Not often I'll do this, but took a punt on this as my Elm327 was refusing to read the DTC codes from my Mk 3 Mondy

U480 Universal OBD2 CAN BUS Fault Code Reader Scanner diagnostic scan tool UK .

For a tenner, it's great - read and reset the codes perfectly...oh..and I only ordered it yesterday (turned up whilst I was out today)

[Edited on 29/3/14 by stevebubs]

But I completely agree that it is good value and is very helpful.

I picked up one for my audi a6. It is a very basic tool and the manual doesn't include all the codes, but googling the codes works when the booklet doesn't.

The Memoscan U480 has been around for a good few years, the price has steadily come down from £90+. I had one it is a quality item but by modern standards it is very limited in function.
If buying a scanntool look for one that can read the live data stream this will allow you to look at the various sensor readings to see if they make sense which is a very important diagnostic tool. Both Memoscan and Autel make suitable low cost tools that do this.

A real Elm 327 will read a Ford Mondeo but a clone won't because they don't actually use the Elm 327 chip.

[Edited on 29/3/14 by britishtrident]

[Edited on 29/3/14 by britishtrident]

My BT Elm box and Torque appear to give me live data. They only thing it didn't do was recognise the DTC codes.

quote:

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Originally posted by britishtrident
The Memoscan U480 has been around for a good few years, the price has steadily come down from £90+. I had one it is a quality item but by modern standards it is very limited in function.
If buying a scanntool look for one that can read the live data stream this will allow you to look at the various sensor readings to see if they make sense which is a very important diagnostic tool. Both Memoscan and Autel make suitable low cost tools that do this.

[Edited on 29/3/14 by britishtrident]

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quote:

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Originally posted by stevebubs

quote:

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Originally posted by britishtrident
The Memoscan U480 has been around for a good few years, the price has steadily come down from £90+. I had one it is a quality item but by modern standards it is very limited in function.
If buying a scanntool look for one that can read the live data stream this will allow you to look at the various sensor readings to see if they make sense which is a very important diagnostic tool. Both Memoscan and Autel make suitable low cost tools that do this.

[Edited on 29/3/14 by britishtrident]

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Links, please?

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quote:

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Originally posted by matt_gsxr
But I completely agree that it is good value and is very helpful.

I picked up one for my audi a6. It is a very basic tool and the manual doesn't include all the codes, but googling the codes works when the booklet doesn't.

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quote:

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Originally posted by britishtrident

quote:

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Originally posted by stevebubs

quote:

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Originally posted by britishtrident
The Memoscan U480 has been around for a good few years, the price has steadily come down from £90+. I had one it is a quality item but by modern standards it is very limited in function.
If buying a scanntool look for one that can read the live data stream this will allow you to look at the various sensor readings to see if they make sense which is a very important diagnostic tool. Both Memoscan and Autel make suitable low cost tools that do this.

[Edited on 29/3/14 by britishtrident]

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Links, please?

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Just do an eBay search on Autel

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The Launch Creader is only about £22 now and will display live readings. Mine has been very useful recently:

1) MIL illuminated on wife's hyundai coupe. Trouble code suggested oxygen sensor response time, and just by looking at the live data I could see it was very sluggish.

2) Neighbour bought a new MAF sensor for his Vectra, as the old one had put the MIL on and the engine was running very badly. A brand new one from ECP didn't resolve the problem, but looking at the live data stream we could see that both inlet air temperature and mass airflow were set to very high values. With the old sensor fitted, inlet air temp was fine, but MAF was zero (unsurprising) as the element was visible broken). A quick check with the multimeter found that the ground terminal was probably disconnected within MAF sensor electronics, causing very high voltages on the temperature and airflow outputs (around 9 volts). Another (genuine OEM) sensor saw the car running properly.

3) A colleagues Civic Type S had an intermittent MIL, and the local garage charged them £50 to plug their machine in and tell them the oxygen sensor was duff. They cleared the codes, but light was back on within a few days. I read the codes with the C-Reader, and whilst they were related to the oxygen sensor, it was actually the heater circuit that was the cause of the problem, intermittently going open circuit. This turned out to be a wiring/connector problem rather than the sensor itself.

In summary, get a reader that will display live data. For the few pounds extra cost the additional functionality is well worthwhile.

I wouldnt advice on the £910 one in the similar items list at the bottom of the page.

I bought one of these NEW! OBD2 ELM327 V1.5 Bluetooth Car Scanner Android Torque Auto Scan Tool OBD-II and it worked a treat with torque pro on my phone not tried the live data yet but it gave me the fault code i needed and for only £6.65 incl pp bargain!