The little amber light is on in my car and I just can’t stomach the idea of paying a mechanic $75 to plug in a cable to find out what’s wrong. So I poked around on the Internet and to my delight found several OBD-II scan tools priced for the “shade-tree mechanic” market. What I’d really like is one that logs data in addition to reading the fault code. A bonus would be one that reads Honda-specific data. I couldn’t find any tools that are made specifically for Hondas (maybe Hondas don’t output anything other than the generic data, I don’t know.) I’d like to keep it under $300.
Does anyone have one of these things, and what has your experience been?
Sure I got several, they run between $9,000-20,000 each. how many would you like?
So let me see if I have this right. Paying a pro $75. for a diagnosis chaps your hide, but paying $200 for a tool that will give you the code, but won’t fix your car is OK.
I don’t get it.
If you want to cheap out, trying turning off the key for several minutes, and the disconnect the battery neg lead for a minute or two. If and only if the code was intermittant this may clear the ECU memory. If the light reapears, I suggest that you consider taking it to someone that has the tools, and experience to fix your car. Yes it will cost a few bucks, but what doesn’t these days?
On Chryslers, you can turn the key from off to on (not start) three times within 5 seconds and the dashboard blinks a specific pattern that can be easily decoded.
I don’t know if Honda’s have a similar feature but it’s worth looking into.
Already tried the disconnect-battery trick; light went out for a couple of months but is now back on.
I only have to use the tool 2.67 times to recoup my investment. After that it’s all gravy. Also, I used to design Hondas for a living, so I think I can manage the repairs. I just need a way to read the codes.
It’s a serial/USB interface for a laptop, and corresponding software that allows you to read the codes from any car, and clear them too.
The single coolest thing is that you can connect it, create a virtual dashboard of whatever codes the car has, and drive around and watch them change.
For example, you can pick things like “intake manifold temperature”, “air mass entering engine” and “O2 sensor voltage”, and watch the values change as you drive around.
An honest question: What do these things do that the $200 models don’t?
Since people do in fact buy them, I’m accepting as a given that they must have some serious functionality that the cheap ones lack. However, I seem to lack the imagination to guess what it might be. :smack:
I don’t have one, but I fantasize daily about having a scangauge. www.scangauge.com
The awesome part is it will pull the codes and give you a real-time display on 4 data points at once.
