ECU codes and paperclips

That does seem kinda expensive.

Would of thought under £20 for a diagnostic code readout.

moray

i wondered the same thing, and found:

What £60!!! a total rip off, I would rather go out and spend £2500 on a scanner that will only scan some cars, and then spend some time understanding what the codes mean. Then I would rather waste some more time scanning cars that only show a fault when being driven,and then there are the cars that show a fault but the scanner says all is ok. Oh and then I would rather replace the part that the fault code reader said it was only to find it lied! And if you can get a paper clip to clear the ecu memory then fair play! Save your £60 and have fun.

In article , Fred

I take it the Snap-on man don't call on you then? Oh and I do know you can buy cheaper, I also know you can pay more but the snap-on flavour of scanner is the probably the most common one used in the motor trade.

In article , Fred > one should cost £2500 quid.

Why would he?

Snap On is a con.

If you select your car with care you can make a code reader using the on line switch, on line and paper out leds from a £1 from junk sale Amstrad DMP printer. Has 5 modes, cat crossing check, mixture compensation, code read, code clear and idle switch check, dynamic monitoring of AFM, cam angle sensor and ignition.

-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!

Magic! It worked for me too. It flashed out "crank sensor", I changed the crank sensor, and now it starts first time, and the engine light does not come on.

Bob

It's great when it works like that. Recent cars (at least in USA) have pressure sensors in the fuel tank. If it detects a lack of vacuum in the tank it lights the engine check light and a read of the codes says 'fuel tank emissions system'. Dealers and people have chased this one around replacing fuel caps, carbon canisters, tank vent valves and other parts to no avail. It tuned out that the 'fault' was that the user(s) had removed the fuel cap while the engine was running or the ignition was on.

-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!

In article , Bob Smith writes

Great stuff. Mine was idling like a sack of spanners. I did the paperclip trick, and it gave me "73", which is the MAF sensor. A bit more searching revealed that this is actually caused by the idle control valve - taking it off and cleaning it with carb cleaner did the trick.

The thread's archived at:

or

Us with ancient beemers switch the key to running position, stamp the throttle to maximum five times, then get the fault codes flashed out to us by the engine management led on the dashboard. Mines 1444 at the moment, which i believe is all ok. My mate had 1324 (?) or something, which indicated an injector fault.

Even cheaper than the paperclip method... except I nicked mine from work, heheh

Bob

How do you reset the "Change brake fluid" icon with the peake device ?

Steve

You mean the clock symbol?

Yes thats the one - displayed for a few seconds when I switch the ignition on.

Steve