Topic: Ecu diagnostics nightmare

[speedy gonzalais]

Just recently ive entered the world of ecu diagnostics and the nightmare that comes with it. Up until now ive always used a hand held code reader well a few for various makes and models but they dont always work, a friend of mine suggested one made by snapon but at 7000 usd for the tool itself and another 3000 for all the keys ive decided to spend 10k on something more realistic in the future, and go for the cheaper option and use a laptop, i payed a few hundred for a wireless plug thats ment to support obdII and all the other various formats! payed another few hundred on software thats ment to do everything that can be done yet im still limited  i can access dtc's no problem and live data but thats it, can do that with a handheld reader, I cant access any codes when a abs light is lit or a srs light same with the emissions workshop light im starting to see on newer models, i get no fault codes at all yet if they take it to a stealership there machines pick something up for example with a peugeot the other week, had an abs fault, no codes present, they took it to the dealership and come back with a printout with a code that pointed me to a sensor! how hard can it be 

[dusterdude]

Its called being locked out by the oem's so they can make all the money

[Bailgang]

My 95 Chevy s10 has what's referred to as OBD1.5 and it can be a pain. 95 was a change over year when OBD1 was being phased out and OBD2 was taking it's place and in my trucks case it's an OBD2 ecu that is OBD1 compliant and not any hand held reader can pull a code. So I got a reader that is able to read the 95 ecu but it isn't always right. I once got an error code that made no sense so I took it to a local mechanic that had a nice snapon until, his reader pulled an even different code than mine but still made no sense. It ended up being nothing more than an O2 sensor but that was a lucky guess.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Usually the abs or brake codes can be read by a series of flashing lights on the cars I had if you have access to the electrics manual for the car. I don't think you need anything fancy to read brake codes, just see what the manual says.