Code Reader
#1
03-15-2011, 02:35 PM
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Pittsburgh PA suburbs.
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Code Reader
Guys,
My local Advanced Auto's code reader has been broken for over a month now. I drove across town to another Advanced Auto to use thiers, but it turned into a real Fiasco.
The young guy behind the counter told me he would have to do it, that customers are no longer allowed since they had to buy a new machine as well. He came out, he had difficulty with my key, then he got a communication error. I told him to let me do the key and he could do the reader since he did not want me to touch it.
He continued to have trouble with it. I said here, let me see. He got an attitude and said the new reader was "retarded". It did ask him for the specific model and I did not see the available choices. he did ask if it was a Discovery, which I told him it was, but I did not see if it said anything about DI or DII. I don't know if there is a difference.
When I did see his screen, it told him to contact the manufacturer, which lead me to beliueve it to be some kind of machine problem with his brand new reader..
He insisted my plug was screwed up, I told him I had read it myself several times. He gave me a smartass reply about him knowing how to connect and use a code reader and stormed back inside.
I waited a moment and went inside. He was being a jerk, I asked was he going to contact the supplier of the code reader like it said. He started mouthing off to me that my plug was the problem, not his machine.
His Boss yelled at him to stop saying anything to me "and let HIM go about his business. I told him that all my future business would be conducted elsewhere and left.
My CEL is still on, Does anyone know of any other chains that loan code readers?
Anyone know of a reasonably priced good code reader to buy?
My local Advanced Auto's code reader has been broken for over a month now. I drove across town to another Advanced Auto to use thiers, but it turned into a real Fiasco.
The young guy behind the counter told me he would have to do it, that customers are no longer allowed since they had to buy a new machine as well. He came out, he had difficulty with my key, then he got a communication error. I told him to let me do the key and he could do the reader since he did not want me to touch it.
He continued to have trouble with it. I said here, let me see. He got an attitude and said the new reader was "retarded". It did ask him for the specific model and I did not see the available choices. he did ask if it was a Discovery, which I told him it was, but I did not see if it said anything about DI or DII. I don't know if there is a difference.
When I did see his screen, it told him to contact the manufacturer, which lead me to beliueve it to be some kind of machine problem with his brand new reader..
He insisted my plug was screwed up, I told him I had read it myself several times. He gave me a smartass reply about him knowing how to connect and use a code reader and stormed back inside.
I waited a moment and went inside. He was being a jerk, I asked was he going to contact the supplier of the code reader like it said. He started mouthing off to me that my plug was the problem, not his machine.
His Boss yelled at him to stop saying anything to me "and let HIM go about his business. I told him that all my future business would be conducted elsewhere and left.
My CEL is still on, Does anyone know of any other chains that loan code readers?
Anyone know of a reasonably priced good code reader to buy?
#3
03-15-2011, 02:55 PM
Drifting
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: illinois
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#4
03-15-2011, 03:30 PM
Rock Crawling
#6
03-15-2011, 03:40 PM
Rock Crawling
I paid $40 for the OBD I cable for mine so I could work on my son's 86 Camaro. Really works well, AND has a USB connection so that when I switch vehicles, or want to read somebody else's for them, I can download all the vehicle specific information (including potential causes/fixes for most codes)
#7
03-15-2011, 04:37 PM
Recovery Vehicle
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Golden, CO
Posts: 851
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I paid $40 for the OBD I cable for mine so I could work on my son's 86 Camaro. Really works well, AND has a USB connection so that when I switch vehicles, or want to read somebody else's for them, I can download all the vehicle specific information (including potential causes/fixes for most codes)
Is it some sort of secret what kind it is or where you bought it?
#8
03-15-2011, 04:52 PM
My brother has a Launch C-Reader. He told me he paid approximately 60$ for it. It works well, it gives a description of the generic codes, for manufacturer specific codes you have to search the internet for a description. And you have access to live data from the ECU. Updates are free but no updates have been available since he bought it 2 years ago. Here's the link to look it up, it's 99$ on this site.
http://tunertools.com/proddetail.asp?prod=ST-437001
http://tunertools.com/proddetail.asp?prod=ST-437001
Last edited by Jull; 03-15-2011 at 04:56 PM.
#9
03-15-2011, 06:40 PM
Rock Crawling
I bought the unit at "Advance Auto" - and the subsequent cable, downloads etc...directly from the Actron Website (http://www.actron.com/ )
The one that I have is the previous version of this one:
http://www.actron.com/product_detail.php?pid=16364
This one lists at $251 and change, but again, I know that I have saved myself well over triple that - and friends much more than that. (One friend who had an Infinitti paid a dealer over $700 for service that still did not fix his "stalling" issue that this scanner picked up and I corrected with a 20 minute cleaning of his MAF) <-- that single event has had me sold on this particular scanner.
As with any other advice on this site - "individual mileage may vary" - but, suffice it to say that I am very happy with this one!