jerrycan Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 Yes I know Triumphs were never fitted with anything that closely resembles any kind of electronics except perhaps a radio cassette. However as well as a couple of 'big six' saloons I also have a need to look after some more modern stuff and as I value the collective knowledge found on this forum thought I would ask the question. My better half has a 2012 Mercedes C220 cdi which has caused me more pain than any car I have ever had in my 50 years of motoring. The problem now is that I'm into it for so much money with various repairs that it doesn't make any sense to bail out. So rather than pay the local Mercedes dealers £80+ for them to plug in their computer and still manage to miss diagnose problems and no independent in the area thought I might as well get one of these communicators and do the job myself. I also want said device to work on my 2004 Volvo S60R and 2016 Peugeot Boxer van. I bought an Autel MD806 pro from Amazon (where else?) which seemed to fit the remit however found 1, it would only read the Volvo's codes and 2, when I phoned Autel they said that the device I had bought was either a clone or a grey import never intended for the European market!!! So that has been sent back to Amazon and while I wait for my refund I'm left with the option of spending £600 for the real McCoy from Autel or running the risk of something that will only do half a job. Has anybody been through any similar dilemma and found a reasonably priced solution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 My local ALDI has some of these at the moment - https://www.aldi.co.uk/auto-xs-car-fault-code-reader/p/707370407397200 never tried one so can't report on efficacy though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerrycan Posted January 16, 2021 Author Share Posted January 16, 2021 4 minutes ago, RichardBaines said: My local ALDI has some of these at the moment - https://www.aldi.co.uk/auto-xs-car-fault-code-reader/p/707370407397200 never tried one so can't report on efficacy though Hmmmm reviews don't look too promising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpbarrett Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 I had to get one to reset the airbag light on my 2011 Peugeot Boxer based campervan after replacing the airbag module (a long painful saga that cost ~£750 to fix...). Had to get one specifically for the van as a lot of cheap generic ones dont work or will only see part on the network. Also had to buy a full copy of Multiscan to reset the airbag light, most software packages dont seem to work with the Peugeot/Fiat electronics. So much for standards. Although its a Peugeot its the same electronics as a Fiat van, I think they are made on the same production line. Dont know about Volvos mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerrycan Posted January 16, 2021 Author Share Posted January 16, 2021 Cheers Mike, excuse my ignorance but is Multiscan a make or a generic term? It's all a bit confusing as I thought the whole point of the OBD scan capability was to bring some standardisation to the industry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 I was given a Thinkcar 1s dongle for Christmas. This plugs into the ond2 socket in the car and talks to your smart phone via Bluetooth and a downloaded app. It’s supposed to do quite alot of clever things, though it’s not entirely clear where the paywall is for some of them. I’ve only tried it on the A8 so far which is at the early end of OBD2. It does the basics (reads and reset codes on the major modules) but not much else. Any generic OBD2 reader should do the basics, but the standard mandate is quite narrow so outside of that interchangeability between marques is usually disappointing unless you buy an expensive professional one. Volvos are notoriously awkward. Merc and Peugeot will likely be Canbus protocol, but the Volvo is probably too old. BTW just because a modern has been draining your wallet..... it doesn’t follow that it’ll stop doing it because you have already invested heavily. They are complex enough (and the dealers ignorant/incompetent/unscrupulous enough) to keep it up until you are broke. Probaly worth checking on the Merc forums for that as it seems to be the key one in your needs. Good luck in your quest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpbarrett Posted January 17, 2021 Share Posted January 17, 2021 14 hours ago, jerrycan said: Cheers Mike, excuse my ignorance but is Multiscan a make or a generic term? It's all a bit confusing as I thought the whole point of the OBD scan capability was to bring some standardisation to the industry. Multiscan is a software package specifically for Fiat/Italian vehicles. I think it was originally written by keen users... see Multiecuscan - Diagnostics software for Italian cars Yes I thought that it was all standardised, the only bit that is is the hardware layer, everything else seems to specific to the manufactures so you have to use there diagnostic software and it enables garages to charge lots of money to do anything to car. A lot of the free cheap software lets you look at sensors and data but as soon as you want to reset, enable anything, you need specific vehicle software. If you buy any software check carefully it covers the actual car. I have a cheap USB reader that you can have for free to play with (pm your address and I will post it to you), designed to plug into a PC. Brought in the naïve dream that everything was standardised. mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerrycan Posted January 17, 2021 Author Share Posted January 17, 2021 9 hours ago, mpbarrett said: Multiscan is a software package specifically for Fiat/Italian vehicles. I think it was originally written by keen users... see Multiecuscan - Diagnostics software for Italian cars Yes I thought that it was all standardised, the only bit that is is the hardware layer, everything else seems to specific to the manufactures so you have to use there diagnostic software and it enables garages to charge lots of money to do anything to car. A lot of the free cheap software lets you look at sensors and data but as soon as you want to reset, enable anything, you need specific vehicle software. If you buy any software check carefully it covers the actual car. I have a cheap USB reader that you can have for free to play with (pm your address and I will post it to you), designed to plug into a PC. Brought in the naïve dream that everything was standardised. mike Thanks very much for the offer Mike but I'm in France and wouldn't want you to go to any trouble. To be fair it's mostly the Mercedes in view of the grief it's given me but also the Volvo is a car I want to keep long term (I've had it for 10 years already!) so can see that having some diagnostic capability going forward would be prudent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpbarrett Posted January 17, 2021 Share Posted January 17, 2021 as Nick says the car forum are your friends to make sure you get one that will work with the car Thanks to Brexit sending anything to the EU is now impossible or ridiculous expensive or takes a looong time. But we are able to have a blue passport (but we could have had that when in the EU...) still waiting to hear what the advantages of leaving the EU was...... Very sad days. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted January 17, 2021 Share Posted January 17, 2021 On 1/17/2021 at 9:26 PM, mpbarrett said: still waiting to hear what the advantages of leaving the EU was...... Me too mate. Gone very quiet haven’t they. Some bad boys broke it and ran away..... Please Note that I've moved the thread drift posts about Covid Vaccination to the Corona Virus discussion in the General area 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
122344 Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 I friend recommended a OBD tool whose screen is your phone or laptop. I don't own one but have investigated it.It might be of interest https://www.mycarly.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 This is the one I was given recently. https://www.mythinkcar.com/product/1/t1 It does work on my 2000 A8 though functionality seems a bit limited. Possibly I'm not using it right. They do quite few other devices and apps as well - read the small print and watch the charging structure though - looks like some things you think you might be buying you are in fact only renting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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