OBDII Readers

Author
Discussion

Yazza54

Original Poster:

18,464 posts

180 months

Sunday 21st January 2018
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Hi all, thinking it’s about time I invested in a OBDII reader / scanner. I’ve used the cheap ones before to read and clear faults, looking online there’s various different ones for basic DIY diagnostics from anywhere between £20 and, well, as much as you want to spend!!

All I really need from the tool is to know what the problem is and be able to clear it, so I’m pretty sure I don’t need anything too fancy. It’ll get plenty of use, the car I’m doing for myself at the moment is a Freelander 2 with some accident damage so need to be able to read and clear airbag faults. Assuming any OBDII reader can do that.

Don’t suppose anyone has any recommendations? I don’t mind spending 100 odd quid on a half decent one as long as it doesn’t do exactly the same job as the 20 quid ones!

Autel AL619 looks a good bet, around 80 quid on eBay

https://www.garagetooladvisor.com/auto/best-obd2-s...



Edited by Yazza54 on Sunday 21st January 09:24

GreenV8S

30,150 posts

283 months

Sunday 21st January 2018
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A budget bluetooth OBD2 reader and smart phone app works for me for occasional use.

curlyks2

1,028 posts

145 months

Sunday 21st January 2018
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I have one of these and it's always worked. It's been plugged ad-hoc into several cars and always delivered the goods, and been great as a semi-permanent feature in my daily drive. It's not the cheapest out there, but hasn't failed on me yet.

Yazza54

Original Poster:

18,464 posts

180 months

Sunday 21st January 2018
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Done some reading today and whilst it seems there is a plethora of cheap options for general OBD2 scanners most of them don’t do the additional functions that I want such as SRS, ABS etc. The Autel ones state they do SRS but when going on the vehicle data list they only cover the Freelander 1 so glad I didn’t jump the gun and buy one of them.

Quite a few people seem to rate the launchtech CRP129 which can be had for around £200. This does SRS, transmission, ABS, steering angle, service resets etc. There are cheaper bits of kit that will do my Freelander 2 but they only work on Land Rover and Jaguar vehicles so seems pointless as this is as much of a investment for future tinkering as it is for sorting my immediate jobs out. Think I’ll probably be going with the CRP129.

Edited by Yazza54 on Sunday 21st January 19:36

Yazza54

Original Poster:

18,464 posts

180 months

Sunday 21st January 2018
quotequote all
May have been wrong actually as the Autel lists RCM which is restraints control module which I believe is the later version of SRS. Think I need to speak to someone in the know rofl

DannySimmons

2 posts

78 months

Monday 22nd January 2018
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The amount of functionality is determined upon your budget. Autel seems to do a range of OBD2 Scanners as shown here: https://procarreviews.com/best-diagnostic-tools-ob...

If you are just wanting to remove simple errors, sure your suggestion is ideal. Personally, the BlueDriver is the better buy and the smartphone compatibility is worth paying the slight extra for.

Garybee

452 posts

165 months

Monday 22nd January 2018
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I have the Launch CRP123 (the model below the one you're looking at). It's a really handy bit of kit that does most of the ECUs including SRS/ABS/body control etc. What it doesn't do is parking brake reset,DPF functions and service reset (last one a bit of a non function as can usually be done from the instrument cluster/stalks). Those aren't an issue on my cars but if you need them would obviously be worth the extra (CRP123 cost me about £90).

Yazza54

Original Poster:

18,464 posts

180 months

Tuesday 23rd January 2018
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Got a CRP129 on the way, let you know how I get on!

Yazza54

Original Poster:

18,464 posts

180 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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Just thought I’d update this, got the Launch CRP129 and would definitely recommend it. I got it off a authorised eBay seller and have registered it on the website confirmed all genuine etc. They tend to be around £190 on eBay but the seller had a best offer so I threw in a cheeky £160 bid and they accepted - it’s worth every penny.

So far I’ve repaired and cleared all airbag faults on a Land Rover that I bought damaged to repair, also diagnosed/fixed a few errors on the mrs car and my mums BMW which had a airbag light on due to a loose connector. For me it’s pretty much already paid for itself.

I did have one slightly odd occurance with the Land Rover where it was struggling to connect to the airbag ECU when going through the Land Rover menu but I managed to get it sorted going through the Jaguar selection instead with them sharing many parts. Think it was just because my car was the very last of the line and had a different airbag ECU, so just a case of knowing how to manipulate the machine.

It also does steering angle reset etc and some other bits that many DIY ODB tools don’t have.

The main thing for me was I was concerned about spending the money and finding that it didn’t do what I needed it to, so if you’re in the same boat I can totally recommend one. Just miffed I didn’t get one sooner!

teabagger

723 posts

196 months

Thursday 1st March 2018
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Yazza54 said:
Just thought I’d update this, got the Launch CRP129 and would definitely recommend it. I got it off a authorised eBay seller and have registered it on the website confirmed all genuine etc. They tend to be around £190 on eBay but the seller had a best offer so I threw in a cheeky £160 bid and they accepted - it’s worth every penny.

So far I’ve repaired and cleared all airbag faults on a Land Rover that I bought damaged to repair, also diagnosed/fixed a few errors on the mrs car and my mums BMW which had a airbag light on due to a loose connector. For me it’s pretty much already paid for itself.

I did have one slightly odd occurance with the Land Rover where it was struggling to connect to the airbag ECU when going through the Land Rover menu but I managed to get it sorted going through the Jaguar selection instead with them sharing many parts. Think it was just because my car was the very last of the line and had a different airbag ECU, so just a case of knowing how to manipulate the machine.

It also does steering angle reset etc and some other bits that many DIY ODB tools don’t have.

The main thing for me was I was concerned about spending the money and finding that it didn’t do what I needed it to, so if you’re in the same boat I can totally recommend one. Just miffed I didn’t get one sooner!
Good to hear the positive report.
I am in the market for a new fault reader and had looked at the icarsoft 902 for vauxhall. Your suggestion of the crp129 is more expensive but it seems to be compatibly with a range of cars which makes it a more sensible buy.
Could you give a link to the ebay ad you used as there seems to be a couple of versions on there?

Thanks

Yazza54

Original Poster:

18,464 posts

180 months

Saturday 3rd March 2018
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Hey mate, sure -

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...

You’re right it’s worth the extra no doubt about it. Didn’t see the point buying a tool that would only work on one car.

teabagger

723 posts

196 months

Saturday 10th March 2018
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Thanks. Ill be purchasing one.

KrissKross

2,182 posts

100 months

Thursday 17th September 2020
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Bump, I am looking for a new OBD reader, ideally, one left connected whilst using with a phone app.

https://www.plxdevices.com/ProductDetails.asp?Prod...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076XVQMVS/ref=as_li_s...

Any suggestions on the best kit in 2020?

Thanks.


Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Thursday 17th September 2020
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For a generic ELM327 with bluetooth I wouldn't spend more than a tenner.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Supper-Bluetooth-Compatib...

GreenV8S

30,150 posts

283 months

Thursday 17th September 2020
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Krikkit said:
For a generic ELM327 with bluetooth I wouldn't spend more than a tenner.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Supper-Bluetooth-Compatib...
If you're buying it for a tenner it'll be a rip-off of that version that got hacked many years ago. An authentic ELM would cost much more, and would have received many updates.

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Thursday 17th September 2020
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GreenV8S said:
If you're buying it for a tenner it'll be a rip-off of that version that got hacked many years ago. An authentic ELM would cost much more, and would have received many updates.
True, but who cares?

blank

3,439 posts

187 months

Thursday 17th September 2020
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OBDlink LX and MX are good.
They have a few more features than standard ELM327 devices if you want to get in to more complicated stuff.

I also have a £10 eBay special and to be honest it does exactly the same for 99% of tasks.

Yazza54

Original Poster:

18,464 posts

180 months

Friday 18th September 2020
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Saw this thread get revived so thought I'd just say the crp129 is still one of the best things I've ever bought.

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 18th September 2020
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blank said:
OBDlink LX and MX are good.
They have a few more features than standard ELM327 devices if you want to get in to more complicated stuff.

I also have a £10 eBay special and to be honest it does exactly the same for 99% of tasks.
I have a £5 ebay special ELM327 adapter that I connect to my phone and it is brilliant. It's perfect for occasional use and I always keep it in my car.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Bluetooth-Car-Scan...

Arnie Cunningham

3,758 posts

252 months

Saturday 19th September 2020
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Bear in mind that generic scanners, while good - you also sometimes want one that can read extra info for your car.

I use one of these : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264765507775
And it works well with forscan which gives you a lot of extra features beyond OBD for most fords & mazdas
For example, have just replaced an injector on the mazda that requires coding to the car - forscan via an OBD dongle does that for me! Better than paying mazda to do it. So make sure you choose decent dongle + decent software to get the best use.