Any of you guys use an OBD-II before

[ICE17N24]

I was looking on the web and at some retail shops and for $100 or so you can get one of these. I am NO mechanic and do not claim to be. It would be nice to know what is wrong with the truck before you bring it in though.

I recently brought my work truck into the shop. They charged me $45 to turn off the check engine light (It has now went up to $60).

And the problem??? THE FREAKING GAS CAP!!! THAT IS BS!!!! BUT, it was the work truck.

Anyway, have any of you tried these and do they work?? If so can you tell me which one you have and the $$$ amount.

THANKS
ICE

[Squid]

You bet.I have an innova 3100 and it's great.If you would have had one you would have been able to read and clear that code.9 times out of 10 they are stupid (like the gas cap)so it'll pay for itself pretty fast.
Even if your not a Mech you'll at least have the piece of mind to know that the mech's can't blow smoke up your rear.
I've seen them at Wally world.Good investment.

[SUBTITAN]

I bought the Autoenginuitys scan tool. It should be here in a couple days. This one is the PC version, but they have them for the Palm also. The one from Auterra seems pretty good to. It does allot more than read and reset the Mil. The only set back is there anywhere from $200-300. You can find them cheaper on ebay.

[juma]

I gotta actron III for 200 bux on sale. it works great. I wouldn't be without since I have 4 OBD cars in the family. Plus it reads out all kinds of info like timing, oxy sensors, etc. probably got way more capability than I will ever use. juma

[PrerunnerGreg]

I have the actron also. But most auto parts stores around here will either scan your car for free or loan you the tool for a small fee.

[Steve04SE]

Originally Posted by juma

I gotta actron III for 200 bux on sale. it works great. I wouldn't be without since I have 4 OBD cars in the family. Plus it reads out all kinds of info like timing, oxy sensors, etc. probably got way more capability than I will ever use. juma

Where's the best place to buy one and, do you have to buy "mfr.-specific cartidges" for each brand auto?

[Hatchman]

Originally Posted by ICE17N24

I recently brought my work truck into the shop. They charged me $45 to turn off the check engine light (It has now went up to $60).

And the problem??? THE FREAKING GAS CAP!!! THAT IS BS!!!! BUT, it was the work truck.


ICE

Shouldn't that be covered under warranty?

[blueskys]

Originally Posted by ICE17N24

I was looking on the web and at some retail shops and for $100 or so you can get one of these. I am NO mechanic and do not claim to be. It would be nice to know what is wrong with the truck before you bring it in though.

I recently brought my work truck into the shop. They charged me $45 to turn off the check engine light (It has now went up to $60).

And the problem??? THE FREAKING GAS CAP!!! THAT IS BS!!!! BUT, it was the work truck.

Anyway, have any of you tried these and do they work?? If so can you tell me which one you have and the $$$ amount.

THANKS
ICE

Try asking th borrow one from a local auto parts store. I believe Checker will lend you one if they can charge you the purchase price and refund you when you bring it back.
Then you can see for your self if you like it. Some are very complicated to use for the average person and do not report in near english. A firm understanding of the sensor/computer relationship also helps. I recently had my gascap stolen from my Ford Ranger and got a light. It never occurred to me to check such a simple device and a borrowed tester showed a gross emission leak. Problem solved, cost zero!
Have a nice Titan Day!

[juma]

Originally Posted by Steve04SE

Where's the best place to buy one and, do you have to buy "mfr.-specific cartidges" for each brand auto?

pep boys has it on sale a lot. you don't have to buy cartridges. it is set up for all domestic and import. the main diff is that it cannot read 100 percent of your sensors like a factory model but it will do all the most important ones.
juma

[RockyMtnTitan]

Autozone doesn't charge anything to scan your ecu, assuming you can drive the vehicle to them.

Steve

[QWIKWHIP]

Originally Posted by SUBTITAN

I bought the Autoenginuitys scan tool. It should be here in a couple days. This one is the PC version, but they have them for the Palm also. The one from Auterra seems pretty good to. It does allot more than read and reset the Mil. The only set back is there anywhere from $200-300. You can find them cheaper on ebay.

Does this one, or any of these scanners allow you to change settings or just read and reset? I had a PC base program for my Audi A4 that allowed me to change the parameters of the ECU. I could change a lot of different features. One of them was reprograming the fog lights to work with just the parking lights. I wonder if this can be done with the Titan?

[ICE17N24]

Originally Posted by Hatchman

Shouldn't that be covered under warranty?

That was the gas cap on the work truck not my Titan. It's an 2000 Explorer with about 69,000 miles, so there's no warranty.

[ICE17N24]

Originally Posted by blueskys

Try asking th borrow one from a local auto parts store. I believe Checker will lend you one if they can charge you the purchase price and refund you when you bring it back.
Then you can see for your self if you like it. Some are very complicated to use for the average person and do not report in near english. A firm understanding of the sensor/computer relationship also helps. I recently had my gascap stolen from my Ford Ranger and got a light. It never occurred to me to check such a simple device and a borrowed tester showed a gross emission leak. Problem solved, cost zero!
Have a nice Titan Day!

The gas cap with the work truck was one problem. I also had a 96 Ranger with light on. THAT'S what I sold to buy my Titan. But anyway I did go to Autozone and they did the OBD for free. I just would like to get one cause driving into town is sometimes a PITA. I like your idea. Get it and if I don't like it bring it back .

Thanks to all of you for the responses.

ICE

However, I might be on spending restriction. I bought an Air compressor, air tools, a pressure washer, and ANOTHER cordless drill. So Momma might put the squash on buying the OBD, BUT I DOUBT IT!!

[JAOHN]

I thought that I saw a way on this forum to get the OBD-II codes out of the computer without the reader --to know what's the computer is thinking about the issue. I will take a look through the forum and archive for that tomorrow.

Previously, on my dodge dakota, it was just a proper sequence of key on/off sequences to help me decode my issue with a stuck spring covered door just under my gas cap. About a month ago, a lady friend at work had a monte carlo with a Service light, and 5 minutes of effort found the way to unlock the display of the code in question and another minute on google found the cause of that problem. Took me longer to wipe off the lipstick!

I will look for how to get the OBD codes tomorrow, but if either ----(1) you have pulled down the service manual or (2) you google the obd codes-----then you will know what the issue is.

[SUBTITAN]

Originally Posted by QWIKWHIP

Does this one, or any of these scanners allow you to change settings or just read and reset? I had a PC base program for my Audi A4 that allowed me to change the parameters of the ECU. I could change a lot of different features. One of them was reprograming the fog lights to work with just the parking lights. I wonder if this can be done with the Titan?

Just read and reset. It is also good if you do mods such as intake and exhaust mods because you can save the data, do the mod and check it with the saved data. A coulple of these claim to give yo HP/torque measurements and MPG not sure how accurate they are but if they are it will be the best numbers you can get.