Educate me on OBD code readers, please

[finestjammy]

I think if you want Porsche specifics only Durametric will do this. I have Durametric and also OBD fusion as an app on the iPhone. I bought a cheap wifi OBD dongle to go with the app. It's handy just to plug in and look for any major fault codes, it doesn't find them although as the Durametric does. It will pick up on misfires as well as the facility to monitor O2 etc. You can configure a dashboard to show the info you want. I have one showing fuel trim and lambda on the same screen for example.

Only Duramtric, as far as I know, will show all the modules though. Door sensors, air con etc etc

[finestjammy]

You won't get Porsche specific functionality then with anything else as stated you ideally wanted. OBD Fusion and a wifi dongle for iOS or a Bluetooth one on Android will do the job as well as anything else.

[finestjammy]

It won't read over rev data. It just reads emission data and fault codes. It won't pick up, for example, if a seatbelt has a fault.

[finestjammy]

Keep an eye out on eBay. I paid £200 for a Duramtric that some one selling fast they'd moved from Porsche. Still a lot of money but a decent saving nonetheless.

[Magic919]

I paid £400 for my Pro Durametric a few years back. It was secondhand and I found it in eBay. Apart from reading codes and over revs, it's handy to reprogramme windows. Will probably still have a value for some years.

[528Sport]

finestjammy said:

Keep an eye out on eBay. I paid £200 for a Duramtric that some one selling fast they'd moved from Porsche. Still a lot of money but a decent saving nonetheless.

The enthusiast kits are only licensed/limited for 3 cars. So if you buy a used kit you need to know how many cars its been used on.

worth thinking about :-)

[finestjammy]

528Sport said:

The enthusiast kits are only licensed/limited for 3 cars. So if you buy a used kit you need to know how many cars its been used on.

worth thinking about :-)

Agreed, it's a trade off. It had only been used on the one car, now on mine so one more to go

[YoungMD]

I had an engine light on after a spark plug change as i didnt fully locate one of the leads, it wouldnt go off even when i did so i bought a iCarsoft i960 Diagnostic Scan Tool Fault Code Reader.

It Turned the code off, seemed like a nice little tool, and was only £80, but maybe a littlr bit limited, havnt really used it since.

[LotusAlfaV6bloke]

I have been on this journey.

Any Durametric clone will only have the functionality of a standard OBD reader. You will see the additional menus and so forth, but none of it will work. That is why the real one is so expensive! Of course, every eBay (or similar) listing will swear differently regarding what version they are and promising they are fantastic, but be prepared to be disappointed.

I too have the iCarsoft scanner, it is a great bit of kit. It is very well made for the price and easy to use. However, you can't access modules like the airbag or aircon, and things like overrevs are also not available.

Best bet is a second hand one on eBay. I tried this for a bit, but *every* sell seemed to "forget" to list how many of the VINs had been allocated already, or that they can't be used on more than three cars. As a tip, in my experience it is usually two!

[Magic919]

This makes the Pro the sensible secondhand buy.

[LotusAlfaV6bloke]

There is a recent thread here of me using my iCarsoft scanner that includes some photos of what the displays/screens looks like. It also plots graphs and various graphics of trends and data:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[LotusAlfaV6bloke]

Well, cmoose, I guess what this shows is that functionality will be a lottery if going for "under the counter" copies.

I have two clones, both with less functionality than the genuine software. I am not alone in finding that amongst my 911 owning friends, and the quickest of googles on this subject shows this is entirely to be expected.

Your knock off/clone/pirate copy works ok, which is good for you. I guess this is where the internet would declare "YRMV" on the topic.

[Richard Hamilton]

I think you'll find that most clones are supplied with an old version of the Durametric software (3.0.15 IIRC) which may not cover many 9x7 modules. On some clones, you can use V5.0 software without bricking the unit, but it is a bit pot luck. Somewhere between V5.0 and the last release of V5 (5.1.3) Durametric introduced an interface integrity check, which will brick most clones. By all means try a clone, but don't expect too much, and don't be surprised if it all goes tit$-up. I've seen them for £15 and less, so it isn't any big loss.

[ajondyh]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

The Chinese clone version was a very old version (About 5.0 I think) and will not do later cars IIRC from about 2007 onwards. My Pro is on version 6.5.1.9

[ajondyh]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Sounds about right

[A6enthusiast]

I've been using OLM 327 dongle and ARI to scan A6 for errors and works great. The dongle cost me 12 pounds on amazon and the ari app is free to use for the OBD feature. Goodf luck!