Hello all
Over the years i have had various car where the management light has come on
Can anybody reccommend me a reasonabley priced fault code reader please
Thanks
Mick
I use one of the cheap Bluetooth OBD readers from eBay and the "Torque" app for Android. Works a treat on all the cars I've tried so
far including Ford, Vauxhall, Toyota, BMW etc. Allows you to read the error codes, reset the MIL light as well as look at all of the data coming from
the car. Very useful tool and cheap enough to have a couple of them.
### eBay link ###
HTH
Ed.
I've got one of those too. Surprisingly good and always seems to work a treat. I'm in iPhone / iPad and used to use EODB but wasn't a genre at app and then discovered ODBCarDoctor and it's very good. It doesn't seem to be in the App Store but I googled it and Google brings it up and then goes into the App Store. Does live readings too!
Hi guys
thanks for the info, i was looking at the KW808 on Ebay, sorry i dont know how to add a link on here.
Your thoughts?
I had a handheld one, is no way as good as the bluetooth one, reason being the bluetooth ones use constantly updated software on ur phone/tablet. The cheap all in one units are out of date when u buy them and more expensive.
(1) The cheap bluetooth units on Ebay are very hit or miss -- the quality is generally poor and it is a bit of a lottery if it will connect or not.
They have known connection problems to some cars particularly many Ford models. But when they do work they give a lot of bang for your buck.
(2) Of the Android apps the only two that are any good Torque Pro and Car Doctor Pro both have their strengths and weaknesses. Torque is good for I/M
Readiness checks and Car Doctor Pro has what they call Combined Widgets which give particularly good graphing very good for comparing output from
upstream and downstream Lambda sensors. Car Doctor Pro seems to connect to the dongle much easier than Torque.
(3) These units and apps will only allow access to basic OBD2 pids if you want to read manufacturers codes and ABS, SRS you need either a
medium price handheld unit or much more expensive dongle.
When buying a handheld unit it is pretty essential to get one that reads live data, will do graphing and do I/M readiness checks, I/M checks are
emission self-testing by own ECU used in the USA for emissions testing. A car that passes I/M Readiness checks will 999 times out of 1000 pass UK
MOT Emissions tests.
Autel, Launch, iCarsoft, Foxwell and Memoscan all make handheld units that work, The Autel AL419 is a good basic unit but it won't read SRS or
ABS if you want that you will need to spend £120 for an AL619. Launch have broadly equivalent range.
Some manufacturers are better catered for than others but reasonable cost handheld units are available dedicated to specific manufacturers that give
much higher levels of access than the general purpose units.
[Edited on 9/11/15 by britishtrident]
I just bought one for my BMW - if you have a iPhone thought, beware Bluetooth readers don't work, you,will need a wifi one. I got the ELM327 wi if plug in for £8.95 and free delivery. For now I used icarly lite, which allowed me to email the diagnostic message and get a decode (within an hour) but I think the full version which allows you to read the codes and reset lights was £33.
quote:
Originally posted by JC
I just bought one for my BMW - if you have a iPhone thought, beware Bluetooth readers don't work, you,will need a wifi one. I got the ELM327 wi if plug in for £8.95 and free delivery. For now I used icarly lite, which allowed me to email the diagnostic message and get a decode (within an hour) but I think the full version which allows you to read the codes and reset lights was £33.
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
quote:
Originally posted by JC
I just bought one for my BMW - if you have a iPhone thought, beware Bluetooth readers don't work, you,will need a wifi one. I got the ELM327 wi if plug in for £8.95 and free delivery. For now I used icarly lite, which allowed me to email the diagnostic message and get a decode (within an hour) but I think the full version which allows you to read the codes and reset lights was £33.
You should consider a handheld with native BMW functions they can be found from £40-£50 do loads of functions generic OBDII won't do not just ABS EWS & SRS but loads of things controlled by ECU like central locking, NAV, ICE, Seats
The 'pro' version of iCarly does do all of those things - I only had 1 thing to diagnose (rear wheel speed sensor) so the lite version was fine for not. It used to be called BMWhat but had to be renamed!
quote:
Originally posted by JC
The 'pro' version of iCarly does do all of those things - I only had 1 thing to diagnose (rear wheel speed sensor) so the lite version was fine for not. It used to be called BMWhat but had to be renamed!
quote:
Originally posted by ettore bugatti
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
quote:
Originally posted by JC
I just bought one for my BMW - if you have a iPhone thought, beware Bluetooth readers don't work, you,will need a wifi one. I got the ELM327 wi if plug in for £8.95 and free delivery. For now I used icarly lite, which allowed me to email the diagnostic message and get a decode (within an hour) but I think the full version which allows you to read the codes and reset lights was £33.
You should consider a handheld with native BMW functions they can be found from £40-£50 do loads of functions generic OBDII won't do not just ABS EWS & SRS but loads of things controlled by ECU like central locking, NAV, ICE, Seats
Thanks for the tip, are you thinking of the C110 unit?
ICarly? Isn't that some cr*p american Disney show?
I have an incarsoft reader, which wasn't cheap at all but it is fab and is a propper dealer spec tool. Lets you do anything and tells you in plain english what's up with the car rather than looking up codes. Paid for itself in no time with my volvo getting rid of all the scary error messages that were infact easy to fix.
quote:
Originally posted by DW100
ICarly? Isn't that some cr*p american Disney show?