AVAILABILITY OF PRE-BUILT UNITS: IN STOCK!

Please see our shopping cart for prices and ordering details.

Details for DIY interfaces are now here

Pre-built Units  

These are the original (and we firmly believe THE BEST) Consult cables. We did the original design which was then posted on the web. Since then we have added various modifications to ensure reliability with all vehicles and with Nistune software. We are actively involved with Nissan diagnostics and tuning so we are well placed to provide support for our customers.

The USB cable part can easily be replaced if need be. We've found that this is the most likely part to fail on high mileage cables. We've used a common USB printer cable ("USB A" on the laptop end and "USB B" on the other end) so replacement is cheap and easy. Users can also replace it with a different length if the standard 2m length is unsuitable.

The cables connect between the USB port of a laptop and the Consult Port of Nissan vehicles. There's a small circuit board close to the Consult port which converts the data. For general diagnostic work we recommend using Datascan software which allows various diagnostic functions to be accessed. See below for details. For real-time tuning our cables can be used with Nistune software.

	+		=
New Consult Interface		Standard USB printer cable		New PLMS Consult cable

The design has been tested on a list of vehicles which is always growing. As a rule, if your car has the grey Consult connector (you'll usually find it below the steering wheel or near the fusebox in the driver's kick panel) and was built between 1990 - 2000 then it will work. Some cars that missed out were the A31 Cefiro RB20 and anything with a CA18. These vehicles do NOT use the Consult system.

There is a list of vehicles that are known to work with our system: Vehicle Compatibility Table.

After 2000 Nissan started going to Consult II. Many of them still use the same consult connector but the protocol is different.

Our cables are designed, built and tested in Australia by qualified, experienced personnel. Each cable is tested on a Nissan ECU before shipping.

FAQs

What diagnostic software will work with the interface?

There have now been various programs written that will work with the interface but the one we sell is Nissan DataScan. This was written by Tomasz Kolodziejczyk and is now a mature application which has been tested on vehicles all over the world. The software is downloaded from Tom once your details are registered - so you always get the latest available version. Prices at bottom of page.

It includes the following features:

• Compatible with Win98SE, Win2K, XP and Vista.
• Real time monitoring of RPM, speed, injector pulsewidth, injector duty cycle, TPS position, AFM voltage, speed, idle valve opening %, IGN timing, coolant temp, battery volts etc. All displayed on nice pseudo-analog gauges.
• Data logging on all parameters with cool inbuilt replay feature.
• Read and reset fault codes
• Active tests like “power balance” (knocks one cyl out at a time), fuel pump on/off, VCT control, temporary changes to values for coolant temp, IGN timing, AAC valve (for idle adjustment) etc.
• ROM read
• More great stuff!

Tom has more information on the latest version of DataScan here.

What's the difference between your cables and the other cables on the market?

Any of the generic cables are capable of working with Datascan or Nistune. Some work better than others. The main problem is if you have electrical noise happening once the engine is started. Many vehicles using the Consult system are getting old now, so electrical noise is becoming a problem. Most of the cables out there are only designed for use with diagnostic programs, where you have a constant stream of largely one-way data. If you get a bit of corruption it won't matter - you'll get a bit of a blip on your gauges - or an unexplained error in your logging.

But if you're actually tuning your car (ie: using Nistune) then inferior cables will tend to cause data corruption very quickly and then your comms will disconnect. Nistune is obviously a much more critical application. It has constant data going both ways and any corrupt data can end up in your tune! Nistune have added considerable data checking to avoid corruption but once things get too noisy there's not a lot that can be done and comms will disconnect.

No cable is 100% immune but we've now done a considerable testing and design modification to make our cables handle large amounts of noise before data integrity becomes a problem.

Many cables also leave the LEDs off in an effort to cut costs. We've had these from the beginning and always will. They're an invaluable aid when trying to fault find comms problems. We often get guys contacting us about comms problems and the first question is inevitably "Is there a request going from laptop to ECU (green Rx LED blinks)?". If you have a LEDless cable then you're in the dark.

What laptops will the DataScan software work with?

Most of our testing has been carried out on a P233 machine with 32Mb of RAM running WIN98SE although this should be considered an absolute minimum. It also works with Win2K/WinXP/Vista on a more capable laptop.

Do you still sell Serial Consult cables?

No. Sorry but the demand for serial cables has now dropped off to the point where they're no longer worth building.

Do I need special drivers for the USB Consult Cable?

Most definitely. Do NOT try to use a generic driver. If you have done this by mistake then please make sure you remove all traces of the generic driver before installing the correct ones. Drivers for USB Consult Cables here