Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Fault Code Diagnostic Reader/Scanner tools

Wife's car has developed an ABS fault, No 2 son's diesel has a DPF problem and now No 5 son's has an occasional engine management light and misfire problem.

Thought about buying a diagnostic reader. There appear to be ones with a small device to read from, ones to connect to a laptop and even Bluetooth ones.

Some of them seem cheap enough, but does anyone have any experience of whether they work OK?

Would appreciate any advice before I spend!

Thanks

Malcolm T

Hello Malcol,
I bought two cables from Ebay for a few euros. The problem are not the cables but the software. Often it is a pure "reading" software. A lot of these prgrams cannot change settings (eg. service intervalls or oil change). The software delivered with these cables is often not the best on the market.
This software can read the error codes but you have to find out what error code "xxxyyyzzz" means what could be not so easy. Sometimes google will help.
The other thing is that with newer CAN-Bus systems (e.g. VW) not all cable will work proberly.

Keep mogging,

Christian

Yes I have one.... But they rarely work on UK cars.

My understanding is that US cars have to be OBD II compliant (on board diagnostic) so if you're in the US, you can plug in a portable reader and tell what the fault is and, if necessary, clear the code. Or take it to the dealer telling them that an oxygen sensor has failed (or whatever).

However UK cars generally need some kind of specific software between the reader and the car. I had a US imported car, so it worked fine - but I've yet to plug mine into a UK car and see it work.

I bought a hand held one a couple of years ago for around ..£60
Works like a dream for checking and resetting ecu on my roadster

Regards

John

Where do you live Malcolm? If you're within reach of Surrey or London, you'd be welcome to borrow mine and test it out. I haven't tried mine out on my Roadster, but know it doesn't normally work on UK cars.

I bought one off Ebay and it works absolutely fine on a 2009 Roadster. The occasional management light problem can easily be identified and reset if necessary

Neil

I'm not sure all of Malcolm's cars are Morgans.... I can quite believe that an OBD scanner will work on a Morgan - I have my doubts if you plug it into a Ford Fiesta.

Thanks very much for the replies.

Neither of my Morgans require a scanner and I've been able to keep away from modern electronics in the past, but it was a realisation that as any car up to 10 years old (ie including the kids cars) is likely to have the type of on board electronics that require a plug in diagnostic reader that I thought about acquiring one.

Friend of No 2 son came tonight with a professional reader and reset the DPF settings on his Volvo (I'd fitted a new DPF at the weekend), however he was unable to get a reading for the ABS fault on my wife's car and has offered to come back at the weekend with a different reader.

Neilda, thanks for the offer but I'm in Staffordshire

Nevertheless for £20 or so I think that I'll take a chance on an ebay purchase and will post the result.

Thanks again for the replies.

Malcolm

I bought A DRAPER code reader off ebay for use on my Ford CVH Efi - 1.6
They were few and far between due to age of the engine. I still have it but it won't fit the car now - different engine.