500 (USA) PROXY Alignment without Blue&Me? (Unsuccessful)

[Quintochento]

Hello gentlemen,

Disclaimer – I’ve read as much as possible before posting. I’ve reached a point where I can’t find any new, relevant information related to my issue, so I’m now seeking direct help.

First post here (cry for help?). I just recently acquired a 2012 Fiat 500 Pop in the US (Mexican assembly). The factory stereo wasn't outputting any audio except after a battery drain, and only once. It wouldn't output any audio again after starting the vehicle, so I assumed a faulty Blue&Me unit and proceeded to change the stereo, which I had planned to do anyway, for one of those Android-based units with a large display for GPS navigation.

So I did—installed the new stereo unit and unplugged the presumed faulty Blue&Me unit. The new stereo works like a charm, except for the steering wheel buttons for controlling the stereo. Cruise control buttons work just fine. The voice and answer call buttons both mute the audio, and the + / - buttons do nothing at all. The setup is reported under Multiecuscan as a 10-button setup, but only 8 are available.

I obviously got the infamous flashing odometer fault on the display, so I proceeded to perform a PROXY Alignment to get rid of it—but so far, unsuccessfully. Keep in mind I’m using a USB cable ELM327 interface with a PIC18F25K80 chip (in theory, it has full support for advanced CAN functions like AT PPS), and a number 6 yellow adapter for the port and interface.

Multiecuscan insists on not performing a PROXY Alignment, claiming it is not needed according to the displayed message. So I tried to force an alignment by changing the 10-button setup to 8 and then proceeding, but it fails during the process. No real alignment happens, nor is there any change to the steering wheel button setup. Next, I tried the same process after draining all power from the system by unplugging the battery overnight—same results.

Error message during alignment:

Entertainment Telematic Node (ETM)... FAILED! - Timeout error

Error message that stops the alignment:

FAILED TO EXECUTE
Body Computer Node (BCM/NBC) FAILED! - Request out of range error

Multiecuscan reports during the Info phase (before Adjustments) that the Entertainment Telematic Node (ETM) is EOL OK (although I have it unplugged because it is not working, or I don't need it anymore anyway), and everything else shows in blue (or red) fonts as OK.

Questions:

• How do I remove the ETM from the list so it stops looking for it?
• Why does the Body Computer Node (BCM/NBC) fail during the alignment?
• Is it because I’m forcing the button setup change to a wrong configuration?

I kindly thank you for any help and assistance in this matter in advance.

 

[porta]

Hello gentlemen,

Disclaimer – I’ve read as much as possible before posting. I’ve reached a point where I can’t find any new, relevant information related to my issue, so I’m now seeking direct help.

First post here (cry for help?). I just recently acquired a 2012 Fiat 500 Pop in the US (Mexican assembly). The factory stereo wasn't outputting any audio except after a battery drain, and only once. It wouldn't output any audio again after starting the vehicle, so I assumed a faulty Blue&Me unit and proceeded to change the stereo, which I had planned to do anyway, for one of those Android-based units with a large display for GPS navigation.

So I did—installed the new stereo unit and unplugged the presumed faulty Blue&Me unit. The new stereo works like a charm, except for the steering wheel buttons for controlling the stereo. Cruise control buttons work just fine. The voice and answer call buttons both mute the audio, and the + / - buttons do nothing at all. The setup is reported under Multiecuscan as a 10-button setup, but only 8 are available.

I obviously got the infamous flashing odometer fault on the display, so I proceeded to perform a PROXY Alignment to get rid of it—but so far, unsuccessfully. Keep in mind I’m using a USB cable ELM327 interface with a PIC18F25K80 chip (in theory, it has full support for advanced CAN functions like AT PPS), and a number 6 yellow adapter for the port and interface.

Multiecuscan insists on not performing a PROXY Alignment, claiming it is not needed according to the displayed message. So I tried to force an alignment by changing the 10-button setup to 8 and then proceeding, but it fails during the process. No real alignment happens, nor is there any change to the steering wheel button setup. Next, I tried the same process after draining all power from the system by unplugging the battery overnight—same results.

Error message during alignment:

Entertainment Telematic Node (ETM)... FAILED! - Timeout error

Error message that stops the alignment:

FAILED TO EXECUTE
Body Computer Node (BCM/NBC) FAILED! - Request out of range error

Multiecuscan reports during the Info phase (before Adjustments) that the Entertainment Telematic Node (ETM) is EOL OK (although I have it unplugged because it is not working, or I don't need it anymore anyway), and everything else shows in blue (or red) fonts as OK.

Questions:

• How do I remove the ETM from the list so it stops looking for it?
• Why does the Body Computer Node (BCM/NBC) fail during the alignment?
• Is it because I’m forcing the button setup change to a wrong configuration?

I kindly thank you for any help and assistance in this matter in advance.

Try deleting the errors first and, as its note exactly clear from your post, does the scan give you options (I know on mine I’ve got four, two listed continental and two for different screens, presumably this is the different range level options)

 

[Quintochento]

Try deleting the errors first and, as its note exactly clear from your post, does the scan give you options (I know on mine I’ve got four, two listed continental and two for different screens, presumably this is the different range level options)

Yes sir! I have been diligently deleting all errors to prevent them from altering the final results, I keep reading the reminder of this all the time so I usually don't forget before my next attempt.

I have some progress to report based on a few more attempts, interesting results actually related to the actual error code I get every time, but I get this from AlfaOBD:

B10AA-4A - PROXI configuration control Incorrect component installed Present

Now, I did something different this time that gives me a big clue about the kind of problem I'm facing here.

This time, I removed fuse 36 to completely shut down the radio, Multiecuscan finally didn´t find any ETM, also no TPMS (Tire pressure node), did the whole Proxy Alignment successfully, and after restarting the flashing odometer was gone! Together with any stereo capability, of course...

After putting back the fuse and restarting the vehicle, the good old flashing dancing odometer is back, Multiecuscan sees an ETM, present but is completely able to talk to it as the Body Computer Node (BCM/NBC) FAILED! - Request out of range error later reports during a new but failed alignment to recover the TPMS, it´s just that it doesn't like it at all and freaks out every time it sees the stereo reporting as an ETM unit module.

The only way to recover the TPMS is to do a Proxy Alignment from AlfaOBD, which always completes the alignment sequence successfully, but the vehicle computer keeps not liking the new stereo.
So, now I believe the problem is not the vehicle, not completely, is something about the stereo that it doesn´t like, I think I need to focus my research now on this one and find out how to either stop it from identifying as an ETM to the vehicle or at least do it properly so the car doesn´t freaks out.
What do you think?

 

[Quintochento]

After a thorough physical inspection of the back connectors and wiring harness of the new stereo, I believe I might have found the problem! The stereo is a Fiat 500 exclusive as the display is large enough to cover part of the vent air exhausts, the form factor is fit only to this particular generation of 500s, so I assumed it was a perfect fit and ready out from the box.

However, although it does include a Canbus Box controller, further inspections of the cables show that the cable set from the vehicle (probably also includes the steering wheel button cable controllers?), has a set of 8 cables connected to the vehicle 8 pin wiring harness, although, from the new connector, it only has 2 cables available to the stereo 8 pin capable connection point.

I´m assuming right now this is the reason why partial communication from the vehicle to the (emulated?) ETM unit (new stereo working as a Blue&Me unit) is giving the vehicle computer trouble and will report accordingly through the flashing odometer. Does this make any sense? Did I get the wrong set of cables and all I have to do is find, buy, and replace the right set?

 

[Quintochento]

I might have solved the mystery... the Canbus Box included with the stereo is a FT-SS-03A/RP5-FT-002, a simple search shows this particular model for 2015 Fiat Doblo. I believe a simple replacement for the whole unit should do the trick!

 

[Aidan100]

I might have solved the mystery... the Canbus Box included with the stereo is a FT-SS-03A/RP5-FT-002, a simple search shows this particular model for 2015 Fiat Doblo. I believe a simple replacement for the whole unit should do the trick!

How did you go?
I have the Exact same issue with a new Android unit I have installed on a Fiat 500 2013 Lounge.

 

[Aidan100]

How did you go?
I have the Exact same issue with a new Android unit I have installed on a Fiat 500 2013 Lounge.

 

[Quintochento]

How did you go?
I have the Exact same issue with a new Android unit I have installed on a Fiat 500 2013 Lounge.

Turns out I had the correct CANbus box for the car stereo, it just needed to be properly configured to match the car's protocols through the factory menu. For that, I needed a code provided by technical support. Once I accessed the factory menu, I selected the car’s brand and model, then performed another proxy alignment. After that, the flashing odometer issue stopped, and everything worked like a charm, even the steering wheel buttons.

 

[Aidan100]

Turns out I had the correct CANbus box for the car stereo, it just needed to be properly configured to match the car's protocols through the factory menu. For that, I needed a code provided by technical support. Once I accessed the factory menu, I selected the car’s brand and model, then performed another proxy alignment. After that, the flashing odometer issue stopped, and everything worked like a charm, even the steering wheel buttons.

Thanks, I know the menu and part you mean. Can you tell me which configuration you used?

 

[Quintochento]

Sure!

Car Settings > Factory (Password request) > Car Type Settings > SimpleSoft (My CANBus brand) > Fiat > FIAT_XP04(2015 Fiat Doblo 210-2018 Punto/14-20 500X)

Confirm choosing model although the weird option, then...

Go to main menu (initial menu), swipe options, got to:

CarSetting > Instrument Panel Config > Cartype Option > Type 1

Or, could be Type 2 or 3, you need to try them all, for me was 3 although I didn't tried the proxi alignment until the third option, so maybe irrelevant, seems like this option is about the steering wheel options? Not sure, but this is my working setting.

 

[Aidan100]

Sure!

Car Settings > Factory (Password request) > Car Type Settings > SimpleSoft (My CANBus brand) > Fiat > FIAT_XP04(2015 Fiat Doblo 210-2018 Punto/14-20 500X)

Confirm choosing model although the weird option, then...

Go to main menu (initial menu), swipe options, got to:

CarSetting > Instrument Panel Config > Cartype Option > Type 1

Or, could be Type 2 or 3, you need to try them all, for me was 3 although I didn't tried the proxi alignment until the third option, so maybe irrelevant, seems like this option is about the steering wheel options? Not sure, but this is my working setting.

Thanks!
Maybe it’s different as mine is 2013. I have simple soft too, so chose that, though I do not have the option menu to choose instrument panel config.