Technical Cheap Scanners Known to Work

[koalar]

I see a few people asking about engine check light

I thread with readers known to work might help others

I see someone has had success with a

C reader 30001

Which also does live data

Fiat diesel garage in the midlands | FIAT Panda (Mk3)

Hi, I've had the engine management light come on a couple of times whilst accelerating hard in 4/5th. Both times I could feel the slight loss of power when the light came on. From what I have read it sounds it is the waste gate getting stuck and 2nd most likely cause is the EGR valve is blocked...

www.fiatforum.com

and in 2022 can be had for around £20

Be careful if you have a iPhone a lot of the cheap Bluetooth dongles will not work with them

 

[koalar]

I have a cheap OBD 2 ELM327 OBD2 Bluetooth adapter

There’s plenty about for around £5 Mine I found in a charity shop for 25p and works fine with free torque lite. In fact it’s permanently plugged in.

Android phone is fine
iPhone does not work

Maybe someone could recommend a seller

 

[rmjbn1]

I bought this for £25 delivered in the UK, has all the adaptor leads and works with MultiECUScan 5.0 by USB connection to my Windows laptop:

Fits Fiat Alfa ELM 327 v1.4 Green Red Yellow cables for use with MULTIECUSCAN | eBay

All four coloured cables + modified ELM cable. Modified ELM 327 cable. Cable Set + Modified ELM. YELLOW adaptor lead diagnostics (Fiat 500 etc). PURPLE adaptor lead.

www.ebay.co.uk

Here's how I set it up to get it working on Win11: Open settings (F9) in MES, check serial port settings, open Device Manager and adjust 'Bits per second' & 'COM Port Number' to match (see screenshots).

I gave up with the first cheap generic Bluetooth ELM 327 I bought as I couldn't get it to connect to MES or any Android apps (Torque Lite & Car Scanner ELM OBD2)

 

[RobCa]

I've just bought a cheap (£5) Bluetooth ELM 327 OBD2 dongle from ebay. There seem to be hundreds of sellers on there selling these. There seem to be two main versions of theses by the photo's. You see lots of these 2 types for sale between £5 and £20 on there. Reading up a bit about the code in these, it seems the version numbers these have doesn't necessarily mean anything. The original code was not protected so it's been easy for anyone out in China to copy the code and make it report whatever version they like!
So as there is no real guarantee with this sort of item, I just went for the cheapest I could find.
I've put Torque Lite on the Android phone and it seems to work a treat. It's easy to add what gauges/readouts you like on the screen. Most do seem to highlight that they don't work on iphones.
I don't intend to leave it connected permanently but will use it on long journeys. The main reason for getting it is so It's easy to connect when I'm out and about, if I have a problem. It's in the glove box if needed. Whereas the other code reader I have stays at home with the laptop which it needs!
I haven't had to test out the fault code side of it yet but at least I have it handy if the light comes on when I'm out.
As Kaolar mentioned on another post, it may be necessary to disconnect the OBD device after clearing codes or they may not clear permanently.

 

[koalar]

Not a scanner but in my opinion an essential tool is the multimeter

Useful around the house as well as on cars.

It’s now winter as I post this. There’s been several thread where a multimeter would have helped diagnose dying batteries

I have several professional ones but stumbled on this one while googling which looks useful

ZT102A

It’s auto ranging/auto selection
nice inverted display
Takes AAA
Measures current
£10-£16 delivered.
Less for ZT102 standard LCD

 

[DaveMcT]

That looks nice. I recently smoked my multimeter when I forgot to check the leads were plugged in correctly. D'Oh!

 

[koalar]

You can probably find cheaper and/or better

I liked the fact you can leave it on auto. Which would make helping someone who hasn’t used a multimeter much easier, No more turn to DC then select the 20V range and do on.

It’s not a £150 meter

But looks to me to be up to automotive duty

The display looks useful if you are working under the dash, But at a sacrificed battery life.

This. Is from a couple of video reviews though

It’s badged under several names there all the same the same factory even makes some of the premium brands

 

[koalar]

This a think is about as cheap as you can go for something that’s reasonably reliable

ZOYI Digital Multimeter ZT109

£6

Will do everything you need

Also badged as Aneng 8008

If your a new user you will get another $2 off

 

[Yolanda]

I've just bought a cheap (£5) Bluetooth ELM 327 OBD2 dongle from ebay. There seem to be hundreds of sellers on there selling these. There seem to be two main versions of theses by the photo's. You see lots of these 2 types for sale between £5 and £20 on there. Reading up a bit about the code in these, it seems the version numbers these have doesn't necessarily mean anything. The original code was not protected so it's been easy for anyone out in China to copy the code and make it report whatever version they like!
So as there is no real guarantee with this sort of item, I just went for the cheapest I could find.
I've put Torque Lite on the Android phone and it seems to work a treat. It's easy to add what gauges/readouts you like on the screen. Most do seem to highlight that they don't work on iphones.
I don't intend to leave it connected permanently but will use it on long journeys. The main reason for getting it is so It's easy to connect when I'm out and about, if I have a problem. It's in the glove box if needed. Whereas the other code reader I have stays at home with the laptop which it needs!
I haven't had to test out the fault code side of it yet but at least I have it handy if the light comes on when I'm out.
As Kaolar mentioned on another post, it may be necessary to disconnect the OBD device after clearing codes or they may not clear permanently.

I've just bought a cheap (£5) Bluetooth ELM 327 OBD2 dongle from ebay. There seem to be hundreds of sellers on there selling these. There seem to be two main versions of theses by the photo's. You see lots of these 2 types for sale between £5 and £20 on there. Reading up a bit about the code in these, it seems the version numbers these have doesn't necessarily mean anything. The original code was not protected so it's been easy for anyone out in China to copy the code and make it report whatever version they like!
So as there is no real guarantee with this sort of item, I just went for the cheapest I could find.
I've put Torque Lite on the Android phone and it seems to work a treat. It's easy to add what gauges/readouts you like on the screen. Most do seem to highlight that they don't work on iphones.
I don't intend to leave it connected permanently but will use it on long journeys. The main reason for getting it is so It's easy to connect when I'm out and about, if I have a problem. It's in the glove box if needed. Whereas the other code reader I have stays at home with the laptop which it needs!
I haven't had to test out the fault code side of it yet but at least I have it handy if the light comes on when I'm out.
As Kaolar mentioned on another post, it may be necessary to disconnect the OBD device after clearing codes or they may not clear permanently.

I have a cheap little code reader that works fine and will turn off the Eml. But to delve more deeply I use OBD facility on my Mercedes scanner.

 

[RFollia]

I got a cheap scanner from aliexpress (Ancel I think it was called) and has worked wonders

 

[koalar]

An osiliscope is not essential

I built the DSO 138 about 10 years ago for under £10, I think at the time it was around £5

Works off a single PP3 battery, limited to 50V,

You can see if there's noise on voltage or ground wires, see if components are being switched

Firmware was a bit glitchy

It's never fixed anything, that a test light or multimeter wouldn't find, but has saved time by eliminating possible noise issues

I have several other mains scopes but get used even less

 

[koalar]

Here's the KKL cable I use to use with MultiEcuScan it's more limited than a ELM327

From memory it connects to the ECU along with the airbag, ECU, EPS and ABS

But does not connect to BSI or dash