What's a good scanner?

Anonymous-0 · Sep 21, 2012

I am wanting to possibly buy a scanner for working on my vehicles. Not a code reader but a scanner to help catch problems before they come up.

What is a good one to get and how much can I expect to pay? I am needing this for myself, not to make a living with so cost WILL be an issue.

THanks

glennster · Sep 21, 2012

gonna depend on your budget and what you will need to do. mac tools has the taskmaster for about 1300.00 its a good unit and will do quite a bit. i have a snap on modus, has domestic, asian, european, light,medium and heavy duty truck scanning software. look at what the software upgrades cost and what you will need. my software runs about 1200 dollars a year to keep current. after the initial hit for the scanner itself, the darn software is an on going expense.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 21, 2012

That's why I ask. Had no idea they were that expensive and needing to be updated all of the time. If they are that expensive, I can justify taking into the dealership and have them do it. We only have 2 cars and I hate taking them in to a dealership. Hard enough to afford the repair let alone the labor costs.

Thank you

glennster · Sep 21, 2012

brett, see if you have a local repair shop that has a scanner, they can do the scanning and re-setting for you probably a lot cheaper that a dealership. many of the replacement ecm's, brainboxes, air bag srs control modules ect from the dealer are vin specific to a vehicle, and you have to have the dealer flash the new ones to make them operational. even with the expense i have in my scanner, i still on occasion need to take a vehicle to the dealer to reset some things.

KEB1 · Sep 21, 2012

Check out Autoenginuity, much cheaper than a professional scanner and you can pick and choose what you need.

Rick Kr · Sep 21, 2012

Just a code reader...
Guy at work set up his smartphone for $20 as a code reader. Plug the adaptor into the vehicle, blue to his phone. We just started playing with it the other day. Doubt it has a lot if any diagnostics to go along with it. Will update if we learn any more. But for $20 its a good code reader from what we've messed with it so far.

Rick

oldtanker · Sep 21, 2012

(quoted from post at 14:10:04 09/21/12) I am wanting to possibly buy a scanner for working on my vehicles. Not a code reader but a scanner to help catch problems before they come up.

What is a good one to get and how much can I expect to pay? I am needing this for myself, not to make a living with so cost WILL be an issue.

THanks

In most cases you are not going to find anything until you get a check engine light.

Around here I can get several local shops to scan mine for about 30 bucks. They tell me what's wrong and I go get the part and install it myself.

Rick

wilson ind · Sep 21, 2012

what is the blue part??????????????

Anonymous-0 · Sep 21, 2012

Guess I should call around and see what they do charge for that. Just was thinking if every once in a while I did a scan, it would tell me if an O2 sensor or something might be bad and then I could change it.

Thanks

Anonymous-0 · Sep 21, 2012

Thanks, good to know. Maybe I wont even mess with one then. Just thought it might be handy to help keep an eye on things before they go bad.

Thank you very much for the input.

DaveK(IN) · Sep 21, 2012

Around here, Autozone does it for free and then takes the code inside and they print out the results and what is needed to fix them.
They will also be glad to sell you the parts but there is no obligation.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 21, 2012

Only if there is a check engine light? I guess there is a difference in a code reader which only works if there is a light on and a scanner.

THank good to know.

Bryan inIowa · Sep 21, 2012

snappy just updated my modis wed,ouch, what do you do ? bite the bullet and pay . How do you like the heavy truck software? Haven't tried it ,but heard lot of bad reviews. Bought a Tech II last year. Use it for GM and Isuzu NPR's. Love it .

glennster · Sep 21, 2012

i added the heavy truck software for our wrecker and flatbed internationals. its different than the regular auto software, but its not bad once you get use to it. it is amazing what that machine can do. we havent used prolly more than 20% of its capabilities.

glennster · Sep 21, 2012

big difference between a reader and scanner. reader will generally only read a malfunction code. scanner will not only do that, but you will be able to reset engine codes, air bags, abs systems ect. you can do live tests with the engine running and read what all the vehicle sensors are doing. even go in and activate the body control module for vehicle functions like heater, power windows and such.

MeAnthony · Sep 22, 2012

I'm in the same position as you and have almost convinced myself to try one of these. Someone on here mentioned it quite a while ago. Maybe if anyone is currently using one they will chime in.

Only $130, says you can read live data, test O2 sensors, reset check engine light, etc.

Hope this helps,

Anthony
OBD II software for your laptop

Anonymous-0 · Sep 22, 2012

Problem for me is, I don't have a laptop......

Maybe look into a getting one, not sure though.

wsmm · Sep 22, 2012

I just bought an OTC9450 from ebay for just under $100.00 with free shipping. From all the reviews I've read it seems to be a good unit. It will do OBD II code reading and will reset codes. It will also read and reset ABS and SRS (air bag) codes for select vehicles. It seems to be a good unit and reasonably priced.

What's a good scanner?

Anonymous-0

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