You must log in or register to comment.
Got a OBD reader for 40 bucks and it takes a lot of the stress off. Highly recommend to anyone who doesn’t have one yet. You can look up the code, and usually that steers you to what part you need. Saves time, money, and stress.
Or you can also go to any auto parts store and they’ll do an OBD reading for you for free and give you a printout of the code.
If $40 is too much for you, Auto Zone, Advance Auto Parts, and O’Reillys all have free code readers you can use. If your car can make it there.
Here they charge you for the readout 🙂
Well that’s not very nice.
Forty bucks is a ripoff. I got a Bluetooth one for like 10.
$2.65, but I’m sure it’s proprietary app is snooping, so I just use an old phone when I have to check anything out.
Pay $5 for the Torque app.
There wasn’t a proprietary app that I can recall, and +1 on Torque that’s what I use
Lol, seems I already had it purchased. I’ll be honest, I haven’t used the little blue guy in years after getting a newish Avalon.
I’ve had good luck on Android with these, but I’ve had no luck getting two different ones to connect to iOS for some reason, and they even boldly claim iOS compatibility right on the unit. I just grab my old Android when I need to check it.
It’s a Bluetooth incompatibility. There’s something wrong with most scanners and how they support Bluetooth Low Energy.
I bought this scanner in 2020 and the one I bought then has worked fine across two different iOS phones.
Seconded the Veepeak. It’s still an ELM327 clone but a high quality one so if you get one that says it supports BTLE, it works on IOS. Mine does.
I cast mend butt crack followed by diarrhea
i hope your cast removes it, cuz been on for years
I counter with ISO 15765-4 with a Bluetooth and torque modifier.
If you own a used car or is getting ready to purchase one, buy yourself an obd2 scanner. You can avoid making a bad purchase or getting scammed by a mechanic when it is something you can easily fix yourself.
And if you are truly broke, you can at least determine if the check engine is something you should addressed immediately or wait a couple weeks.
It never occurred to me I could just buy my own in lieu of the weekly trips to auto zone. Do you have any brand recommendations (only what to stay away from)?
I bought a OBDLink Mx a long time ago and it has worked on every car i have had to diagnose. (Mercedes, Skoda, VW, SAAB, Porsche)
Veepeak and obdlink are good generic ones in my experience, BimmerLink even recommends a specific obdlink one for example, think it has an STN2120 rather than the usual ELM327 clone chips and thus is a bit higher quality, but for most cars and most apps, the ELM based ones work.
If you use or might one day want to use IOS, get one with BT LE support and connect via app, not the Bluetooth menu. If you do, you’ll have to restart the phone to get it to show up again, stupid iOS thing.
Or if your car is old enough, and you don’t mind investing some cash, you might find the official diagnostics equipment available on eBay.
With a bit of hacking about you can program new keys, train in new parts etc etc.
My car gets angery when I plug in my cheapo Bluetooth OBD2 thingy. Like “ESD service required” angery and I have to unplug the thingy and restart the car to clear it.
Totally fine after that.
Is my Bluetooth thingy too cheapo?
My previous car didn’t care at all. It was older though and didn’t have ESD and all that.
Edit for future travelers:
I looked it up and yes it looks like (especially) cheap ones can interfere. It seems the likelihood of it actually breaking something is low but bad quality wiring in cheap electronics can be a factor in these “ghost problems”.
That’s not a bad one. Make it blinking, then your day is ruined. Or make the oil or alternator light flicker or come on. Most of the engine lights I ever got were from older cars and basically a hiccup from old emissions. I did get a flashing one once, that was scary, pulled over immediately. Never figured out why, it didn’t reoccur after starting again. I hate those kinds.
Flashing is a misfire event detected. Your engine may have managed to cough out whatever was causing that cylinder not to fire. A blockage in the fuel injector most likely, at least if it managed to cure itself.
My wife got the flashing one with very rough idling, I checked the fault codes and it was misfire on multiple cylinders. I replaced the ignition coil and now it purrs like a kitten again.
I had that happen, and it ended up being the valve cover gasket leaking oil into my spark plug wells. I thought it was just the coils but after replacing them, the error came back a few days later. The gasket fixed it until I replaced the car.
Scary pumpkins
The oil pressure light is by far the scariest one.
100%. Check engine light can mean a bunch of pretty minor things. Oil pressure? Stop the car. Stop the car NOW. You’re gonna have to pay for a tow and repair, but if you don’t stop RIGHT NOW you’re going to need a new car. Or at least a new engine.
Literally opened this thread only to say this. Check engine light means the engine is doing something to increase emissions, up to and including misfires and such. Can be harmful but over a somewhat longer period of time than being out of oil.
My check engine light came on and freaked me out. Found out the code was P0171: Bank running lean. I currently have a mix of gas and E85 in the tank and the computer doesn’t like it. Nothing is actually wrong.
Mine was a loose gas cap. I’m not paying $300 to a dealer to turn that light off.
You can buy a cheap Bluetooth OBDII scanner online and use a free phone app like Torque to read and clear codes.
I think most chain auto part stores will also let you use their scanners for free.
I did get a cheap one but I work on my own cars so I now bought a much nicer one that has dealer level access.
MOST of my cars are too old to have OBDII. 35 years and older…NO CUP HOLDERS.
Something as serious as a misfire can also cause the check engine light to flash.
Why yes, I did once lose a whole-ass cylinder in a 4-cylinder, manual transmission car. While a couple hours from home! It broke a freaking exhaust valve while we were just cruising along, and the light started flashing immediately with a code for cylinder X misfire.
Funny enough, other than the loss of power it drove alright while in motion, including on the highway. It would immediately stall if left to idle at a stop light, though. I think I ended up using the hand brake to hold still while keeping my foot on the gas to keep the revs up. Fun.
Had a car, that got like 5 yellow engine lights in 6 months… I had the car so I could get to work, in the end I had the work so I could pay for repairs on the car…
As an auto tech, thank you for $$$$$$.
These wizards are getting too overpowered.
Joke’s on you. The porch pirate that stole my replacement GPU ruined my day before you even got here!
A lion does not concern itself with the opinion of the check engine light
HA! Jeep drivers will tell you that light just means everything is functioning as normal.
Yep. Now when the fuel light turns on. Tears
So what happens if you cast it on a bicycle; does it just break the legs of the owner?
Brakes fail while you are rocketing downhill at 30mph. Hope you dressed for the slide, not the ride.
Jokes on u I can’t afford a car
