Gryphon Acting Up

[SDRANGER619]

Hello again everyone,

With Bill's awesome technical help I was able to download my custom tunes to my programmer and programmed the truck.

After a couple days of use looks like I'm having a pretty significant problem. I will summarize as best I can so that maybe can help troubleshoot. (truck runs great by the way)

The unit intermittenly turns on and off; this happened only a few times. Tonight, as I was driving it turned off, when I arrived at my destination I unplugged the unit and pluged it back in. I got a "Connecting to bridge" message. The message was there for about a minute and then I received this error:

Sorry the image is so blurry, but I think you can read what it says
"The OBDII cable is not compatible with this Gryphon. Please call Tech Support to replace the cable."

After fumbling around with it a bit, I finally got it to work, but then the unit froze and when I unplugged, and plugged back in, I got the same "Connecting to bridge" message and then the error message about the cable.

I hope this isn't anything major, I have to switch to my #2 tune since I will be towing this Friday. Anyone have any ideas as to what the heck is going on?

[DarkShadowSTX]

Sorry to hear you're having trouble again man. Read this over, it sounds like your problem: http://www.f150online.com/forums/chi...i-screwed.html
When it's all said and done, it was the cable and PHP sent a new one out. Also check your battery like the thread suggests. Good luck.

[SDRANGER619]

Yeah Bill and I talked about the cable issues and the culprit being the battery. The battery on the truck is fairly new (about a year old).

[SDRANGER619]

man this keeps getting wierder. So I left the cable unplugged overnight. Pluged it back this morning and it's been working just fine...? Not sure what's going on.

[Jackpine]

DO get your battery checked out. Even though it's only a year old, it CAN be going bad. With the cable disconnected, you didn't have the 0.05A drain on the battery that a plugged-in Gryphon pulls.

I've posted about "resting voltage" before too. Open your hood when you finish driving for the day so you can get to the battery without opening an doors. At least 8 hours later or after overnight measure the voltage at the battery terminals with a voltmeter. It should show close to 12.7V if the battery is in excellent shape. If it's lower, I think you may have found the problem.

Monitor the battery PID on your Gryphon too, as you drive. If the alternator is good, you should see 13.9-14.2 volts when driving. Anything much less and I'd have the charging circuit checked.

Do you have a pre-04 truck? The "cable issues" were only showing up on those, I think.

- Jack

[Jackpine]

Originally Posted by Groovy Chick

Ranger, please keep us updated. We'll keep tabs on you.

Oh, and Jack... it's a 97-03.

Thanks, that DOES put it into the "cable" issue group, doesn't it?

- Jack

[SDRANGER619]

THanks for the prompt attention to this guy. As always you guys exceed expectations. I will keep an eye on this and advise if I find anything.


Thx

[SDRANGER619]

So I yanked the battery out of my truck yesterday and took it to two autoparts stores. They hooked up this little handheld machine to test it and they both said it was a good battery.

So, does that means it's the cable?

[Jackpine]

PHP would have to determine that, but if the problem continues, it probably IS a cable fault.

If things are working now, why don't you switch to the #2 tune now so you'll be ready for Friday? I'm planning to go on a trip with our trailer in a week, and I've already switched over to the towing tune. It's really a good all-around tune and I always like to make sure things are ok well in advance of starting out.

This way, even if you have to send in the OBD cable for replacement, the truck will be set up for the "demanding" usage. It can always be driven without having the Gryphon connected.

- Jack

[SDRANGER619]

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

PHP would have to determine that, but if the problem continues, it probably IS a cable fault.

If things are working now, why don't you switch to the #2 tune now so you'll be ready for Friday? I'm planning to go on a trip with our trailer in a week, and I've already switched over to the towing tune. It's really a good all-around tune and I always like to make sure things are ok well in advance of starting out.

This way, even if you have to send in the OBD cable for replacement, the truck will be set up for the "demanding" usage. It can always be driven without having the Gryphon connected.

- Jack

Thanks Jack I think I will do that. I was under the impression I shouldn't run the tow tune and now be towing at that moment.

So just so I ensure I have the information correctly, I should continue to use the Gryphon like I usually do. Then after I do my towing and switch back to tune #1 should I send the cable to you guys to look at?