OBD II Code Readers

[aldive]

I know this has been discussed befor nut I am interested in the latest thoughts on Code Readers.

What are you guys using? What would you purchase today?

Thanks....

 

[nosaj122081]

Mine is an Actron, $160ish... Piece of cake to use, if I was buying one over, I'd still want the same one.

 

[Scott109]

You can get the "Auto X-ray" brand of scan tool from J.C. Whitney. They have different models that scan only one system (OBD1 for GM or Ford etc. or one that scans just OBD2) or they sell the complete kit with all interface cables for all 82-95 GM,Ford, and Chrysler and all 96+ OBD2 systems. Thats the one I have - it was about $400. The one that scans only OBD2 (for your 99) is about $300. The cool thing about this scanner is that it tells you the code it retrieved and then tells you in plain english what the code means.

Scott

 

[aldive]

Have you actually used this scanner? What are the downsides to it?

Looks like just what I am looking for.

Thanks

 

[Scott109]

Yes, I've used mine a number of times since I've owned it. No downsides that I know of.
Check it out at www.autoxray.com
Click on products, then on scanners. The Pro Pack is the one I have - the OBD2 only scanner is right below it.

Scott

 

[nosaj122081]

Yup, I've used mine, all you do is plug it in, hit a button, and look the code up in the book... Easy as pie. No downsides, it reads codes fine, thats all I got it for.

 

[aldive]

Has anobody used the PC interface with the AutoXray scanner?

 

[Robert]

Yes, it is very limited though. I haven't used mine for so long so I may not remember exactly, but the graph only lets you monitor a track a few parameters from your scanner. Basically, you hook your scanner up to your vehicle and go into the capture mode. It will record about 20 seconds of data before and after your capture point. You then hook it up to your PC to download just the 4 or 5 parameters that you selected to capture. You can't re-size the graph or even do a print-out if I remember correctly. I haven't been on their web-site for a while so maybe they've updated the PC-Link software since I last used it though. The biggest problem is that the scanner doesn't work well in the capture or monitor mode on at least a '97 and '98 Explorer. Any time you do anything that takes extra processing power from your PCM (things such as driving), it will cause the scanner to loose communications. AutoXray is located about a mile from my work so I have been there on numerous occasions for them to use my Explorer for testing. I have been working with the owner of AutoXray and their Software Engineer. Initially it was thought that something might be wrong with my Explorer that was causing it to loose communications so I used my scanner on a co-worker's '98 and it behaved the same way. They swapped my scanner twice, each time with a newer version of software and the problem persists. The last time I was there, they loaded in the Enhanced OBD-II support at no charge which was when I purchased their PC-Link software. The enhanced upgrade at least makes my scanner a lot more useful. The generic OBD-II support doesn't work properly in the Ford mode for oxygen tests. The enhanced mode lets me use the Ford specific tests so I have a lot more tests that I can run now. My only complaint now about the scanner is I can't use the monitor or capture mode when driving down the road.