Car diagnostic device

jaymoe

I have a 2006 Honda Civic and to be honest we haven't had the best of times together. In fact it has cost me a blimming lot of money and time with one fault or another and now I have another.
Driving to work yesterday I heard the dreaded ping and looked on the dash and there was an image that says Check System.
There doesn't appear to be any obvious fault but when I go to a garage they always say they want to put it on their diagnostic machine and want to charge £40-£60 a time. Can I actually buy one of these and diagnose it myself and get the codes. I've just moved house so want to try and spend as little as possible.

womble12345

You can buy a generic device which may help but you really need one that can access the Honda specific codes. Have a look on some Honda forums for advice on which device to get. I have a Ford and I bought a cable which has a USB on one end and an OBD socket on the other and with some free software on my laptop it can read the Ford codes, they should be a Honda equivalent.

jaymoe

That's just it. I don't really know what I am looking for. Are they called diagnostic machines or are they called something else?

Mirno

OBD-II - On Board Diagnostics. It's an industry standard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics

USB to OBD port cables are available, as are OBD to bluetooth. Then all you need is software appropriate for your make/model of car.

jaymoe

Is this the kind of thing I am looking for?

http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/tools/diagnostic-tools/foxwell-nt200-car-diagnostic-scan-tool

Kingsd316

I have one of these, gives a basic fault code error and then i check online what it means, works well for me. Lets you clear fault etc as sometimes (with sensors) they trigger a warning but correct themselves, obviously if it keeps coming on then it will need looking at.

Worked in my Honda Civic, Ford Focus and my current BMW

kwikbreaks

That's the thing but you can get them far cheaper than that on eBay or Amazon.

You'll need to check where your OBD2 connector is and which coding it uses to make sure the machine you pick covers it.

All you get from them is a code and you'll need to check to find exactly what it means for your car although many are pretty generic and cover all vehicles.

Gloomendoom

Bear in mind that the cheaper tools are usually only able to read basic engine related codes.

Inner_Zone

Also posted here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5515108

kwikbreaks

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Bear in mind that the cheaper tools are usually only able to read basic engine related codes.

If they work at all then they'll read the same codes. The dealer kit has sophisticated software and may well have additional connections. The OBD2 port is standardised and a legal requirement although from memory there is more than one encoding standard in place.

There are also bluetooth ones that work with smartphone apps and give additional info to just the plain codes but I'm unsure how useful that extra info may be.

enkoda

Don't waste your money unless you are competent enough to fix your car.

Otherwise you'll buy the device, it will give you a code and you take the car to a garage saying that code xxx has been identified as the problem....

....and the mechanic will connect it to his machine anyway.