Thread: OBD Diagnostic Tools

My IID tool been plugged in for two years now..
At least this way I dont have to remember where I put it....

new firmware just recently too!!

Originally Posted by 74andy

Anyone had success with this one?. Land Rover OBD2 Scan Tool Full System – OBD2 Australia

thinking harder about getting a scanner after 3 amigos appeared on trip to cape York last month - could have done with traction control a couple times, wondering if I could have diagnosed and fixed/got part sent if I had a scanner..

Also tempted just to try this one and return it if it doesn’t work jaycar.com.au

Hey 74Andy,

You probably reached your own conclusions about this a while ago. I'm just leaving more info here for anyone else searching on the subject.

Most people here will tell you to get the GAP IID tool and I'm sure its an awesome unit for JLR vehicles. But the reality is there's heaps of alternatives, depending on what you're wanting to achieve, including the ones you linked to.

A 'full system scan tool' and particularly a tool that specifically covers your vehicle (eg Land Rover) is going to be way more useful than a sub-$100 generic unit like the Jaycar item. The generic/basic tools frequently only provide engine data and/or generic codes. The codes might include a description that points you in the right direction to fix the problem. Or they might not. Expect to do a lot of additional research and faultfinding once you've read the generic fault code, before you'll be able to make any progress. On a complex vehicle like a D4, they are marginally better than nothing.

I have one of those basic OBD2 scanners and I can pickup fault codes but not much else. And it won't provide details from some of the more 'exotic' sub-computers on board my D4 like the air suspension and EPB etc. I had a case where my D4 went into reduced performance mode and the OBD tool gave me a generic DTC code and nothing else. Google told me the code was related to inlet pressure. The actual problem(s) turned out to require replacing both inlet manifolds plus the oil filter/pump unit and other minor items. So the basic tool was correct but didn't tell me much that I didn't already suspect. The advantage of the generic/basic tool is you can use them on any vehicle (post - 2007 in Aust).

By contrast a mate has the 'full system' Land Rover tool you asked about. He had a suspension warning on the dash and the Land Rover specific menus enabled him to pinpoint the offending sensor in minutes. A quick check on YT to watch someone else locate and then replace the same sensor, and he had it fixed in short order. No pi55ing about with googling generic codes. Turned out the sensor had just disconnected itself and needed to be plugged back in. He was also able to clear the fault code using the scan tool. A quick read on the website shows it'll also provide a bunch of live sensor data feeds so I'm planning to borrow it for my D4 transmission service so I can check the correct transmission fluid temps for the service procedure.

The vehicle-specific full system scanner will also give you data from any other vehicle you plug it in to (more/better than the basic scan tools). Its just that the vehicle specific units have been fine tuned to make sure the detailed codes it shows are correctly interpreted for the specific vehicle type. So if you plug the Land Rover tool into a Ford vehicle, it will probably give you plenty of detailed info but there may be some anomalies because of OEM specific coding variations on the more exotic sub-systems.

There's also a range of alternative systems that use a bluetooth OBD reader and talk to software or apps on your laptop, tablet and phone. The BT version of the GAP tool fits into this category. The type of bluetooth OBD reader is less important, as long as you pay enough $$ for a quality unit that doesn't scramble the data. The bigger difference is whether the software or app that you use, has been specifically setup to manage any vehicle-specific codes, and interrogates all of the multiple ECUs onboard the vehicle. Lots of them will do this, but you need to ensure that your specific type of vehicle is listed for compatibility. Otherwise you might be limited to just generic codes and there may be anomalies with your vehicle.

Hope this info is useful to someone.
Cheers, Dave