Pico Diagnostics

Automotive Software
User's Guide

pd.en-4
Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved.
Pico Diagnostics User's Guide I

Table of Contents
1 Welcome .....................................................................................................................................1

2 Introduction
.....................................................................................................................................2
...........................................................................................................................................2
1 Contact information
...........................................................................................................................................2
2 How to use this manual
...........................................................................................................................................3
3 Using Pico Diagnostics for the first time

3 Menus .....................................................................................................................................4
1 File menu ...........................................................................................................................................4
1 User Details dialog ...........................................................................................................................................5
2 Help menu ...........................................................................................................................................5
3 Tests menu ...........................................................................................................................................6
4 View menu ...........................................................................................................................................6
1 Details dialog ...........................................................................................................................................6

4 Tests .....................................................................................................................................8
1 Cylinder Balance ...........................................................................................................................................9
1 Cylinder Balance Controls ...........................................................................................................................................11
2 Cylinder Balance Signal Graph ...........................................................................................................................................12
3 Failed cylinder balance ...........................................................................................................................................13
2 Compression Test...........................................................................................................................................14
1 Compression Test options ...........................................................................................................................................17
2 Failed compression test ...........................................................................................................................................17
3 Battery Test ...........................................................................................................................................18
...........................................................................................................................................20
1 Battery Test: interpreting the results
2 Battery Test options ...........................................................................................................................................20

Index ..............................................................................................................................................21

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 1

1 Welcome
Welcome to Pico Diagnostics, the automotive diagnostics software for the PicoScope
Diagnostics Oscilloscope.

With a PicoScope, Pico Diagnostics turns your PC into an automotive diagnostics

station. The program includes a range of built-in tests that are easy to operate, even if
you haven't used them before.

If you need to go beyond the built-in tests, an additional program is available:

PicoScope Automotive. This gives you all the features of an advanced oscilloscope and
can be used to diagnose almost any electrical component in any vehicle.

Software version: 1.2.1.

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

2 Introduction

2 Introduction
Pico Diagnostics supports the PicoScope 3000 and 4000 Series diagnostic
oscilloscopes.

Contact information 2
How to use this manual 2

How to use Pico Diagnostics

Getting started: see Using Pico Diagnostics for the first time 3 .
For further information: see descriptions of Menus 4 .

2.1 Contact information

Address: Pico Technology
James House
Colmworth Business Park
ST NEOTS
Cambridgeshire
PE19 8YP
United Kingdom
Web site: www.picotech.com

2.2 How to use this manual

This manual is divided into topics. For example, the topic you are now reading is
called "How to use this manual". Notice the tabs on the left labelled Contents, Index
and Search. If you click the Contents tab, you will see a table of contents listing all
the topics in the manual. Double-click any one of these topics to read it. Use the
Index and Search tabs if you want to look up a particular word or phrase.

Also, look out for the Forward and Back buttons. These allow you to retrace your
steps in the trail of topics that you have read since opening the manual.

While you are using Pico Diagnostics, you will often see Help buttons. Clicking these
will take you to the relevant topic in this manual.

For your first introduction to Pico Diagnostics, we suggest that you start with the
topic 'Using Pico Diagnostics for the first time'. 3

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Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 3

2.3 Using Pico Diagnostics for the first time

We have designed Pico Diagnostics to be as easy as possible to use, even for
newcomers to automotive diagnostics. Once you have followed the introductory steps
listed below, we hope that you will soon become an expert.

Plug in your PicoScope oscilloscope. Windows will recognise it

and make the necessary changes to allow your computer to
1.
work with it. Wait until Windows tells you that the device is
ready to use.

2. Click the new Pico Diagnostics icon on your Windows desktop.

3. Click the button for the test you wish to perform.

Follow the on-screen instructions on connecting your scope and

4.
running the test.

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

4 Menus

3 Menus
Menus are the quickest way to get to the main features in Pico Diagnostics. The
Menu bar is always present at the top of the Pico Diagnostics main window, just
below the window's title bar. You can click any of the menu items, or press the Alt key
and then navigate to the menu using the cursor keys, or press the Alt key followed by
the underlined letter in one of the menu items.

The list of items in the menu bar may vary depending on which test you are running.

3.1 File menu

Click File on the Menu bar. 4

Load. Allows you to load a test from disk to review the result. Loading a test
result from disk will clear any captured data and results.

Save. Some tests allow you to save test data to disk.

Print. Opens a standard Windows print dialog, which allows you to choose a
printer, set printing options and then print the selected view.

Print Preview. Opens the Print Preview window, which allows you to
preview the report before printing it with the Print command.

Preferences. Opens up the User Details dialog. 5

Exit. Close Pico Diagnostics without saving any data.

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Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 5

3.1.1 User Details dialog

This dialog appears when you select Preferences on the File menu 4 . It allows you
to enter details about your company and your name. These will appear on the report.

How to use the dialog

Enter all the values you want.

Click OK to close the dialog and save the changes.

Click Cancel to close the dialog and discard the changes.

The items in the dialog

Company: The name of your company. This will be displayed on the report if no
logo has been selected.

Name: Name of the technician, or the contact name, to appear on the

report.

Telephone: The contact number that the customer will see on the report.

Address: The address of your company. There is space for four lines.

Logo: Allows you to select a picture for your company logo.

3.2 Help menu

Click Help on the Menu bar. 4

These are the standard Windows options for access to this help file.

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

6 Menus

3.3 Tests menu

Click Tests on the Menu bar. 4

This menu lists all the tests available. Click one of the tests to proceed.

3.4 View menu

Click View on the Menu bar. 4

Details. Edit the customer and vehicle details and notes 6 .

3.4.1 Details dialog

This dialog appears when you select Details on the View menu 6 . It allows you to
enter details about the customer and the vehicle you are testing. There is also a space
for entering notes about the test.

How to use the dialog

This dialog is for you to store data about the customer and the vehicle that the test
applies to. The data in this dialog will be saved with the test and printed on the report.

Click OK to close the dialog and save the changes.

Click Cancel to close the dialog and discard the changes.

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Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 7

Customer details

Name. The customer's name.

Phone. The customer's phone number.

Address. The customer's address. There is space for 4 lines.

Vehicle details

Make. The make of the vehicle. The makes of vehicles are stored in a database. If you
manually enter a make which is not already saved, a message box will pop up.

Model. The model of the vehicle. When a make has been selected, this list is
populated with all the currently known models of that make.

Year. The year of the vehicle.

ID. An identification number for the vehicle. Can be the VIN or anything else you
choose.

Notes

In the Notes field you can enter additional information that you want stored with the
test.

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

8 Tests

4 Tests
Pico Diagnostics is a collection of specific automotive tests. They are all designed to
be easy to use, even if you have little or no experience of automotive diagnostics.

To begin any test, click the Pico Diagnostics icon on your computer:

These tests are available with this installation of Pico Diagnostics:

Cylinder Balance 9
Compression Test 14
Battery Test 18

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Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 9

4.1 Cylinder Balance

The cylinder balance test before starting

The cylinder balance test measures how much each cylinder contributes to the
engine's total power output. There are a number of things that can cause a cylinder
to contribute less than the other cylinders. These include but are not limited to:

low compression
faulty injector
faulty spark plug.

A slightly uneven balance does not necessarily mean that there is a fault in the
engine. During warm-up, most engines run slightly unevenly. Deposits and engine
wear may also have an effect on the engine's performance.

To use the cylinder balance, start Pico Diagnostics and load the test using the Tests
menu 6 . Follow the instructions below to connect your PicoScope to the vehicle and
run the test.

Connect the oscilloscope

Start the engine
Run the test
If the result is blank 13

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

10 Tests

Connect the oscilloscope

Connect the scope to a free USB port on your PC using the USB cable.

Connect one of the general test BNC cables to Channel A on your oscilloscope. On the
other end, connect a large red crocodile clip to the red cable and a large black
crocodile clip to the black cable. Connect the red clip to the battery positive (+) and
the black clip to the battery negative (-) as shown in the picture above.

Start the engine

Run the test

To start the test click the button labelled Start at the lower left corner of the window.
A new window with a progress indicator and instructions will appear on the screen. Do
not turn off the engine until the progress indicator reaches 100%. The data is now
analysed and, if the test was successful, the result will appear in the bar graph as
shown below.

The result
If the test could not produce a result see: Failed cylinder balance. 13

The result is always scaled to show the highest cylinder at 100%.

pd.en Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 11

Cylinder balance controls

You can right-click on the bar graph to get a control menu. See: Cylinder balance
controls. 11

4.1.1 Cylinder Balance Controls

Right-click the cylinder balance bar graph to bring up a menu with display options.
You can use this menu to access more information concerning the test and its result.

Variation
Displays the variation in contribution for
each cylinder as an overlaid blue bar.

Misfire
Displays suspected misfires as a separate
bar for each cylinder.

Signal
N ot required for basic testing

Brings up a second graph, the signal

graph, 12 that can display the engine
speed or the contribution for each
cylinder over time. To zoom in on the
data, click and drag to select the range to
display.

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

12 Tests

4.1.2 Cylinder Balance Signal Graph

The signal graph displays the captured data as engine speed or cylinder contribution.

Zooming
You can use the mouse to zoom in on the data. Use the context menu (right-click) to
zoom out again.

Signal graph context menu

Right-click the graph to bring up a menu with display options. You can use this menu
to access more information concerning the test and its result.

Zoom out
This zooms out to display the full dataset.

View
You can choose to view the engine speed or the cylinder contribution. 10

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Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 13

4.1.3 Failed cylinder balance

If the test could not produce a result, make sure that:

the connection to the battery is good

the tension of alternator belt is adequate.

It may also help if you you switch the headlights on full beam and switch on
other electrical loads, such as the rear windscreen heater and fog lights.

There are some engines for which the test has difficulties producing a result.
These include:

engines with more than 8 cylinders

some engines with dual mass flywheels
engines with inertial dampers
vehicles with xenon lights

If there is still a problem

If you have checked the points mentioned above and the software still cannot
produce a result, we would like you to send us a copy of the of the failed test
data. Please enter as much information as possible about the vehicle tested. This
is done via the Details dialog 6 . Save the test to a file using the File | Save
menu and email the file to us on [email protected].

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

14 Tests

4.2 Compression Test

The compression test is meant to be a first check. If the compression looks good, you
can quickly move on and investigate other components which might be the cause of
the fault. If the test detects a low cylinder, you should perform a manual compression
test to verify the results and to work out which cylinder is low.

To use the compression test, start Pico Diagnostics and click the Compression Test
button.

Compression test - before starting the test

There are two types of compression test:

Relative compression - requires no pressure transducer, only a connection to the

battery.
Absolute compression - requires a connection to the battery and a pressure
transducer connected to a spark plug port.

Follow the instructions below to connect your PicoScope to the vehicle and run the
test.

Connect the oscilloscope

Connect the pressure transducer (only for the absolute compression test)
Disable the engine
Run the test
If the result is blank 17

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Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 15

Connecting the oscilloscope

Connect the oscilloscope to a free USB port on your PC using the USB cable.

Connect one of the general test BNC cables to Channel A on your scope. On the other
end, connect a large red crocodile clip to the red lead and a large black crocodile clip
to the black lead. Connect the red clip to the battery positive (+) and the black clip to
the battery negative (-) as shown in the picture below.

Connecting the pressure transducer (absolute compression test only)

Remove the spark plug from any convenient cylinder. Fit a compression hose into the
empty spark plug socket, then attach it to the pressure transducer's inlet port, as
shown in the picture below. Then connect a BNC to BNC cable from the pressure
transducer to Channel B on your scope.

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

16 Tests

Disabling the engine

The compression test can be done only when cranking, so the engine must be
prevented from starting. This can be done by removing the engine management relay
from the fuse box or disabling the injectors.

Running the test

The compression test should be performed according to the vehicle manufacturer's
specification. This usually includes warming up the engine.

If you are using the pressure transducer, click the Pressure button.
Next, click the numbered button corresponding to the number of cylinders in the
engine.
To start the test, click the button labelled Start at the lower left corner of the
window.
A new window with a progress indicator and instructions will appear on the screen.
Wait until the message in the window is "Crank engine".
Crank the engine until the progress indicator reaches 100%.

The data is now analysed and the result appears in a bar graph, as in one of the
examples below:

Compression test result - Compression test result -

without pressure sensor (relative mode) with pressure sensor (absolute mode)

In relative compression mode, the result is

always scaled to show the highest cylinder
at 100%. The bars are ordered according
to the engine's firing order. The cylinders
are named A, B, C and so on, because with
only a connection to the battery the
software has no way of knowing which
cylinder is number one. This may cause
the result to be shifted if you run the test
on the same engine more than once.

The result
If the test could not produce a result, see Failed compression test 17 .

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Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 17

4.2.1 Compression Test options

This dialog appears when you click the Options... menu on the main menu bar while
the Compression Test 14 is selected. It allows you to set special options before
running the test. These options apply only to the absolute compression test, and not
to the relative compression test.

Scale: The units in which the pressure sensor is calibrated.

Compensate: Check to use the Cylinder Volume, Compression Ratio

and Sensor Volume parameters. Leave unchecked to
ignore these values.

Cylinder Volume (l): The volume of the cylinder in litres.

Compression Ratio (X:1): The compression ratio of the cylinder. For example, if
the compression ratio is 11:1, enter 11.

Sensor Volume (l): The volume of the pressure sensor in litres. This
information should be available from the manufacturer
of the sensor. If in doubt, do not alter the value in this
box.

4.2.2 Failed compression test

If the test could not produce a result, make sure that:

the connection to the battery is good

there is not a battery charger connected to the vehicle's electrical system.

If there is still a problem

If you have checked the points mentioned above and the software still can't
produce a result, we would like you to send us a copy of the of the failed test
data. Please enter as much information as possible about the vehicle tested.
This is done using the Details dialog 6 . Save the test to a file using the File |
Save menu 4 and email the file to us at picodiagnostics.feedback@picotech.
com.

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

18 Tests

4.3 Battery Test

To use the battery test, start Pico Diagnostics and click the Battery Test button.

Tip: If the battery has been recently charged, there is a risk of “surface charge”
affecting the state-of-charge results. To eliminate the surface charge, switch the
lights on full beam for about 2 minutes and then wait for about 2 minutes before
performing the test. If you are only measuring cold cranking amps then you can
ignore this precaution.

Follow the instructions below to connect your PicoScope to the vehicle and run the
test.

Connect the PicoScope

Set any special test options 20
Run the test
If the result is blank 20

Connect the PicoScope

Connect the PicoScope to a free USB port on your PC using the USB cable.

Connect one of the general test BNC cables to Channel A on your PicoScope. On the
other end, connect a large red crocodile clip to the red lead and a large black crocodile
clip to the black lead. Remove the cover from the fuse box. Connect the red clip to
the battery positive (A+) and the black clip to a secure earth or ground point (A-) as
shown in the picture below.

Battery test connections:

A– : Ch A ground (black) clip
A+ : Ch A positive (red) clip
B : current clamp

Connect the 600 A or 2000 A current clamp to Channel B on the PicoScope. Switch
on the clamp ("B" in the picture above) and fit it around the battery positive cable or
the starter motor cable.

If you have a 4-channel scope then you can run the optional extended drop test.
Connect Channel C to the positive end of the starter motor and Channel D to the
negative end. This will enable Pico Diagnostics to separate the cable resistance from
the starter motor resistance.

pd.en Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 19

Set any special test options

Click the Options... menu
Change any options in the Battery Test Options dialog 20 that are different from
the standard test
Click OK to continue the test

Run the test

First, click either the 12 V or the 24 V button depending on the voltage of your
electrical system.

Tip: If you have a 24 V system with two 12 V batteries, test each battery separately.
Otherwise one good battery could hide a fault in the other battery.

Next, set the temperature control to the local air temperature in degrees Celsius.

Click the Start button in the bottom left corner of the window.

N ote: B ecause the engine is not draw ing any current at this stage, the program
w ill draw a horizontal line show ing zero am ps of current. If this line is not at zero
am ps, the current clam p m ay need to be adjusted. Press the "Z ero" button or turn
the "Z ero" dial on the clam p until the horizontal line is at zero am ps.

Start the engine.

While the test is running, the programs shows the voltage on Channel A and the
current on Channel B, and a graph is drawn from left to right. The program
automatically stops recording data when it has enough information, so there is no
need to click the Stop button unless you wish to stop the test early.

The program then analyses the data and shows the results in a table, as in the picture
below:

If the program reports "Battery has failed the test - refer to help file for advice", see
Interpreting the Results 20 .

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

20 Tests

4.3.1 Battery Test: interpreting the results

If the state of charge is low then recharge the battery and re-test.

If the state of charge is all right but the CCA (cold cranking amps) is low then check
these things before replacing the battery:

Check the battery connections. If they are loose, they could increase the internal
resistance.

If the battery is not a sealed type, check the fluid levels in each cell.

4.3.2 Battery Test options

This dialog appears when you click the Options... menu on the main menu bar while
the Battery Test 18 is selected. It allows you to specify the characteristics of the
battery before running the test.

Battery capacity (CCA): The battery capacity in cold cranking amperes.

Battery capacity (Ah): The battery capacity in ampere-hours.

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Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 21

Index Signal graph 12

T
B Tests menu 6

Battery Test 18
options 20 U
User details 5
C
Compression Test 14
V
options 17 Vehicle details form 6
Customer details form 6 View menu 6
Cylinder Balance 9
controls 11
Cylinder variation 11

D
Details dialog 6

E
Exit command 4

F
Failed compression test 17
Failed cylinder balance 13

H
Help menu 5

L
Load command 4

M
Menu bar 4
Misfires 11

N
Notes form 6

P
Preferences command 4
Pressure transducer 14

S
Save command 4

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

Pico Diagnostics User's Guide 23

Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved. pd.en

 Pico Technology
James House
Colmworth Business Park
ST. NEOTS
Cambridgeshire
PE19 8YP
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1480 396 395
Fax: +44 (0) 1480 396 296
www.picotech.com

pd.en-4
1.12.09
Copyright © 2009 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved.