Year 2022 OBD2 Scanner/Programmer

NickMaul

NickMaul

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2009
Location
Norfolk, VA
Thinking of gifting myself a nice diagnostic tool for Christmas this year. I am kind of a noob with the current available equipment so I am seeking advice/suggestions. I’ve always had a basic $20 Bluetooth OBD2 scanner that connects with a $10 app on my phone but I feel like I need a tad more knowledge/power at my hands.

An example is I am trying to diagnose my suburbans fuel tank systems and my cheap simple diagnostic set up isn’t going to cut it. Is there anything between my cheap Bluetooth piece and the snap on programmers at dealerships? TIA :D
 
I use autoenginuity on a laptop-- you buy their usb scantool for $500ish then pay for the software package for each vehicle brand at around $200. A friend has autel which is similar price range.
If I were to do it again Id probably look hard into harbor freights zurich branded high end scan tool.

You'd be amazed at how much you can make the vehicle do and how many hundreds of sensors and circuits you can see on a newer vehicle with a legit scanner
 
I've got the Autel MK808. So far I've been happy with it but I haven't used it much since I only work on my own stuff plus some friends & family. I feel like it's a pretty solid scan tool for under $500. I got it last year on Black Friday and I think it was $400 or so.
 
I have an Autel MS906BT. Wish I had an even fancier unit sometimes.

It does a lot of shit. Love it.

PS : On some brands it works better than others. Tons of shit on my Chevys, little less on some Audis/VW,
 
There's also the fairly cheap brand specific stuff depending on what you have:
VAGCOM for VW/Audi
Forscan for Ford (so in depth you can program keys)
AlfaOBD for Dodge/Ram/Chrysler/Jeep/etc
Techstream for Toyota/Lexus

If you need more than 2 or 3, probably not worth it. Forscan was like $40 or $50, and at the time, myself, my dad, and my father in law all had Ford trucks, so well worth it. Vagcom is about $300-400. Techstream was only $35 when I bought it to tweak the wife's 4runner and van 4-5 years ago, but I don't know how much it is now. I need to get AlfaOBD for my code prone Dodgeramtruck, but haven't found enough reason yet since my cheapo OBDII scanner is still reading and clearing. All of these require some type of OBDII interface, which can be had cheap on Amazon/ebay/etc., and they are typically more powerful and in depth than a generic scantool, but you typically have to work a little harder to get it done.
 
Yeah it looks like I need a bidirectional unit with active testing. Primarily for Chevy and Jeep. Not trying to spend more than $300.
 
untchabl said:
I've got the Autel MK808. So far I've been happy with it but I haven't used it much since I only work on my own stuff plus some friends & family. I feel like it's a pretty solid scan tool for under $500. I got it last year on Black Friday and I think it was $400 or so.
Click to expand...
This, I've got the same one and have been very happy with it for the money.
 
I’ve got a snap on scanner I bought used and it has all the bi directional controls. After I bought mine I saw some Chinese units that were capable of all the same things. Can’t rember the name now but they were around $700 on amazon.

Honestly if you are just doing evap codes a cheap scanner with live data and some jumper wires can do a lot of testing if you understand the flow of the system
 
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