Best Diagnostic Scanner for Jaguar XF
Discussion
I've a parking sensor issue. Possibly corroded loom somewhere as issue is mainly in the wet and therefore intermittent.
Took the car to a garage, Sod's Law the system was working all day whilst there.
So I've decided to try and fix it myself. My £10 OBD reader off eBay doesn't even recognise an issue let alone pin point it.
So I want a better fault reader. I was thinking about something like this - https://www.ukpartsdirect.com/icarsoft-lr-v3-0-for...
Am I being naieve to believe this would identify the precise parking sensor, power supply, wiring loom etc that has the issue as I cannot afford to be replacing multiple parts unnecessarily?
Many thanks.
Took the car to a garage, Sod's Law the system was working all day whilst there.
So I've decided to try and fix it myself. My £10 OBD reader off eBay doesn't even recognise an issue let alone pin point it.
So I want a better fault reader. I was thinking about something like this - https://www.ukpartsdirect.com/icarsoft-lr-v3-0-for...
Am I being naieve to believe this would identify the precise parking sensor, power supply, wiring loom etc that has the issue as I cannot afford to be replacing multiple parts unnecessarily?
Many thanks.
It will point you in the right direction for sure but isn`t sophisticated enough to identify some faults. It should allow you to test sensors via live data which is handy.
I have an Icarsoft cr pro and its a good tool to be fair, seems to do everything a more expensive one does.
Topdon tools are worth a look too.
I have an Icarsoft cr pro and its a good tool to be fair, seems to do everything a more expensive one does.
Topdon tools are worth a look too.
A better diagnostics set up will always help with many things, and it's definitely a good investment for overall repairs, but it won't tell you which parking sensor is at fault I'm afraid. It just reads the messages in the ECU. The better the diagnostics the more you can do in relation to live engine data, but it's not going to show you for example where a short in a circuit is.
Your better investment for a parking sensor issue is a decent multimeter with probes you can get into the terminals with. Then you've got to work your way around making sure your getting power and continuity to all the sections. They are all build differently but can you swap round the sensors and work out from that where your fault is, otherwise test each section for continuity until you find a fault. You need to find a wiring diagram online or on a forum to see what pins should be carrying what current etc, a diagnostics tool won't do any of that for you.
Your better investment for a parking sensor issue is a decent multimeter with probes you can get into the terminals with. Then you've got to work your way around making sure your getting power and continuity to all the sections. They are all build differently but can you swap round the sensors and work out from that where your fault is, otherwise test each section for continuity until you find a fault. You need to find a wiring diagram online or on a forum to see what pins should be carrying what current etc, a diagnostics tool won't do any of that for you.
If you look on either of the two largest Jaguar forums you will see discussions about "SDD" or Symptom Driven Diagnostics, the JLR dealer software tool for cars of your age.
A few public spirited members of these forums have built complete virtual machine hard disk images which are free to download.
These images contain both an operating system and a tested working version of SDD, so you are excused the hassle of trial and error attempts to get the software installed and working correctly.
All you need to do is download the PC application which runs the virtual machine (VMWare and VirtualBox are both available for free for personal use), and buy a 'mongoose' USB to OBD cable (£30 or so the last time I looked)
There are copious pages of help on the forums to help if you get stuck.
Note: SDD will read and interpret all the manufacturer-specific codes from every ECU on the car, so it is more capable than the generic code readers, and contains guided test procedures to help narrow down the exact point of failure.
A few public spirited members of these forums have built complete virtual machine hard disk images which are free to download.
These images contain both an operating system and a tested working version of SDD, so you are excused the hassle of trial and error attempts to get the software installed and working correctly.
All you need to do is download the PC application which runs the virtual machine (VMWare and VirtualBox are both available for free for personal use), and buy a 'mongoose' USB to OBD cable (£30 or so the last time I looked)
There are copious pages of help on the forums to help if you get stuck.
Note: SDD will read and interpret all the manufacturer-specific codes from every ECU on the car, so it is more capable than the generic code readers, and contains guided test procedures to help narrow down the exact point of failure.
Edited by Zulu 10 on Monday 22 September 08:13
DaveF-SkinnysAutos said:
A better diagnostics set up will always help with many things, and it's definitely a good investment for overall repairs, but it won't tell you which parking sensor is at fault I'm afraid. It just reads the messages in the ECU. The better the diagnostics the more you can do in relation to live engine data, but it's not going to show you for example where a short in a circuit is.
Your better investment for a parking sensor issue is a decent multimeter with probes you can get into the terminals with. Then you've got to work your way around making sure your getting power and continuity to all the sections. They are all build differently but can you swap round the sensors and work out from that where your fault is, otherwise test each section for continuity until you find a fault. You need to find a wiring diagram online or on a forum to see what pins should be carrying what current etc, a diagnostics tool won't do any of that for you.
Yes I am expecting a wiring issue if I am honest. Ideally a corroded terminal (easy to spot and relates to the symptom that the fault appears in the wet) but could be a dodgy cable where the boot opens etc that will be much more difficult to find.Your better investment for a parking sensor issue is a decent multimeter with probes you can get into the terminals with. Then you've got to work your way around making sure your getting power and continuity to all the sections. They are all build differently but can you swap round the sensors and work out from that where your fault is, otherwise test each section for continuity until you find a fault. You need to find a wiring diagram online or on a forum to see what pins should be carrying what current etc, a diagnostics tool won't do any of that for you.
I've had trouble finding wiring diagrams and components locations etc... maybe I need to buy official manuals or something.
Thanks for your comments.
Zulu 10 said:
If you look on either of the two largest Jaguar forums you will see discussions about "SDD" or Symptom Driven Diagnostics, the JLR dealer software tool for cars of your age.
A few public spirited members of these forums have built complete virtual machine hard disk images which are free to download.
These images contain both an operating system and a tested working version of SDD, so you are excused the hassle of trial and error attempts to get the software installed and working correctly.
All you need to do is download the PC application which runs the virtual machine (VMWare and VirtualBox are both available for free for personal use), and buy a 'mongoose' USB to OBD cable (£30 or so the last time I looked)
There are copious pages of help on the forums to help if you get stuck.
Note: SDD will read and interpret all the manufacturer-specific codes from every ECU on the car, so it is more capable than the generic code readers, and contains guided test procedures to help narrow down the exact point of failure.
Wow amazing. That's a massive help. Thanks a lot.A few public spirited members of these forums have built complete virtual machine hard disk images which are free to download.
These images contain both an operating system and a tested working version of SDD, so you are excused the hassle of trial and error attempts to get the software installed and working correctly.
All you need to do is download the PC application which runs the virtual machine (VMWare and VirtualBox are both available for free for personal use), and buy a 'mongoose' USB to OBD cable (£30 or so the last time I looked)
There are copious pages of help on the forums to help if you get stuck.
Note: SDD will read and interpret all the manufacturer-specific codes from every ECU on the car, so it is more capable than the generic code readers, and contains guided test procedures to help narrow down the exact point of failure.
Edited by Zulu 10 on Monday 22 September 08:13
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