I had a few anxious moments recently where the engine light came on and the car told me to stop driving. The problem seems to have sorted itself now, I think it was a low fuel issue. I've driven several hundred miles since then and no bothers at all. I somehow feel that an OBD2 gizmo would help me to know what has gone wrong if it were to happen again. So, I'm after a suggestion for a suitable reader for my not very clear needs. I'm a reticent car mechanic but will take on most tasks.
All Cheapish ones are the same and will get the basic code off your car. Buy whatever is rated on Amazon for £10. You might also be able to get an odb to usb lead for your car and software on your laptop to probe ECUs beyond the main one for more in depth info
See if you can find what other owners recommend, there can be a lot of difference between readers when it comes to different cars.
Depends on car brand and what you want to do.
Ford has- fordscan
Vag- vcds
I had a fiat specific one when i had and Alfa to deal with forced dpf regens.
I currently used obd11 which has an app on your phone to reset codes etc. I bought as had to reset a code after chnging the battery and reset the e brake when changing pads on the golf. I wouldnt recomend, its slow to connect and a bit temprimental.
I’ve just bought the new version from ODBEleven. There’s a subscription offer this week with two years Pro for the price of one. Pro lets you do coding.
I did have a cheapo reader, but I can’t make it connect anymore.
yes basically needed imo with modern cars. However what you buy basically depends on the car. Ive got torque, odbeleven and bimmerlink at the moment and they all need different adapters to work effectively.
I can't say what's best for your car but I can share my mistakes.
As already said a lot depends on your make/model as to the functionality and then you need the software side.
The software can escalate as cheap stuff tends to only cover part of what you might want/need and you can end up with multiple apps.
You might not realise it yet but ability to write/clear codes is also often important.
Also you might want to consider when and how you use it and what else it may need to coexist with. For example if you want to monitor something whilst driving AND using phone as a live satnav AND a reversing camera.
So you can't (easily) connect the phone to a WiFi ODBD dongle whilst using the sat nav... (e.g. by default the phone will try and use the dongle as a hotspot once its set up... )
Obviously I failed to take all this into consideration... so I'm not recommending whatever I got...
My advice is go on a forum for your make of car and see what others are using and what limitations they have.
I just got a really cheap one off ebay, so far it's worked on a couple of Fords and a Citroen. Citroen it was fine with, the Ford it didn't see any fault codes despite it running on (at best, the big coil-pack/distributor brick had died) 3 cylinders, but then there wasn't an EML either so maybe the car, maybe the reader.
I used a icarsoft units which were specific to the car I owned at the time. It read the errors but didnt give many options to turn off lights. I now have a topdon 600 which contains a large database of cars and provides some engine management light options and did the trick last time. It also worked as a reader on a motorbike which was a pleasant surprise.
I dont see myself getting another reader for the moment
Odb2 offers a basic standard and there are loads of codes that manufactures have to publish. Any cheap dongle will work for this. This is useful to have always for all cars. Tenner or so.
Beyond that you need something manufacturers specific. This usually requires slightly different hardware as well as software. Google owners forms for recommendations. There will be the 1. official software,2. some third party version 3. a knock-off of some kind. The newer the car the more likely you will need 1.
It’s worth spending a bit more than the absolute bottom of the range kit or 5.99 phone apps.
The OBD2 protocol is a standard but only strictly covers engine operations and emissions related equipment. It’s the way that vehicle inspections are carried out in the US - all your emissions related equipment must be fault free thus confirming the vehicle is not pumping out more nasty stuff than it was designed to.
Your cars got a lot more capability than this - but it’s not in the OBD2 standard.
If you get a more capable bit of kit you can also look into things like ABS and SRS modules, body control stuff modules etc - none of which is under the basic OBD2 protocol.
I have a circa £80 reader that does OBD2 PLUS ABS systems, SRS, body systems etc with a big list of supported manufacturers.
I've got a Bluetooth OBD2 dongle I use with Andriod app Torque (Lite) which is good enough to read and reset fault codes. Modern cars are required to support OBD2 standards but this is only at a high level, for more detail most manufactures have specific readers. I've also got an icarsoft unit specifically for a Mercedes, and can read / write many of the many modules on the car (each module like ABS being a computer in it's own right) and even then I had to go to a dealer to get them to re-calibrate ECU a new sensor with their STAR system. You can buy STAR but about a grand second hand, so you'd really have to be committed to DIY or be an independent garage to bother.
Cheers folks. The car is a 14 plate Berlingo- something to read and clear the recent engine fault would be nice. Even better if it would work on Mrs A's Ford too.
