Older Suzuki networking issues

[ivestfold]

Gooday from winterly Norway, finally the days are 3 hours longer then in the end of December and 2 meters of snow is shrinking down and some patches of gras is showing.
Its that time of year I need to lift the wrapping of my boat to see if all under survived minus 30 degrees celsius this winter!
I have purchased an old Suzuki DF225, its a 2004 model, and my spring project is to see if I can get any data out of this beauty.
The setup today is standard with the RPM meter with 4 lamps.
Moonlighters advice is to find a Suzuki interface cable with version 2.3, but this is very hard to find. Several sources claims that the version 294 will work fine with the pre 2009 models, so I have decided to test this myself and have ordered the 294 version and will build a small NMEA2000 network.
I will replace the round data plug in the engine with a square one and make the extention cable myself, again after Moonlighters advice.
I have also bought a Simrad IS35 since the boat is equipped with and old Raymarine MFD, and are planning to replace the original instrument with the IS35.
I wonder, has anyone tested the 294 on an old engine?
I see that there are a lot of fault indications on the original instrument, can I expect the codes to be shown on the IS35?

[Moonlighter]

Version 294 is an outside chance of working. Some have had success but usually with 2006/7 year, so close to the 2008 it says will work.

But anyway, let us know how it goes. If the normal data looks OK the last thing to check will be fuel flow rate, as that can be the area where there are biggest errors with data.

One thing I am sure you will have noticed is that engine fault codes will not appear on any displays. So would be wise to keep the tacho so they will be able to display on the lights there. Fault codes will not appear on the IS35 or any display other than SMIS or C-10. Alarms will eg overheat, over rev, but not fault codes.

Those fault indications you mention - where are you seeing them? On the tacho lights? If thats where you are seeing the lights are flashing code sequences, then Suzuki fault codes will only clear when the fault is rectified. Fix the fault - then the codes disappear. There are lists of fault codes and what they mean on the sticky thread at the top of this forum.

[ivestfold]

Allright, thanks. I do not have an issue with errors yet, but was thinking potentially.
Andother thought, will it be possible to flash the ECU or even change/ upgrade to a newer version, getting access to a more up to date software?

[Moonlighter]

ECU upgrade - you would need to go to a 2008 ecu to be compatible with the currently available interface version 2.9.4.

I doubt that this will be feasible on a 2004 engine. I suspect there may be too many other changes with sensors, harnesses and the like, but have never investigated this so not sure. You’d need to talk to an experienced Suzuki mechanic who is familiar with those kinds of issues.

[ivestfold]

All right, thanks a lot. Anyway, I will try to set it up as is for the time being.