Cheap OBD readers. Any good ?

[tineca]

Hi. Was thinking of picking one of these up for my tool box.   Anyone got one of the sub £20 ones?   Do they work okay?  Want to check daughters 03 zetec fiesta.    Cheers.  Jed

[Rich]

If you have a Bluetooth laptop the Bluetooth ones on eBay for about a fiver work really well. I use one at work as a quick 'new parts, clear codes' scanner and it's been great.

[cobblers]

I've used a few, they all seem to work fine. Bluetooth ones are handy because you can just use them with your phone, but the USB ones are fine too. I prefer the ones that attach to a PC/Phone but it's much of a muchness, the standalone ones have less to go wrong.

[tineca]

That's great thanks guys. Will pick one up. Cheers. Jed

[ChasR]

Depends IMO.

On my Passat my cheapo didn't work. I was lucky enough for a friend to give me VCDS which TBH without I would have never diagnosed that car with a generic reader (and dare I say it neither would have anyone else unless they had seen the same kind of issue previously), especially when this was proven on a certain forum with some internet experts... I shall admit that was a finicky problem though. On my Alfa 147 it would also not connect, neither to my sister's MkIV Mondeo (all AFAIK OBD-II compatible cars).

Saying that, despite some codes being glitchy on my V6 Mondeo (they come up as N/A; I assume they are Ford specific codes), it was handy for showing that it had a misfire on no.5 cylinder and on a friend's Mondeo ST24 it got us closer to diagnosing why the emissions were miles off (duff wiring). It did not read an airbag error though on the 1.8 (which some can), and that was quite an easy fix once I knew where the problem was.

With that in mind I would say that they are better than nothing (I have easily had my money back from using that code reader). but that if I was buying next time I would be shell out a bit more to buy something more specific, even if it did cost a little more. As I was saying, the Passat of mine was very tricky to diagnose without it, (but also having someone interpret the data well).

On an 03 Zetec I would either go with a cheapo one or FordScan although the latter does need care in operating despite the extra stuff it can read (and the extra cable required).

[smurf]

I have one from amazon,

If its good emough for the recovery and roadside company i worked for, its good enough for me

[rod6e]

I have a £15.00 one. once you have diagnosed one problem, it has paid for itself.

Mine has never had any trouble throwing up engine codes or resetting the light. Even has 'live' readings if you run the engine whilst it is connected.

Dave,

[tineca]

Hi dave can you post a link to teh one you have? many thanks

Jed

[Rich]

Bear in mind the Bluetooth OBD ones will also display live data, support a massive array of OBD protocols and you can use a vast amount of different diagnostic software to use them. You are not tied to one interface, depends what software you settle on. Most of the sellers supply a CD with a massive bundle of free software to use, varying in complexity.

[rod6e]

Sept 2, 2014 11:46:19 GMT tineca said:

Hi dave can you post a link to teh one you have? many thanks

Jed

Hi, 

Cant find the exact one on ebay, but will take a picture of it tonight and let you know the model number. 

Dave,

[joem83]

Are these Andriod ones any good?
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Super-Mini-ELM327-Bluetooth-ODB2-Car-Scanner-Torque-Android-Auto-Scan-Tool-E-/271586746247?pt=UK_Computing_Other_Computing_Networking&hash=item3f3bd4df87

[Rich]

Sept 2, 2014 14:07:13 GMT joem83 said:

Are these Andriod ones any good?
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Super-Mini-ELM327-Bluetooth-ODB2-Car-Scanner-Torque-Android-Auto-Scan-Tool-E-/271586746247?pt=UK_Computing_Other_Computing_Networking&hash=item3f3bd4df87

That's what I have at work. Been faultless.

[tineca]

could i run that with my ipad Rich? don't have a phone!

[Rich]

Sept 2, 2014 19:48:00 GMT tineca said:

could i run that with my ipad Rich? don't have a phone!

For iPads and iPhones you need a wifi reader, not Bluetooth. Windows devices including windows phones have Bluetooth elm327 support but only wifi support exists for apple devices. More spendy but also more useful.

[tineca]

Like this one? www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WiFi-ELM327-OBD2-OBDII-Car-Diagnostic-Interface-Scanner-Tool-For-iPhone-ipad-PC-/251377536747?pt=UK_Diagnostic_Tools_Equipment&hash=item3a8744ceeb

[Rich]

Sept 2, 2014 20:10:00 GMT tineca said:

Like this one? www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WiFi-ELM327-OBD2-OBDII-Car-Diagnostic-Interface-Scanner-Tool-For-iPhone-ipad-PC-/251377536747?pt=UK_Diagnostic_Tools_Equipment&hash=item3a8744ceeb

Yes. They have come down in price. I might treat myself to one of those as well, handy 'keep in your pocket' forecourt bit of kit.

[SmokeEm]

This is all very new to me, so sorry if this is a stupid Q, which one of these do I need to work with my Windows 8 Lumia phone? How do I get the disc onto my phone?

[Rich]

Sept 3, 2014 8:07:38 GMT SmokeEm said:

This is all very new to me, so sorry if this is a stupid Q, which one of these do I need to work with my Windows 8 Lumia phone? How do I get the disc onto my phone?

Either should work with a windows phone. You need to install an app from the App Store in each case appropriate for the interface hardware. They are usually free and plentiful. For a PC you use the bundled software but for mobile devices you need to go to the App Store and find one. It's not hard though, I just looked for 'OBD code reader' and there are loads to choose from. There are also a plethora of other useful apps available including Renault and ford radio code generators, EOBD code database cross-references, you name it.

[SmokeEm]

Thanks Rich. I will try to buy the same one you have since you get on so well with it.

Have just downloaded OBD auto doctor so hopefully it will work with that on my Mrs's Mk1 Focus

[mgbizzle]

I bought a cheapy bluetooth reader and use the torque app on my phone. It shows all the live data and can read fault codes (not sure how well it reads codes), well worth just for a boost gauge. Car I use it on is an 03 Leon Cupra.