Scan Tool please

January 11, 2010 10:31 AM

I want to buy a car engine scanner thingy. To read check engine lights and problem codes. OBD-II and CAN, etc. I've done a little research - enough to get myself confused. I think I want a handheld device (rather than cable and software on a laptop). Any wise words on this subject. Recommendations for brands/models?

Budget is up to $150. I'm in USA. I have several cars I'd want to use it for - all normal US brought, new enough. But I also want something I can plug into a medium sized truck - diesel. Specifically a International/Navistar medium-duty diesel. The connector is different, but is it just a different cable I'd need or what? I never see diesel engines mentioned on the scanner's websites.



Thanks

posted by Xhris to Travel & Transportation (6 answers total)

Would the Scan Gauge do the trick?
While predominantly used for measuring MPG, it looks like it also does a hell of a lot more with 12 additional gauges.
Might be worth looking through the ecomodder forums.
posted by willmize at 10:34 AM on January 11, 2010

Is the Navistar connector one of the ones on this page? (Probably one of the Deutsch ones.)

As far as protocols, OBDII is J1979. Diesel trucks are generally J1708 or J1939, depending on how old they are. So, not just a different plug.
posted by smackfu at 10:47 AM on January 11, 2010

Take a look at a carchip (Davis Instruments 8226B CarChip Pro (New Model)). It's around $80 on amazon and works really well. It plugs into the port, can read/reset codes as well as record several engine parameters on a second by second basis while the car runs. It does need a computer (USB) to set the functions and read the data, but the extra data (and cheap cost) compared to the hand held units makes it worth it...

I used it to diagnose a service engine soon light about a year ago - the ability to watch some of the engine parameters while running (fuel lean/rich, etc) was very useful.

As an added benefit, it will record mileage, average speed, hard brakes, etc. It was fun to just let it in the car for a couple of weeks and take a look at the profile of our average trip...
posted by NoDef at 10:57 AM on January 11, 2010

Response by poster: @smackfu - not that connector. It's round and has 10ish connector holes but only 6 of them have metal connectors actually in the holes.

AND ps - I'm amazed, Google already has this page and answers indexed (at 11 minutes old). MeFi must be on their shortlist!!

Do some of the fancier (but still consumer grade/in-budget) scanners include the diesel protocols?

Thanks
posted by Xhris at 10:57 AM on January 11, 2010

My local Costco sells a code reader ($60?); you may want to check out yours if you have a membership.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 4:37 PM on January 11, 2010

So, I'm going to go ahead and ignore your two criteria of $150 or less and a handheld device. I suspect that you'll be unhappy with what's available in that range. For $250, you can buy the basic, generic OBDII software from AutoEnginuity. Not only is the interface better, but you can expand on it if you find that you're getting really into diagnosing cars. The live data graphs are better than a handheld and the translated Mode $06 data is an extremely powerful and useful feature that's hard to come by.

Mode $06 is an often overlooked feature of Generic/Global OBDII. Since it's normally available only as some hexadecimal gibberish that requires decoding, even many professional techs overlook it. However, when decoded, it's very useful. It is the results of every component test, the minimum value, and the maximum value as recoded by the PCM as it runs the readiness monitors. AutoEnginuity translates those tests from hexadecimal to normal English, highlights the failures and highlights the marginal or near failures.

Just spring the extra hundred bucks and get something worthwhile. It's so much better for not that much more money. If you're a real enthusiast, cheap handheld scanners will always leave you wanting more.
posted by Jon-o at 6:21 PM on January 11, 2010 [1 favorite]