Diagnostics Scan Tool - Recommendations?

[spenny_b]

Chaps,

Frequently mentioned topic on RennList & RennTech, seems to be a popular thing in the US to have your own Diagnostics Scan Tool that plugs into the OBD2 port in the car....i.e., the first recommendation from a lot of the regulars there for any sensor related prob is "plug in your scanner..."

Does anyone here have any experience of the non-professional level devices? Just read one post that recommended the AutoEnginuity SW:

http://www.autoenginuity.com/index.html

Looks quite good, certainly could be handy as I live miles away from an Indy or OPC. This one can also record performance data too.

Are there thoughts on competitive products?

Also, although having it loaded onto a handheld device sounds appealing and more usable, I can't imagine that it's as easy to use and view results/graphs, etc. Again, any platform recommendations?

TIA

Spen

[phelix]

I use one from www.obd2.com and it works fine. Just be aware you can only read OBD-II (i.e. engine) codes; the Porsche System Tester (PST) is required to read things like ABS, airbag, climate control, etc codes.

The performance analysis capability via an OBD-II connection is limited. I think the baud rate is around 12000 and the more parameters you ask of the car's ECU the slower the update frequency is. I seem to remember logging data and getting update rates of about once a second.

[spenny_b]

That was going tobe my next question actually; where can an independant/3rd party Diag tool take you up to, versus what you need a PST2/3 for. Cheers

[phelix]

I'm not aware of any independent tools that work on a Porsche save the generic OBD-II scanners. There are excellent software applications for the likes of BMW and MB (Carsoft) and the VAG Group (Vag Com) but nothing analogous for Porsches.