideas what would stop the blokes computer from connecting to my car, he checked it on his van and it connected straight away, so I would guess that says that his box of tricks is working properly...... any ideas on what to look for, maybe a pin pushed in or something, or would that be too simple ?

It's fused. Same as front cig. Lighter maybe? I've had a couple cases of obd won't read and was the fuse


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You had plenty of time to wait for your usual mechanic...FWIW.

Thanks for the reply, I have looked on the card that is stored in the slot by the rear fuse box, it shows fuse 130 and 131 as being OBD, but on checking, there isn't a fuse in position 130 in the fuse box, but there is a 5 Amp fuse in position 131. I have just checked this using my multimeter and the fuse is good.

Fuse box in glove compartment.


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I have scanned the card that I have stored by the rear fuse box

https://i.ibb.co/ZJXFqz7/e70-X5-fuses-page-1.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/qkBG27N/e70-X5-fuses-page-2.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a0fbac64c6.jpg


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On the e70, position 130 and 131 are on the fuse board in the rear of the car, mine doesnt have a 130, only a 131, a 5 amp

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This morning, I found that my time and date needed resetting and my mileage was at 0, so I guess that fuse 131 protects those circuits too.

Wait...if you're suppose to have a 15 amp fuse in position 130...and your OBD II socket isn't working now...but it did work in the past...perhaps the reason its not working is because the fuse that powers it is missing.


Have you tried inserting a 15 amp fuse in position #130? (Or have you done this already and I missed it when reading through this thread?)

No, I have done nothing yet...... I just checked what I had compared to the fuse layout. As far as I am aware, no one has removed any fuse and 131 is definitely a 5 amp, just as it says on diagram. There are several fuse positions that dont have a fuse in, not just position 130.

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Yeah, not all fuse locations will be populated on any given vehicle. Position 130 should have a 15A fuse according to your scans.

If 131 is only a 5 amp fuse, covering the OBD socket and various items on the displays, the rating seems a bit low to me...... any ideas ?

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1) Put a 15A fuse in position 130.

2) Use your OBD-II diagnostic port aa designed.

but why would someone remove the fuse ? Previous work done has never caused the mechanic to say that the OBD II port wasn't working, the recent mobile bloke never went near the boot area, and I haven't removed it....... so if that is what's wrong, who pulled fuse 130 out ???

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Impossible and no purpose to guess. If it's a non spot It won't have contacts. The usual why is to borrow from an under used spot when short a similar amp fuse elsewhere.


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I changed fuse 131 with the 5 amp in the bank of spares, that's why the clock and date had reset..... but as it happens, I do have loads of spare fuses, so trying another is no problem

Why do you keep referring to fuse 131 and its 5amp fuse? As you've stated...it's has a fuse with the correct amperage plugged into that location.

It is fuse #130 that we keep asking why isn't there a 15amp fuse in that location? Your fuse index indicates that it serves the OBD II socket and you've told us that there is no fuse there...as well as telling us your OBD II socket isn't communicating.

The suggestion to insert a 15 amp fuse seems to be something you are fighting NOT to do...why? It doesn't matter if someone removed it or who that person was at this point...we are trying to find out why the OBD II socket isn't working and at this point...it doesn't make sense that the 15 amp fuse isn't in location #130. As previously asked...are there metal contacts in fuse #130's location? If yes, then it is wired for a fuse to be there. It will either work or not work...but at least this suggestion can be removed from the list as possible culprits. :)

The fuse locations with a dash (-) means that no fuse is suppose to be there. But if you may not have a fuse in a location if your BMW isn't optioned with the feature that that position powers. So this could leave empty fuse locations, too.

Today, I received the OBDII code reader that I ordered, so hopefully tomorrow, weather permitting, I will be able to plug it in and also try a fuse in position 130.

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I haven't been resisting putting a fuse into the slot, I haven't had anything to see if it has made a difference until the code reader arrived.

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This morning, I have plugged my new code scanner into the OBD connector and it works...... without a 15 amp fuse in position 130..... so why didn't the £3000.00 one from Snap-On work that the mechanic had ? This really isn't making sense to me at all, I saw for myself, the mechanic plugging it into his van and it was working, but when connected to my e70, no connection could be achieved, or words to that effect.
Anyway, it seems to be working fine, so, as the old saying goes, "If it isn't broke, don't fix it".

I don't know how to tell you this, it's because there's no fuse in position 130. I think it's supposed to be a 15A fuse.

The expensive one is maybe pulling power from a different pin on OBD, perhaps the HIGH POWER one ? Or there was something wrong with the snap on scanner.

I have looked at position 130, there are definitely no contacts in the holes where the pins of a fuse would go...... and as my code reader works when plugged in, I have nothing else to test the socket with.

I guess that there is one saving grace here, today, my car went into the local stealership for a recall, it is to replace the bolt that holds the alternator in place, I am guessing that they may plug in their computer to make sure all is well, or to see if there is anything that they can charge me for while they have it, so I will ask the question when I go to pick it up.

Right, finally got my motor back from the local stealership...... While I was there, I asked the service manager about the OBDII socket issue and also mentioned the fuse..... His response was, some cars have fuse 130 others have 131, there may be cars that have both, all depends upon the age of the car and variation of e70....... the reason why the "snap-on" computer wouldn't connect to the car was likely to be because the software in the car has been designed to prevent people from cloning key information, so only computers who have the correct software pass keys etc will connect properly...... my cynical mind translated it as, only companies who have paid BMW for the licences so that their equipment will work.
My code reader, on the other hand, is just that, so isn't able to effect the software and carry out sophisticated operations such as cloning etc, so it can do what it does without any problem....... all seems plausible to me.

Did you ever figure out why no communication???

No, the regular mechanic who I go to has never had any issues, it appears to be a one off problem with the mobile mechanic that I used on that one occasion.

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