Which code reader?

[azaman]

I am thinking of investing in a code reader as we have a fair few cars in the family and it would be handy.

Now I have no idea what to look for in a reader so some advice would be appreciated.

As far as I can tell all our cars are ODBII:
W203 C Coupe 2004
Toyota Avensis 2003
Honda Civic 2004
BMW E46 325i 2004

If anyones know better please do correct me .

 

[lynall]

Ive got the u581 which only does the engine codes was £70 from e bay, but pretty certain you can get a lot better especially if you have a laptop and just need the software and some sort of interface.

U581 so far works on w210 w203 both 01 reg, corse c 03 reg, vw bora 01 reg, golf 03 reg and vaux zaf diesel 00 reg.


Lynall

 

[azaman]

Thank Lynall.

I have seen some kits to use with a laptop, I'm leaning towards these as they are almost the same money as a dedicated reader.

Having said that this unit Maxiscan MS309 OnScreen OBD2 ENGINE SCANNER CODE^READER on eBay (end time 20-Oct-09 18:41:10 BST) looks pretty good for engine codes only.

 

[azaman]

Just found this PC kit including software: Computer PC interface 4 Car diagnostics Code Reading on eBay (end time 15-Nov-09 22:51:53 GMT)

This seems to be good value for money compared with what some others are charging. Think I may order this one tonight!

 

[ABBY]

hi
it looks good but i have also seen a star for the similar price, and that comes with all mercedes plugs,leads but unfortunately it uses serial port not usb and it doesnt like usb to serial adapters
.let us know how it works as i have same dilema
cheers
Abby

 

[Sp!ke]

hi
it looks good but i have also seen a star for the similar price, and that comes with all mercedes plugs,leads but unfortunately it uses serial port not usb and it doesnt like usb to serial adapters

There should be no reason why you couldnt get this working over a USB to serial adapter with a little patience.