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Car Forum / Subaru Cars / February 2009error code readers
I've been getting way too many "check engine" messages lately. I want to decide ahead of time whether to take it in for servicing. What's suggested for reading the engine codes? Is there something that I can plug into a USB port of my laptop and read it directly into my laptop, or do you have to use a standalone device of some sort? Can anyone suggest any brand names? My car is a 2000 OBW, btw; also if this device can read from GM vehicles, it would be a plus. Yousuf Khan >I've been getting way too many "check engine" messages lately. I want to >decide ahead of time whether to take it in for servicing. What's [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Yousuf Khan Auto Zone and Advanced Auto Parts are 2 chains - there are probably more - that will give you a printout of the codes for free. > I've been getting way too many "check engine" messages lately. I want to > decide ahead of time whether to take it in for servicing. What's [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Yousuf Khan I have the Equus (Innova?) and it is very nice. Got it from Amazon. There have been reports of some cheaper products from ebay and harbor Freight not reading soobs correctly (i think there are 4 protocols under OBDII and some scanners don't support all 4), but any 'name' brand should be able to read OBDII and newer ones may be CAN or CAN-upgradeable. There are adapter cables and software for laptops. I'm sure someone will respond to that or try searching nasioc.com carl > I have the Equus (Innova?) and it is very nice. Got it from Amazon. > There have been reports of some cheaper products from ebay and harbor [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > CAN-upgradeable. There are adapter cables and software for laptops. I'm > sure someone will respond to that or try searching nasioc.com So the two types of error code standards are CAN & OBD? Which ones use which? Especially, Subie and GM? Yousuf Khan >> I have the Equus (Innova?) and it is very nice. Got it from Amazon. >> There have been reports of some cheaper products from ebay and harbor [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Yousuf Khan Though some carmakers got in early, after 96 - ALL were supposed to be OBD II and that means a single reader 'should' work on all cars and error codes had to conform to a standard set. In practice, there could be some cheap readers that may not work with certain cars. They will plug in, but may not display properly. i also think a very few oddball cars still had manufacturer specific codes. If you take your post 96 soob and your post 96 gm to autozone - they will use the same reader on them. CAN is some future protocol - maybe some cars out now are both OBD II and CAN, not sure about CAN. maybe someone else will know. Bottom line, a $15 handheld 'could' have problems reading a specific car. A $90 handheld won't. I have the Equus 3100 but I bet any of these will work on your post '96 cars; http://tinyurl.com/d7jdn9 read-up at www.troublecodes.net or wiki on how stuff works. Carl > > So the two types of error code standards are CAN & OBD? Which ones use > > which? Especially, Subie and GM? [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > some cars out now are both OBD II and CAN, not sure about CAN. maybe > someone else will know. Okay, thanks for filling me in on the names of the various standards, now I've looked them up, and it looks like OBD 2 is standard on all cars after 1996. Meanwhile, CAN is the mandated for all cars after 2008. Apparently, they both use the same connectors, and the only difference between CAN & OBD 2 is the software protocol. > Bottom line, a $15 handheld 'could' have problems reading a specific > car. A $90 handheld won't. > > I have the Equus 3100 but I bet any of these will work on your post '96 > cars;http://tinyurl.com/d7jdn9 Yeah, it's looking like the cheapest and most compatible way to go right now is go with a USB interface for my laptop, a lot of them say they will support CAN out of the box. So there might be some future- proofing there. Yousuf Khan > I've been getting way too many "check engine" messages lately. I want to > decide ahead of time whether to take it in for servicing. What's [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Yousuf Khan Hi, If you have a laptop, you can get serial port or USB interface box to go with quite a few shareware program. It'll read, reset the code s well as give info. like fuel/air mixture, water temp, accelration rate if you drive while it is hooked up, trouble-shooting hints, etc. > Hi, > If you have a laptop, you can get serial port or USB interface box > to go with quite a few shareware program. It'll read, reset the code > s well as give info. like fuel/air mixture, water temp, accelration rate > if you drive while it is hooked up, trouble-shooting hints, etc. Yeah, it's looking like I'm going to be going that way. I've set some watches on Ebay for these sorts of products now. They come with a CD with software on it already. Are you saying I should not bother with the default software? Yousuf Khan >> Hi, >> If you have a laptop, you can get serial port or USB interface box [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Yousuf Khan Hi, If you hapve a laptop, that way you can have more useful info when trouble-shooting. I use shareware(no cost) and it works very well. All vehicles in my family is Japanese make which has ISO OBD II connector and CAN. |
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