I bought a cable and an I use a software package on my laptop.
http://www.obd-2.com/ It is not as polished as some of the newer
commercial products, but it works quite well for me. In addition to just
reading codes, it allows you to monitor various parameters on the data bus,
like O2 Sensor voltage, or MAP, Throttle Position, etc.
I have found these to be invaluable in narrowing down issues on our newer
cars. For example if you get a OBD code P0300, you don't get much help
from the service manual. But once you know you have a misfire, you can
start looking at why you might have that. (Air, Fuel, Spark) In my case
it became obvious that the problem was a failed intake air temp sensor
because the software showed it was reading -40 on a warm summer day.
One issue with this software package, it will only work on Windows XP and
earlier. There is a workaround that allows you to run it on Windows 7, but
it is a bit of a hassle. I have received excellent support from this
outfit. I recently had a question about a cable I bought from them more
than 10 years ago and they responded to my email within a few hours.
There are many similar products on the market, but this is the only one I
have used extensively.
On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 8:15 PM, Greg Lemon <glemon@neb.rr.com> wrote:
> Sorry to bomb the list, but thought this topic might be of interest to
> more than just me.
>
> In addition to an old Triumph, my family has several newer cars that are
> new enough to have OBDII diagnostic ports on them, but old enough for me to
> need to work on them from time to time, and I am the family mechanic.
>
> Some of you may be in the same boat, I am thinking of buying my own code
> reader, I know you can get it done at your local parts store for free, but
> often would be more convenient to be able to do this at home.
>
> I notice that you can buy them new anywhere from under $20 on ebay and
> Amazon, to middle of the range looking stuff for maybe $60 to $100+, to
> professional type stuff for $250 or more.
>
> I am tempted to pick up a cheap one, but if the only one's worth having
> are several hundred bucks I will just keep running to Advance Auto to have
> it done.
>
> Anybody had any experience, particularly at the low end?
>
> Thanks, Greg Lemon
>
> ** triumphs@autox.team.net **
>
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