If you own a car that was built after 1996 and you do any kind of work on it, either to save money or just because you enjoy getting your hands dirty, then an Obd ii scanner can be a valuable addition to your toolbox.
However, that doesn’t mean that every backyard mechanic should head out and drop $20,000 on a high end scan tool from Snap-on or Mac.
Do-it-yourself mechanics have a lot of less expensive options to explore, so you’ll want to check them out before you make a purchase. For instance, a lot of parts stores will actually check your codes for free, and you can find a lot of diagnostic information for free on the Internet. In a lot of cases, that might be all you need Car Diagnostic Tools.
If you want a little more flexibility, there are a number of cheap scan tool options you can check out. Dedicated code readers that also provide access to PIDs are one option to look at, and you can often find a decent one for under $100. Another option, particularly if you have a decent Android smartphone, is an ELM 327 Bluetooth scanner, which is a cheaper path to essentially the same functionality.