Questions for the IIDTool-saavy

[chris snell]

There are a few computer-related things on my new LR4 that really bug me and I'm wondering if the IIDtool can manage any of this:

- Set the outside air vent to "closed - latched" by default. I'm constantly driving down the road and getting whiffs of somebody's cigarette. The cabin air filter in this truck is not very impressive and the aircon seems to clear the previous vent setting with every power-on.

- Allow me to invoke the rear camera display when in park or drive (not just reverse)

- TPMS tire pressure display. Why in the world is this not available by default in the truck? My wife's old Lexus had this years ago.

- Adjust the trigger temperature for automatic defroster turn-on

- Fine-tune the automatic windshield wiper sensitivity

Thanks.

 

[SteveMfr]

Hi Chris,
When we change items in the CCF (car configuration file), what we are doing is editing settings where LR allows changes to be made. The CCF is broadcast on the vehicles bus systems to tell each ECU what it settings are (i.e. what peripherals or optional equipment are/is connected or what the country- or even personal-settings for the vehicle are, such as daytime running lights, lazy locking, etc). We are not actually going in and making changes in the software in the ECUs.

Unfortunately all the changes you are interested in are not CCF settings, but within the SW in the corresponding ECUs. Changing these items would entail rewriting the code for these ECUs and flashing this code to the ECU in place of the original. And in order to rewrite the code, the original code would first have to be reverse engineered = an amazing amount of work.

You can take a look at what can be changed in our functionality chart. Punch in your vehicle and MY - and click the down arrows to open sub menus: http://www.gap-diagnostic.com/products/iidtool.html#c309

What we can do, for instance, is deactivate your TPMS so that you can run wheels/tires w/o sensors mounted or air down off road. Or we can activate the rear view camera for vehicles delivered w/o one installed from the factory...

Sorry we can't be of more help.

 

[chris snell]

Thanks for the reply, Steve. Totally understand the difficulty of reverse-engineering the ECU ROMs.

Since you mention the rear view camera on vehicles that came without one, is it possible to install the HSE LUX's Vision Assist cameras and get them working on a HSE?

 

[SteveMfr]

Dunno - sounds interesting. Need to look into it.

Will let you know.

 

[umbertob]

As far as flipping the Vision Assist cameras "switch" on in the infotainment system software is concerned, I am sure the guys at GAP could figure it out quickly - if they haven't already. But, installing the actual cameras, harnesses, equalizers and all related hardware to make them work on a LR4 built without them would probably be a very expensive proposition. I was taking a look at a TSB the other day to resolve intermittent "Blue Screen Of Death" issues on vehicles equipped with the surround cameras (these issues were very frequent unfortunately, especially on earlier 2010-2011 builds but still occur now on some 2012 and 2013s.) The labor times involving the replacement of coax harnesses make your head spin... And that's on cars that were equipped with the cameras: https://app.box.com/rrs/1/651866691/12027024114/1

 

[PhyrraM]

Not sure if this is directly applicable to the LR4 or not, but the old VentureCam add on for the Range Rover has been successfully added to LR3s and Range Rovers.

Basically all the hardware was installed and hooked up, per factory. The control box (which the cameras connect to) was hung on the CANBUS, per factory. Then the car was 'told' to look for it by editing the CCF. IIRC, some of the infotainment ECUs need to be flashed with the proper software versions (but that's a standard feature of the IIDTool).

I'd love to adapt the RRS adaptive cruise control to my LR3. I'm 99.9% certain it can be done, I just don't have the financial firepower to be the pioneer.

 

[chris snell]

As far as flipping the Vision Assist cameras "switch" on in the infotainment system software is concerned, I am sure the guys at GAP could figure it out quickly - if they haven't already. But, installing the actual cameras, harnesses, equalizers and all related hardware to make them work on a LR4 built without them would probably be a very expensive proposition. I was taking a look at a TSB the other day to resolve intermittent "Blue Screen Of Death" issues on vehicles equipped with the surround cameras (these issues were very frequent unfortunately, especially on earlier 2010-2011 builds but still occur now on some 2012 and 2013s.) The labor times involving the replacement of coax harnesses make your head spin... And that's on cars that were equipped with the cameras: https://app.box.com/rrs/1/651866691/12027024114/1

Wow. That's pretty crazy. I figured that the harnesses were probably installed in all HSE trucks and not hooked up to anything except in the LUXes but that's only conjecture. I had wanted a LUX truck with the system but given the limited supply of LR4s with the HD package, I had to take what I could find.

 

[SteveMfr]

Sometimes LR's policies regarding hardware / wiring / etc. are hard to comprehend.

There were a handful of "baseline" L322 RRs delivered in the 2005-06 range that did not have satnav installed. Because they had no other option avail, LR installed the touchscreen so that the cars still had a radio. I found that in itself to be somewhat strange, but the worst part was, these cars had a different wiring harness than the cars w/satnav - so retrofitting satnav was prohibitively expensive. I'd be curious to know how much money was "saved" by spec-ing, building, and installing multiple infotainment wiring harnesses...

 

[SteveMfr]

OK - we were curious. Seems that the CCF settings for adding vision assist are doable.

Maybe the next step is to check wiring diagrams and looking at how difficult it would be to make and install an add-on harness. Power and coax from a couple of cams can't be
that difficult...

 

[chris snell]

That's really interesting. I wonder how the cameras connect to the system. Are they using standard video transmission methods or something proprietary? If it was standards-based, it would be neat to put the additional cameras in some place more useful for offroad driving...like underneath the truck, or looking down from the front bumper, etc.

 

[umbertob]

Don't know if it helps, but here is description and operation of the camera system (warning, it's a 23-page PDF...), the section pertinent to the "Hi-Line" 5-camera digital system starts on page 12. You can see how much more complex the system is compared to the analog, "Lo-Line" single reverse camera setup on vehicles without Vision Assist. Also, here is electrical diagram of the proximity cameras.