OT modern vehicle fault diagnosis.

My Skoda Octavia diesel displayed a fault on the dash showing a fault with the pre-heaters. An owed favour gave me an electronic read out saving me a lot of money that the fault was my brake lights. The lights didn't work & a quick test showed that the fuse hadn't blown & the bulbs were OK. I had the switch changed (not easy) & all was OK. I told this to a mechanic I use & he told me he had obtained a small readout that let you read the stored faults for less than £10. As the usual tester costs thousands of pounds this sounds like a usefull purchase. Does anyone know of a supplier of these & how good are they?

Reply to
Dave Croft
Loading thread data ...

Plenty on eBay or any half reasonable motor factors.

How good they are, not sure. AIUI these cheapies just display a number or possibly just flash a LED that you have count. You then look that up in a table. I believe the basic fault codes are standard across all makes and models of car but once away from that area it gets less reliable.

I suspect google is your friend for finding a tester that matches you car and what the gotchas are with them.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

h the pre-heaters.

at the fault was my brake lights.

the bulbs were OK.

out that let you read the stored

Since about 1999, I believe all cars use a common diagnostic port. There are a number of fault readers available that plug into this port. Most of the cheap ones display the fault code by flashing a LED. You count the flashes to get a number. So 4 flashes followed by 7 gives 47. Then you need to know what the number means. That may vary from car to car. Mine are available on the net. Also on my car is a built in fault reader. I connect 2 terminals under the steering wheel, turn on the ignition and the dashboard engine light flashes to give the fault code. A cross reference to a downloaded table and I've got the answer for free (I love that word).

John

Reply to
John

pre-heaters.

the fault was my brake lights.

OBD-II (anything newer than my Volvo!) and eighty quid gets you a Bluetooth (wireless) ODB-reader dongle. A Nokia 770 and a free download of Carman

formatting link
gives you easier control of anything and everything you've ever wanted. I love this technology - beats the pants off emulsion tubes and Brassoing needles.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.