This is all about consult for Nissans with an emphasis on consult for the Almera N16 but will still be very useful for other models.
This is also part of a series of threads I've made about the SAT NAV setup in the Almera and it's links to the immobilizer (NATS).
All of this information is what I’ve gathered from a variety of sources across the internet so may be subject to correction in the future, but it wasn’t easy to find this out and I hope others find it useful.
Consult is the name of the code used on the electronics of Nissans. Confusingly it is also the name of the unit that plug into the cars electronics to get information from the coding. There are multiple versions of consult, in order these are consult I, consult II, consult III, consult IV and consult III-plus. Consult I and consult II are handheld units, whereas all other versions are a program for windows.
Consult I and consult II are no longer sold and as such are very difficult to find but even when found they’re sold for hundreds and hundreds of euro. If your car has consult I programming, then the consult II unit will not work on it as its not backwards compatible.
Before I go any further, there is almost no information on consult IV and all I found is that it exists.
Consult III and III-plus are programs designed to run on a Toughbook laptop with windows. These are both backwards compatible with vehicles back as far as 1996 so can be used on consult II coding and I’m 95% sure on consult I. There are versions of both that can be downloaded from the web. However, there are different licences for each of them. The basic license will allow you to read sensor data and error codes but will not allow for ECU reprogramming or any work with the immobiliser (NATS). This can be done on another licences that is more expensive to buy. The final licence type is one that allows all of this on the GT-R. For whatever reason this is kept separate. These licence types are for both consult III and III-plus. These can all be bought still from Nissan but there are plenty of free cracked downloads online. These downloads are normally the basic licence but changing a few bits in the program’s config files gives full access to all features. There are also different version numbers of both consult III and III-plus with more recent versions requiring an internet connection to Nissan to verify the programs legitimacy. If you download one of these it will not be able to work on your laptop as a result so, make sure you get one of the older versions. I believe v75 and back for consult III-plus are okay.
You must be thinking “great! I’ll get that and be able to do everything!”. Well no, the problem is connecting the laptop to the car as consult III and consult III-plus require their own adapters called vehicle interfaces as generic cheap ones will not work. For consult III this is the vehicle interface 1 (VI 1) and for consult III-plus it’s the vehicle interface 2 (VI 2). These are wired connections and there are wireless connections, but these are way more expensive, so I won’t talk about them. These wired VI connectors cost hundreds of euro. There are cheap nock offs online that include the program for windows but be careful of the licence type with them.
A final note on a few things here. The expensive mechanic scan tools (costing thousands) generally come with software that allows them to use the consult coding. For those looking to just check sensor data and error codes I suggest a free OBD app. These give generic information that most users are interested in. For those who want something better but are never going to get consult, then I suggest looking at Nissan Data Scan (NDS) as this software can give better information with regards to sensor data and error codes but also has some other features like the programming of keys into the immobiliser (NATS). I have seen reference to other software but at the time of writing this all the download links are dead and the official websites removed.
I hope this information is useful to others as I at least found it useful and interesting.
This is also part of a series of threads I've made about the SAT NAV setup in the Almera and it's links to the immobilizer (NATS).
All of this information is what I’ve gathered from a variety of sources across the internet so may be subject to correction in the future, but it wasn’t easy to find this out and I hope others find it useful.
Consult is the name of the code used on the electronics of Nissans. Confusingly it is also the name of the unit that plug into the cars electronics to get information from the coding. There are multiple versions of consult, in order these are consult I, consult II, consult III, consult IV and consult III-plus. Consult I and consult II are handheld units, whereas all other versions are a program for windows.
Consult I and consult II are no longer sold and as such are very difficult to find but even when found they’re sold for hundreds and hundreds of euro. If your car has consult I programming, then the consult II unit will not work on it as its not backwards compatible.
Before I go any further, there is almost no information on consult IV and all I found is that it exists.
Consult III and III-plus are programs designed to run on a Toughbook laptop with windows. These are both backwards compatible with vehicles back as far as 1996 so can be used on consult II coding and I’m 95% sure on consult I. There are versions of both that can be downloaded from the web. However, there are different licences for each of them. The basic license will allow you to read sensor data and error codes but will not allow for ECU reprogramming or any work with the immobiliser (NATS). This can be done on another licences that is more expensive to buy. The final licence type is one that allows all of this on the GT-R. For whatever reason this is kept separate. These licence types are for both consult III and III-plus. These can all be bought still from Nissan but there are plenty of free cracked downloads online. These downloads are normally the basic licence but changing a few bits in the program’s config files gives full access to all features. There are also different version numbers of both consult III and III-plus with more recent versions requiring an internet connection to Nissan to verify the programs legitimacy. If you download one of these it will not be able to work on your laptop as a result so, make sure you get one of the older versions. I believe v75 and back for consult III-plus are okay.
You must be thinking “great! I’ll get that and be able to do everything!”. Well no, the problem is connecting the laptop to the car as consult III and consult III-plus require their own adapters called vehicle interfaces as generic cheap ones will not work. For consult III this is the vehicle interface 1 (VI 1) and for consult III-plus it’s the vehicle interface 2 (VI 2). These are wired connections and there are wireless connections, but these are way more expensive, so I won’t talk about them. These wired VI connectors cost hundreds of euro. There are cheap nock offs online that include the program for windows but be careful of the licence type with them.
A final note on a few things here. The expensive mechanic scan tools (costing thousands) generally come with software that allows them to use the consult coding. For those looking to just check sensor data and error codes I suggest a free OBD app. These give generic information that most users are interested in. For those who want something better but are never going to get consult, then I suggest looking at Nissan Data Scan (NDS) as this software can give better information with regards to sensor data and error codes but also has some other features like the programming of keys into the immobiliser (NATS). I have seen reference to other software but at the time of writing this all the download links are dead and the official websites removed.
I hope this information is useful to others as I at least found it useful and interesting.
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