Finally bit the bullet and bought a Lynx Diagnostic kit

Well, after a lot of deliberation regarding diagnostic equipment I narrowed the choice down to the Hawkeye and the Lynx unit. Careful perusal indicated the lynx to have far far more features and capabilities than the Hawkeye. Also the tiny screen on the Hawkeys is of no use to me. The Lynx works with a Laptop and hence you can graph multiple pids and data at the same time on screen (excellent for logging data during a test drive and start / warm up cycle. It also allows full actuator testing (as does the lynx I must add) The hawkeye also - for some strange reason doesnt seem to support the 27VT CCU (BCM) on the L series. The Lynx can test all aspects and program as well - even program new key fobs and other security aspects.
It has all the vehicle electrics circuit diagrams built in , connector pinouts etc etc - made with the guidance of the same folks who made the T4 !
I also need the graphing functions as I want to carry out various mods to the vehicle (including mapping) and turbo upgrades. I can log all parameters - boost / map pressure for example, road speed, rpm, AIT, CTS etc etc etc. This will help tremendously as I can leave it logging and save the data to disk for review and comparison.
At the moment going through the process of registering the unit - form needs to be completed - scanned - sent to Lynx - then wait for an activation code. - ho hum - but should have that later today.
Price 215 plus vat - Island 4 x 4 (best price around)
You can even bleed the brakes by activating the abs unit
When first activating and especially firmware updating it needs to be connected to a vehicle or minimum 12v supply !. They do sell a lead (for 25 bleeding quid) to attach a 'wall wart' power supply to a dummy OBD vehicle socket to provide the Power only (Pins 16 and 4) - as you can see in the pics I am too tight to spend 25 quid on a 12 v power adaptor with socket so 'made' 1 out of a bit of twin core cable and an 12V external hard drive wall wart...

Will let you know how it performs as soon as I get chance. But, looking forward to using it.
Came in a huge box - which had a box inside, then a nice plastic padded carry case and then the unit which is a rubber cased brick. Even comes with a USB stick with all installation stuff on - however, that is all downloadable from their site. I have opted for the unlock for the complete FL1 range (all types from beginning to end of production.)

Again, will let you know how it goes.
A few piccies

First is my (cough cough) 12V supply 'adaptor' as I can't be arsed plugging into the freeby to update software and firmware - It says the firmware update can take up to 60 mins !! (WTF ??) I have no idea HOW it could take that long but hey - no worries.
Just twiddling my thumbs now waiting for the activation key to come back. I have several local garages that want to 'hire' it (or swap for favours) so should more than pay for itself. If you have a group of mates with FL1's - and type ! then consider a group purchase ? - logging data from cold start to full temp whilst driving with loads of pids logged would be tremendous for sorting out - for example - TD4 fuel issues. A know good data set can be save (only limited by hard drive size in the laptop!) and then compared to a vehicle with an issue.

Joe

You flash b@stard
Soon you'll be able to map the L series to your own settings and make it as fast as a TD4
Mike

Looking forward to a proper review of this by a real person!

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Skinny Mike said:

You flash b@stard
Soon you'll be able to map the L series to your own settings and make it as fast as a TD4
Mike

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Hey you old begger - it is already faster than a TD4 - not difficult - as most if them are struggling to wake up or climb stairs ---- hmm bit like me now I come to think of it...

davidsmith1307 said:

Looking forward to a proper review of this by a real person!

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Hope I can do the same David although my wife is not really convinced after 22 years that I am indeed a 'real person' - but we shall try.......

Nodge68 said:

I'll be interested in your review of this Lynx. I'm interested in activating non UK spec features, which hopefully the Lynx can do.

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Will try to get as much input as I can back to this 'fred' Nodge mate. I am 'hoping' that the access to the CCU and programming features for same can do some of what you ask - will have to see.

I am away for the next 4 or 5 days (from the Hippo) as we are going (in the brides Panda) to a mate who has my old 'yott' and is struggling with an electrical refit - I will be spending a while with him sorting out the rewire. - deep joy...... - free beer and food and bloody good company !. - and I can get him to do the crawling haha.

Hi Joe

interesting to hear about the remapping

can you confirm that the Lynx can remap the Td4 ??

Have a good weekend

digby said:

Hi Joe

interesting to hear about the remapping

can you confirm that the Lynx can remap the Td4 ??

Have a good weekend

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Hello Digby, sorry if my post was misleading in the regards of re-mapping.
I AM remapping my L series - however - that is by chip replacement (desolder original eproms from ecu - add sockets to ecu - replace original eproms with EEproms Winbond (W27C512 or SST27SF512 units) the map files are from the guru Kris at dieselpowered.co.uk - I will program the eeproms with the files Kris provides. (This is because I am in Portugal and Kris is in the UK)
The L series cannot be 'remapped' via OBD - only by physical chip replacement.
As for the TD4, the Lynx does not support actual re-programming of any of the diesel control units.
There is software out there that can do that, no worries, however - the difficulty is not in the actual re-flashing of the ECU on the td4 which unlike the L series CAN be re-flashed ! it is the actual changes needed to the original mapping files that are the complex part and not really suitable for a 'normal' home user - unless of course you really want to play and have some electronics / programming experience and a darn good understanding of ECU operation- then you could look at winOLS etc - If you are confident that you can re-map the whole system (on the L series for example I believe there are 24 individual 'maps')- that is why I will do all the leccy techy work. Luckily I have a lot of experience in this field and all the 'gear / equipment' - reflow stations and suitable programmers etc etc.- I actually used to do the removal and refitting of the programmed chips for BBR many years back for a local agent) - long time ago now ... . I have also been lucky enough to work in the field of radio electronics and marine electronics engineering- along with a lot of commercial embedded micro programming (which I still do). My G4 'a' license for Amateur radio (shows my age lol ) also helps and started me along the learning road more than 30 years ago .. yikes ! (wonder how many radio hams are on here it would be good to know - bet there are a few !??)
If you want to DIY then look here -
http://www.evc.de/en/product/ols/software/

Good weekend to you too mate and hope that clarifies things., The Lynx is a diagnostic tool in the first place. Any mods done to the vehicle can be compared to a baseline graphing of ALL major parameters taken prior to the mods hence giving you a good indication as to the actual way the mods are working - or not as the case may be .. This is where it comes into its own as the Laptop can be used to log all data needed over a considerable time (whereas all the other systems cannot)
Again, the baseline (starting point) is the most important thing and needs to be fully logged in order to appreciate the value of changes made.
Regards
Joe (G4XRZ)

Brother in law is a radio ham.
I remember in the 90's driving up a mountain in Wales in his Jeep, then erecting this huge mast, 40ft iirc, then he got very excited when he started talking to someone in the USA. Can't remember where they were exactly.
Now a days you can pick up a mobile phone and ring Pluto (so long as Mickey's not taking him for a walk). Takes all the fun out of it
Mike

Skinny Mike said:

Brother in law is a radio ham.
I remember in the 90's driving up a mountain in Wales in his Jeep, then erecting this huge mast, 40ft iirc, then he got very excited when he started talking to someone in the USA. Can't remember where they were exactly.
Now a days you can pick up a mobile phone and ring Pluto (so long as Mickey's not taking him for a walk). Takes all the fun out of it
Mike

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lol
Yes, indeed, I still get a bit of a (slight) kick out of working SSB worldwide, however, it is just too much like bloody hard work these days - the HF bands are swamped with commercial stuff illegally using the ham bands in a lot of cases. The main benefit for me is that since I got my license in 1984 (and before that !) - I have been messing with electronics and radio electronics, and from really early computer systems including repair of at board level (not now of course as they are far too complex and it is a board swap). However, it really helped educate me in all things electronically orientated - including computer software and firmware programming. It is one of the best things I ever did and I am still learning every day. - I sold commercial quite a few programs including RTTY TX RX for the sharp MZ700 and quite a few for the BBC model B (they helped a bit towards early retirement feasibility)
Seriously Mike my friend. It is a great hobby (much changed now of course - probably out of all recognition to me) I am very much old school taught but have never stopped learning. From thermionic valves to up to date embedded microprocessors. Freelander 1 ECU's are actually rather primitive in the great scheme of things which really helps. Very easily repaired and diagnosed if faulty.
I used to do (many many years ago !) play with bouncing signals off the moon back to the earth (called - strangely enough - moonbounce.... that was a real buzz, however, the geek bit of me is surfacing lol..... and, it was 30 years ago....
So, in reality, the beauty of the FL 1 series - of all types is that the technology is old, the diagnostic equipment is available (as in the Lynx) and even repair at ECU unit level is fairly easy. I would rather have that any day compared to the mega complicated cars of today.
The FL 1 can be a pin in the arse, but it is always easy (enough !) to fix... mechanically it is fairly bomb proof with appropriate interventions. - ye gas - especially the L series - as I have said before - after WW3 there will only be two things left - the cockroach (la cukaracha) and the L series lol ..... yeah yeah I know the EMP would fry a few bits but of course we would have all the spare ecus in the tin foil screened Faraday cage along with our tin foil hats haha..

The TD4 has a really bad reputation unfortunately. - why oh why did BMW replace a superb L series unit with a bloody TD4.....

The K and KV units are bloody good if looked after and serviced correctly. The TD4 is simply a pain in the wallet lol

'tis my stated aim to maintain the 3 'Rover' Freelanders, the K,L and KV6.
Never felt the urge for a Td4, and modern cars with screens hard wired in and odd shaped head units (like my Volvo. Want DAB? Tough) leave me cold.

davidsmith1307 said:

'tis my stated aim to maintain the 3 'Rover' Freelanders, the K,L and KV6.
Never felt the urge for a Td4, and modern cars with screens hard wired in and odd shaped head units (like my Volvo. Want DAB? Tough) leave me cold.

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Nice one David

Also like Land Cruisers up to the 80/90 series, and a soft spot for Jeeps of the XJ, ZZ, WJ era. Anything later is too gadgety.
Progress has left me behind I'm afraid.
Says the IT Manager

davidsmith1307 said:

Also like Land Cruisers up to the 80/90 series, and a soft spot for Jeeps of the XJ, ZZ, WJ era. Anything later is too gadgety.
Progress has left me behind I'm afraid.
Says the IT Manager

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- David lol - sound like we had similar 'upbringing' where were you IT Manager ? I did about 3 years at Lancashire Ambulance Service as IT Manager before moving on to National Network security manager (NW UK) for the NHSIA.

A great job with many minions (to blame ho hum) lol.. but with a permanent target on MY back haha

We had to have one of the most resilient systems in the country / world - if the 999 system went down it was - err - not worth considering the pain and potential job seekers allowance.. ..... We treated it like air traffic control with redundant backups of redundant backups.... We had a minimum qualification for staff of CISSP !
Also introduced NHS direct to the UK - we were the very first pilot !. - the first rack ups of the NHS Direct were nearly half a million.. all designed in house.
Deep Joy. - bloody glad to be away from all that crap though.. too much stress. luckily the salary was superb - hence the final salary based pension ! - got out before the whole thing (the pensions system) went tits up.
Would never do that job again... too much like hard work.

Joe

'Where are you' not 'where were you'. Some of us are still at it!

davidsmith1307 said:

'Where are you' not 'where were you'. Some of us are still at it!

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lol sorry ;( - damn good point ! - 'got out' in 2004! when the NHSIA moved from Birmingham to Leeds - it was a nice 'voluntary redundancy' deal as there was no way I was commuting to Leeds (as opposed to working form home as I had done for the last few years).
Joe

davidsmith1307 said:

'Where are you' not 'where were you'. Some of us are still at it!

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Exactly! I'm an actively employed IT Manager, with a staff of me and my dog - I have to have someone to blame as well

GrumpyGel said:

Exactly! I'm an actively employed IT Manager, with a staff of me and my dog - I have to have someone to blame as well

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I'm also the tea lady, office cleaner, telephonist, accountant etc etc - plus of course on smoko, I'm the dog's pooper scooperer.

GrumpyGel said:

I'm also the tea lady, office cleaner, telephonist, accountant etc etc - plus of course on smoko, I'm the dog's pooper scooperer.

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Sounds like my 'retired home life' 'job' now uber controlled by the bride......... hmmmmmmmmm think s ----- ------- did me do the right thing......

On second thoughts - I suppose delivering a ridiculously unrealistic deadline for the numbskull directors on pain of sacking and public whipping and humiliation was / is less hassle than delivering a 'pair of shoes' from Amazon (once a month - errr - cough cough ) - hmmmmmmmm - so yeah ,. better off retired, similar whinging but less real physical and mental pain.....