I took my 97 mustang into the shop today and they charged me 85 bucks just to hook it up and run it. I was wondering what kind of computer they use and if its worth looking into gettin one for my own use. The car is starting to show its age a little and I know Im going to start putting some work in to maintaing it. Seems to me if its gonna cost $85 everytime one of my dash lights come on then it might be worth my while.
Jon
If you were at a Ford dealer in Canada, the NGS is about $6000 and the WDS is nearly $13000. Needless to say that either one of these tools is much more powerful than a simple "code reader" and will offer much more information than even the SnapOn or MAC offerings.
Additional requirements include the ability to recognize which codes are symptomatic and which codes are causal....
-- Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net
at 20 Sep 2003, Jon E. [ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net] wrote in news:G18bb.628$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net:
AutoZone does it for free but they use the cheapie $150 OBD-II scanner. You can buy a kit that will attach to your PC for less than $200. The tool Ford dealer use is basically a laptop running Windows but it sure has a lot of options. It had better, I believe it's a couple $1000 to obtain it.
Once I get my old 200Mhz laptop fixed, I may spring for one of those PC kits.
The cheapie thing or the laptop option is kinda what i was thinking of. Something that will let me know what the minor things are. I wouldnt be surprised if the garage I took it too used the cheapo model since it wasnt a ford service dept. The PC options is more what i was thinking. Somekind of deal where you can hook the car computer to the laptop and let them chat.
Jon
Check out
Lewis Shadoff
John W wrote:
I use this one...
at 20 Sep 2003, John W [ snipped-for-privacy@cox.net] wrote in news:Vm8bb.2742$AH4.2249@lakeread06:
Here's a couple of links to the more popular solutions:
Hope this helps
-- Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net
Even the cheaper ones will tell you everything and more you need to know. It's just reading codes out of the engine computer. The more expensive ones will probably tell you in more detail what is wrong, or will just tell you all kinds of stuff like rmp's, engine temp, water temp, etc... Even the version that hooks up to your laptop tells you tons and tons for a lot less money.
Remove NO-SPAM from email address when replying
State your case carefully, grasshopper.... there is no such thing as a scan tool that will tell you "more than you need to know". We can expect to pay extra for a tool that will read PIDs (Parameter Indication Data) and yet more again for one that that will offer up Active Command Mode.....
Don't oversimplify the role of the PCM and other modules in the modern automobile. Utilizing the codes and data logically and carefully can keep us from replacing parts unneccesarily.
The cheaper ones will give you a code... period..... the really cheap ones might not even differentiate between a continuous code and an on demand code. If it was all that simple, I'd be unemployed....
-- Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net
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