Friday 15th June 2007

Extinguish those fault lights

Handy fault code reader

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The Gendan GCR05

If you've modified your engine or fitted a custom exhaust, you've probably seen how easy it is to trigger your engine light. And once the light is on, it's back to the garage and the cost of an hour's labour to turn it off.

Gendan's new GCR05 Fault Code Reader aims to offer a quick and simple alternative. It'll clear the engine light in less than 10 seconds and tell you the fault code that switched the light on in the first place.

Requiring no batteries, this pocket-sized device covers engine faults on all petrol cars from 2001 and diesel cars from 2004. With a permanently attached lead, there should be no parts to get lost either.

The reader costs less than a code-read at most garages - under £60 delivered.

For more information, visit:

www.faultcodereader.co.uk

[jonjay]

Seems quite steep but then again it does cover a lot of cars!

[Wanta996]

Great idea - fed up on getting ripped off for an hours labour over faults codes that can be cleared in seconds with no actual mechanical work being required. My local Mercedes garage will lose a fortune due to these.

[Ryvita]

You can do this with a paperclip and pulling a fuse on my car. ('94 Celica GT-Four)

I can understand the attraction of a universal device, but is it really necessary for that many cars?

[cen]

Ryvita said:

You can do this with a paperclip and pulling a fuse on my car. ('94 Celica GT-Four)

I can understand the attraction of a universal device, but is it really necessary for that many cars?

Unfortunatly on a lot of more expensive modern cars yes. At the lower end of the car market cars such as Citroen you can work it out for yourself and clear codes with a little practice but then, others you have no chance therefore, I for one would be interested in the type of device allthough still think it a little steep. Who will bring out an alternative device at half the price?

[MitchT]

Can anyone remember when a thing called a 'bloke' with equipment known as 'hands' and 'tools' did stuff like this?

Edited by MitchT on Friday 15th June 12:03

[Bob_Defly]

Who moved my cheese?

[bus_ter]

You can use a PDA and some software downloaded online and do it for free... (+cost of making up the right cable)

[havoc]

MitchT said:

Can anyone remember when a thing called a 'bloke' with equipment known as 'hands' and 'tools' did stuff like this?

Edited by MitchT on Friday 15th June 12:03

You are Chris Goffrey and I claim my £5!!!

[sultanbrown]

Ryvita said:

You can do this with a paperclip and pulling a fuse on my car. ('94 Celica GT-Four)

Also on my '99 Honda.

[cqueen]

Good product, these warning lights are a money making scheme if you ask me.

Edited by cqueen on Monday 18th June 15:06

[bubster]

Oh dear, if only it was that easy, read the code and fit the part! The problem with this device is that people will do as it says and it won't fix the car. For example you may get a lambda probe fault due to an air leak on the intake system. (just one example)

There will be cars and faults this is useful for but the majority of cases I believe this will mean dealers will sell parts for cars they don't need and then not accept them back for credit! Because you asked for it!

If all it took was a £60 code reader why would I need 2 Master Technicians, trained to the hilt and diagnostic machines that cost £16000 each!!!


Jason
Aftersales Manager for VW

[Silverman]

Hi all,

I spotted these Gendan Code Readers at a Motorists' Discount Centre recently. Website link:

http://www.mdc-auto.co.uk/stores.php

Hope this helps,

[cqueen]

bubster said:

If all it took was a £60 code reader why would I need 2 Master Technicians, trained to the hilt and diagnostic machines that cost £16000 each!!!

Jason
Aftersales Manager for VW

Then how else would you justify overcharging the customer?

[dougc]

bubster said:

Oh dear, if only it was that easy, read the code and fit the part! The problem with this device is that people will do as it says and it won't fix the car. For example you may get a lambda probe fault due to an air leak on the intake system. (just one example)

There will be cars and faults this is useful for but the majority of cases I believe this will mean dealers will sell parts for cars they don't need and then not accept them back for credit! Because you asked for it!

If all it took was a £60 code reader why would I need 2 Master Technicians, trained to the hilt and diagnostic machines that cost £16000 each!!!


Jason
Aftersales Manager for VW

It will work for those of us who will plug it in, read the code, use that to diagnose the problem, then fix it ourselves rather than get our arms ripped off for £100 an hour labour charges to payback your 'diagnostics machine'

[antispeed]

ho! lets get back to simple engines!!
timer, spark, bang, it goes!!!!

[imperialism2024]

dougc said:

bubster said:

Oh dear, if only it was that easy, read the code and fit the part! The problem with this device is that people will do as it says and it won't fix the car. For example you may get a lambda probe fault due to an air leak on the intake system. (just one example)

There will be cars and faults this is useful for but the majority of cases I believe this will mean dealers will sell parts for cars they don't need and then not accept them back for credit! Because you asked for it!

If all it took was a £60 code reader why would I need 2 Master Technicians, trained to the hilt and diagnostic machines that cost £16000 each!!!


Jason
Aftersales Manager for VW

It will work for those of us who will plug it in, read the code, use that to diagnose the problem, then fix it ourselves rather than get our arms ripped off for £100 an hour labour charges to payback your 'diagnostics machine'

Then when something major blows in the car, something that cannot just be fixed by fiddling with something in your garage toolbox, then you will be paying quite a bit more.

The point is, though, that while a few people will be able to use this tool to diagnose and fix a problem themselves, more will misdiagnose the problem and f*ck up their car, and the majority will use it to get rid of those pesky lights on the dashboard.

I think that the service stations should be applauding this. Business will be better than ever! This is almost as good news as when "extended use" oil came out... I mean, everyone knows that you can go 25,000 miles between oil changes as long as you use the right oil.

[flattotheboards]

i think that its great value seen as it can be used on any recent car and the its a handy device.

[EDLT]

I don't believe its claims to be honest, the Snap on diagnostic equipment at work is designed for most cars but it doesn't do many japanese ones because, according to Snap-on, they use so many different ECUs.

[alphadog]

bubster said:

Oh dear, if only it was that easy, read the code and fit the part! The problem with this device is that people will do as it says and it won't fix the car. For example you may get a lambda probe fault due to an air leak on the intake system. (just one example)

There will be cars and faults this is useful for but the majority of cases I believe this will mean dealers will sell parts for cars they don't need and then not accept them back for credit! Because you asked for it!

If all it took was a £60 code reader why would I need 2 Master Technicians, trained to the hilt and diagnostic machines that cost £16000 each!!!


Jason
Aftersales Manager for VW

Price of OBDII/Vauxhall tech 2 interface and software - £80

Estimated money saved on repairs so far in the 1 year since getting it : £250. Before getting it managed to deduce a faulty crankshaft sensor and got the part off Ebay - £20!! Bargain!

Especially good for airbag faults caused by ageing connections under the seats - the ECU retains the fault code which needs to be reset. Cleaned the connections and the previously recurring fault has disappeared. Good for ABS errors as well. I'd check to see if that unit covers these ECUs as well as the engine ECU - ABS and Airbag systems come off pin 12 on the OBDII connector on my car, as opposed to pin 7 for the engine, but it's a very early OBDII car from '98.

The thing is I have either just got the part and stuck it on or cleaned/WD40'd the electrical connections and it worked. A very cheap way of diagnosing things like error P0703 - Brake switch circuit incorrect signal. Helps having a diesel as there's a lot less to go wrong despite 137000 miles on the clock.

Edited by alphadog on Saturday 16th June 07:42

[ceebmoj]

alphadog said:

diagnostic machines that cost £16000 each!!!

Ok I can understand the master technicians however vag (vw, scoda, audi to name a couple) is an excellent example as all the cars can all be talked to with vag com witch will do every thing that a competent home mechanic will ever need for a lot less that 16K i.e. evrything the oem tool does I belleave.

Edited by ceebmoj on Saturday 16th June 11:13