Has anyone heard about C.A.N.? It is suppose to be in all cars by 2008. I understand it to be a new way of diagnostics.

 

yeah, my father in law was telling me about it(he is a mechanic among other things) from what i understand it uses multiple computers linked via ethernet control different things. supposed to be easier to pinpoint problems, but who knows. some foreign cars already have it from what he said, but i cant remember who.

 

Ford started using CAN in 2003 on some of the cars.

From the 2005 Ford shop manual........

For the 2005 model year the following vehicles use the CAN protocol for PCM communication with the diagnostic tool:

Crown Victoria, E-Series, Escape, Expedition, Explorer, F-Series, F-Super Duty, Five Hundred, Focus, Freestyle, Grand Marquis, LS, Mariner, Montego, Mountaineer, Mustang, Navigator, Sable, Taurus, Thunderbird, Town Car

High speed CAN is based on SAE J2284, ISO-11898 and is a serial communication language protocol used to transfer messages (signals) between electronic modules or nodes. Two or more signals can be sent over one CAN network circuit allowing 2 or more electronic modules or nodes to communicate with each other. This communication or multiplexing network operates at 500kB/sec (kilobytes per second) and allows the electronic modules to share their information messages.

Included in these messages is diagnostic data that is outputted over the CAN High (+) and CAN Low (-) lines to the data link connector (DLC). PCM connection to the DLC is typically done with a 2-wire, twisted pair cable used for the network interconnection. The diagnostic data such as self-test or PIDs can be accessed with a diagnostic tool.

 

What are the major advantages?

 

I think that the network speed is the major advantage.
More data can be transferred in a shorter time.

 

Some background on the CAN protocol can be found here:

http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod...anTechOvew.pdf