Car ODB2 scanner

[malvolio]

A new one is the best part of 2 grand, and that's without fitting. Reconditioned ones are around £200.

OK, I've seen £300-£1000 quoted, depending on what's wrong. but if a key component has failed on something worth less that £1800 or so, I'd be changing it for something less likely to kill me. But that's my opinion, yours may rightly well be totally different since you know the car in question.

Also depends on what's failed, as well of course. You can't easily repair the physical bits, but controllers and actuators can be replaced; in which case you still have an old key component on the car...

[DoctorStrangelove]

Odd innit? Used to be the rust that scrapped cars, now it's the £1000 electronic black box.

Several of mine (and there's another one waiting) have met the scrappy due to that.

Especially since I can't be arsed to DIY it any more.

[DealorNoDeal]

OK, I've seen £300-£1000 quoted, depending on what's wrong. but if a key component has failed on something worth less that £1800 or so, I'd be changing it for something less likely to kill me. But that's my opinion, yours may rightly well be totally different since you know the car in question.

Also depends on what's failed, as well of course. You can't easily repair the physical bits, but controllers and actuators can be replaced; in which case you still have an old key component on the car...

It's all relative.

I only do about 1000 miles a year. On the other hand, I'm a smoker.

[DealorNoDeal]

Odd innit? Used to be the rust that scrapped cars, now it's the £1000 electronic black box.

And, watching Wheeler Dealers, invariably it's something trivial, like soldered joints gone bad, which kills the electronic black box. That's certainly the case with the ABS pump in my car; refurbishment typically just involves a bit of re-soldering in the control unit.

[DoctorStrangelove]

^^^ Just as well the Wheeler Dealers outsource the soldering coz the incumbents can't solder a couple of bits of wire together for toffee.

It regularly makes me cringe.

Loved the way the tv repair chap replaced the matrix display on that Audi dash. He knew what he was doing.

[Zigenare]

^^^ Just as well the Wheeler Dealers outsource the soldering coz the incumbents can't solder a couple of bits of wire together for toffee.

It regularly makes me cringe.

Loved the way the tv repair chap replaced the matrix display on that Audi dash. He knew what he was doing.

I served my apprenticeship at Ferranti back in the day - needless to say my eyes are FUBAR but wires and through-hole components I can still solder aplomb - mostly "Sans Plomb" though these days <-- little "electronics" joke for the uninitiated.

[velcro]

I've got a couple of OBD scanners, neither of which cost more than twenty pounds.
One is Bluetooth and sends data to the phone and gives all sorts of live data such as engine temp, throttle position, etc in addition to fault codes although it won't clear the faults. The other one is a handheld and allows you to clear the code.
I bought them as the other half's car was having an intermittent problem with the ignition. The most useful thing I found was when going to look at second hand cars you can plug them in while on a test drive to check for problems.

[Snooky]

watching Wheeler Dealers

I love Wheeler Dealers - but only ones with Edd China. Used to be my post-pub viewing on a Wed night, but I think they've moved it now

[DoctorStrangelove]

Edd China left in series 13, replaced by Ant, and now by Elvis.

Wheeler Dealers is on Quest every weekday at 18:00, and on Saturday morning from 09:00 until 14:00.

[DealorNoDeal]

Edd China left in series 13, replaced by Ant, and now by Elvis.

I liked Edd the best. Ant was ok but I prefer Elvis.

For me, the problem with the later episodes isn't the mechanic. It's Brewer getting more and more full of himself. His ego has expanded like his waistline.