P38A NANOCOM airbag unable to communicate with ECU

I have a P38 2002 4.6 and I have just bought a NANOCOM Evolution. I've done the setup and plugged it in. I can read faults on the motronics system but when I select Airbag (and some others) I get unable to connect to ECU. What am I doing wrong?

Reggie RR said:

I have a P38 2002 4.6 and I have just bought a NANOCOM Evolution. I've done the setup and plugged it in. I can read faults on the motronics system but when I select Airbag (and some others) I get unable to connect to ECU. What am I doing wrong?

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Some ECU's require the ignition on, some require the ignition off. Maybe the instructions will tell which is which.

Datatek said:

Some ECU's require the ignition on, some require the ignition off. Maybe the instructions will tell which is which.

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We will give it another try. The instructions are not very helpful.

Airbag ECU needs the ignition on for you to be able to communicate with it, but then so does the Motronic (in fact pretty much every ECU other than the BECM needs to have the ignition turned on).

If you have a 2002 vehicle, then also make sure you are trying to talk to the SRS system with the correct module on the Nanocom... though in P38 -> MOTRONIC there is only "Airbag SPS2" which is the system on the later one. So again, assuming you're trying to talk to it as the SPS2 module, then it's worth checking the OBD socket on the vehicle. They are known for getting moisture in them and pins corroding, or wires breaking. The SRS airbag system uses different diagnostic wires to the standard K and L lines that the BECM/HEVAC/Autobox/Cruise/ABS/Engine ECU use - so it is possible to be able to communicate with some systems, but not others if one of the SRS pins is crudded up for example.

Hope this helps,
Marty