Hello. Super grateful to find your page and the info you give out! I recently bought a dud from an auction. 100% my fault for not doing the proper research. Obviously now Ive got less cash and a bit more desperate but Im gonna try & do it right this time. Starting with one of those scanners. I was wondering if you could give me your opinion on the best/best value/easily purchased from local store/amazon scanner? Do those little 19.99 ones really even work?
Thanks again!
Forget the $19 ones but if you buy the lowest price innova scan tool those are decent for a hundred some something dollars you can get an excellent one
It depends on the car and what you want from the scanner. Scanners are one of those things you definitely get what you pay for and the cheaper they are they can cause issues in the car if it’s newer
From the Tools section of this website in the top right corner - https://www.amazon.com/shop/scottykilmer?listId=2XW7WGTYW92WE
Don't the cheap ones as they may ruin your car’s main computer.
Also, you usually get more vehicles covered by the scan tool as well as more capability with the more expensive ones. If you know which cars you will be using ahead of time, you can check the vendor’s website to see if your vehicle is covered.
You can try Scotty’s suggestion above but also for about $100 the Bluedriver is pretty good too (see Tools section above). You just plug the dongle into the ODBII port and use your smartphone to get data.
If you need to scan every computer module on board and do work on your cars, there are better tools (such as from Autel) that go higher in price.
My personal favorite is the Autel Maxicheck MX808 which is about $400 - that’s the one I currently own. It’s a tablet and will scan parameters of ALL modules in the car. However, it does NOT have bi-directional control, which for most of us is OK.
link to MX808 tool from Autel website:
https://www.autel.com/mk2/3223.jhtml
One caution: If you do buy an expensive scan tool (several hundred to thousands of dollars), I strongly recommend you buy from one of the company’s authorized dealers if you care about support, service, and warranty afterwards, and to make sure you don’t get scammed.
One place I recommend buying from: they are an authorized Autel dealer
https://www.aeswave.com/MaxiCheck-mx808-Scan-Tool-p9590.html
I have a early 05 town & country touring,144k . I'm going up 1-2 tire sizes. Change up 3-5%. What scan tool is best for this. Also have a 03 RX300,80k. Would the Foxwell 510/Chrysler with $60 for the RX added be good? I'm a retired NADCollege grad master tech. Also worked on elect. forklifts 20y. Cat,Yale,Duke Energy. I need to change calibration.? Will get into serious stuff with them next 20y. Maybe a diesel truck and/or MHome. Would check used vehicles for me and family. 2-3 suggestions. Don't mind putting money in it. Not getting burned means alot Thanks. Keep up the good work!
Some reading material on ODB2 Scanners, … good start for those who are curious:
https://www.obdadvisor.com/best-obd2-scanner/
F.S.
