Car Adventure from OBD II to defaulty tires

Well this past March, the oil was changed in my car and the owner at Auto Repair Doctor handed me a piece of paper with OBD II Diagnostics.  He might as well handed me Chinese.  This is what I see;

OBD II Diagnostics

Diagnostic Trouble Codes

Date/Time……………………: 05-Mar-2010 17:13:16


The MIL is commanded Off.


Emissions-Related Powertrain DTCs, Mode 3 :
Electronic Control Unit ID: 11
C1571
Manufacturer specific code.
PO455
EVAP Control System Leak Detected (gross leak)
C04E0
Manufacturer specific code.
C16F3
Manufacturer specific code.


Continuously Monitored Systems DTCs, Mode 7:
No Diagnostic Trouble Codes recorded.


“Does my car need work?”
A shrug and some broken English that I am not really getting finally “…it is up to you,” as the owner points to the words gross leak on the paper with an inquiring looking at me.
“Okay, I need to research this and figure out what I should do.”
“Okay”  Somehow on his round Asian face I felt this was not the correct answer.  Whew I barely got out of that situation without spending money, putting research weird codes on my “to do” list. Now 3 months later, stressing, putting off looking up car stuff which I know nothing of, I am doing it.


I found out that the codes are not easy to find since my car is manufactured in Sweden.  Apparently not all manufacturers implement the OBD II standards and practices that became mandatory in the U.S. in 1996.  A little background history, in the 1980s the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) started creating standards for diagnostic connectors and diagnostic test signals that were adopted by the EPA and CARB.  The OBD II Scanners connect to the CAN/SAE J1850 OBD II on vehicle network port.

OBD means “On-Board-Diagnostic” which monitors and controls the systems within your car’s computer that regulates vehicle emissions.

The OBD II turns on the Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL.) A “Service Engine Soon,” “Check Engine,” or a standard symbol will light up when a failure occurs, such as the vehicle emissions exceeding 1.5 times their designed standard. *Note if warning lamp is flashing – stop driving and repair immediately

I focus in on the code PO455 EVAP Control System Leak Detected (gross leak) which the SAE J2012 defines the DTC coding. Great - google to the rescue! At the SEA International website I find that I can buy this information for $63. Bah humbug! Further research I find a great DTC code breaker online in pdf format.  A gross leak is possible when code 0455 registered in the test exposing the problem of polluting gases (Hydrocarbons - HCs) expelled. The evaporative control (EVAP) system  is supposed to capture any raw fuel evaporating from the fuel storage system (e.g. the fuel tank, filler neck, and fuel cap).  From reading online it seems the 99% it is the fuel cap and replacing it helps.  Under precise operating conditions—dictated by engine temperature, speed, and load—the EVAP system stores and purges these captured fuel vapors back into the combustion process. 

Besides smelling, the unburned droplets of raw fuel affect breathing and contribute to smog. What can I do?  I check the 2001 U.S.A./Canada VOLVO Warranty and service Records Information book and I appear out of warranty. Darn!

I check out the emission warranty parts list to see the components that can go wrong. Reasons for a failed OBD II test (which I am not sure I actually failed or just getting suggestions – can we say denial?) by The Texas Department of Public Safety is as follows;
• Catalytic Converter failure,
• Faulty gas cap,

• Fuel metering out of specification,
• Incorrect ignition timing,
• Inoperative injection system and/or thermostatic air cleaner,
• Mis-routed vacuum lines, and
• Faulty Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) System or Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) System.

The phone rings.
Raymond, my 78 year old Neighbor says with a thick English accent, “Hi HMCinCali”
“Ya hi, I called earlier because I put on a pot of coffee and wanted to know if you wanted some, now I am busy reading up on some OBD II Diagnostics.”
“Why are you doing that? You will never understand. What is the car doing?”
“Well it shakes quite a bit.”
“That has nothing to do with the emissions.”
Light bulb goes off, feeling kinda dumb, “oh yea, that makes sense, I should most likely be checking the tires, well I got to go.”
“Okay, they make things to complicated now-a-days,… don’t do anything until you have a problem.”
“Okay, bye,” I say as I hang up the phone.

I clean my car to bring to Auto Doctor which I figure he can change the oil since it is now due and run a test to pin point the problem or just replace the fuel cap.  As I am outside my other neighbor, who is now retired from the auto industry, comes by to talk.  The older Italian-American from Monterey fishing community says "you can't be driving on these tires, look at them!"
"They are new I just got them a year ago," I said as I observed the smooth treadless tires with threading showing.

Panicked that my daughter and I have been driving on such dangerous tires I contact Wheel Works who tell me it is a no mileage warranty.  WTF!!!  All I can see is driving down the highway and a tire (s) blow and we are thrown across the lanes and may or may not survive.  WTF!  I bring it down to Wheel Works and I can spend another thousand on tires, I guess it is like a thousand a year - bull.  Tires should last longer than a year. 

They have the car as they are getting proof that it is not their fault because the car is not in alignment.  Great!  I get sold shitty tires and then get blamed for it.  This is not working. 

If anybody has any suggestions please comment.

Converting word doc to pdf

As I was uploading an article I ran into a snag. The publication drew the content from an URL or PDF file – neither I had. So I posted the article on Technology Tidbits, yet that did not help because it had to draw from a PDF.
So I turn to the big giant source of information that starts with a G, no not God, but google search. I receive 29,100,000 for how do I transfer my word doc to pdf in 0.55 seconds. Not bad.

I am immediately attracted to the video where I will not have to read too much at eHow; http://www.ehow.com/video_4767541_i-transfer-word-document-files.html. Noah is the star in this 2 minute 17 second video posted February 2009 where I received two very helpful websites for the occasional PDF converter. I opened two tabs and typed www.pdfonline.com and www.doc2pdf.net. The pdfonline required an email address, I click over to the doc2pdf site and I see pay, back over to the pdfonline site it took about 22 seconds to fill in the data. I open the email account that I provided and my PDF is already in the incoming mail.

Thanks Noah! I immediately continued with my posting which was successfully submitted (accepted is another story).

Here is what eHow says about Noah Blumenthal, eHow Presenter – now a freelancer with a strong computer background acquired from working previously as a Web designer at Netbuzz, an online Web design and advertising company in Paris, France.

Of course my Brother tells me at dinner the other night that the latest word has a converter in it.  I must investigate.

Communication Gateway for a Data Center Going Green

When updating the automation system that monitors and controls a 20,000 square foot facility, Caspian Technology Concepts partnered with Kepware, the world leader in communication software for automation in both OPC and embedded device communications, provided communication between devices that were otherwise not compatible. The solution took the form of two products offered by Kepware. First, KEPServerEX is the communications solution that supports a wide variety of protocols. Secondly, LinkMaster is a solution for mapping data Tags from one protocol to the data Tags of another. This customized package solved the challenge of how to automate the temperature system in a large data center without a costly replacement project. The importance of an automated system is elementary as thousands of computers create heat and challenge managers to maintain proper temperatures. An unregulated system is costly as 100 server cabinets uses up to 300,000 watts of electricity!

The three main protocols in this industry are BACnet, Modbus and SNMP. Within a vast data center footprint, various automation components from multiple vendors create a complex connecting of all the components that required careful review. In this project the temperature system is monitored by SNMP whereas most of the facility housed Modbus compliant equipment. One protocol does not communicate with another, leaving an integral part of the infrastructure unable to provide critical data.

The overall objective of monitoring and improving the data center efficiency requires vital information of power consumption and the ability to remotely control each outlet. Eaton Corporation supplied a power monitoring and control system, called an enclosure Power Distribution Unit (ePDU). At over $1000 for each of the 130-plus ePDUs, replacement was not a viable option. The Kepware SNMP Driver was able to extract data by polling the ePDUs for information and captures Traps (the notifications from SNMP compliant devices.) Valuable insight into the performance of the system increases control over the temperature, thus energy costs and the Industrial SNMP driver for KEPServerEX provides reliability of the entire system with stable performance from all components.

Overall effectiveness of an automation system is the ability for all the systems to talk to each other. Now the Caspian engineers are able to draw information from the ePDUs with the SNMP technology. LinkMaster, a separate product that runs alongside KEPServerEX, and is configured to take data from the SNMP-based devices and map the data to corresponding Modbus emulated devices via a Kepware Modbus Slave driver.

The customer had selected a Siemens Power Management solution called WinPM to supervise the server cabinets, and a variety of on-site equipment ranging from backup power generators to the 27 thirty-ton cooling units. The data center will fully benefit from the monitoring and detailed reporting capabilities of the WinPM solution with information integrated, including the ePDU data. The automation completed with the connection of a Kepware Modbus Slave driver which is capable of simulating a Modbus device. These products simply run on a server installed in one of the control cabinets, and feed data up to the Siemens WinPM product.

This was the first time Caspian engineers had worked with Kepware products. The development of the several thousand Tags needed in their application was greatly facilitated by the ability to export a simple configuration in XML, open the file with Microsoft Excel using its features to generate a much larger database, and then importing results to KEPServer for operation. Caspian engineers had complete control over the communications update rates and how data is transferred from SNMP protocol to the Modbus Slave driver. Once installed, the operation was repeatable and reliable.

This data center in a Fortune 50 financial company found an expert in designing, building, monitoring and maintaining with a true understanding of the complexity of all the components in Caspian who zeroed in on Kepware while researching vendors to provide communication integration both for Modbus and SNMP. Confident that Kepware would stand behind its products and impressed with the wide-range of partners, engineers downloaded of Demo products from the Kepware website enabled to perform a proof of concept. All worked as expected and the decision to implement the Kepware solution was made.

When asked about their experience and if they would use the Kepware products again, Dale Boehm - President of Caspian said, “Our experience with Kepware products was very good and we expect to be using their products much more going forward. This is exactly the tool we need in our bag of tricks, as we integrate the disparate products we encounter in legacy system upgrades.” For Caspian, headquartered in Milwaukee Wisconsin, they are not engaged in merely ‘running’ a data center. Today’s global, 24x7 business day requires the most efficient means of managing a company’s most critical data with the highest degree of infrastructure reliability.

For more information, contact Caspian Technology at www.caspiantek.com or Kepware at www.kepware.com