<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body ><div>Without tending to provoke rabid disagreement, I use a ScanguageII on the truck and love it, and have used Torque on truck and Toyota Prius. With both vehicles I've had check engine conditions where the ODBC code was nowhere close to the problem. And the Dodge/Sprinter/Mercedes mechanic could show me data he could dig out with his tool that was not availble on ODBC. </div><div><br></div><div>In my experience, one of the valuable and cheap steps was to leave the vehicle overnight, and then let them read all the sensors in the morning, to spot the looney. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div style="font-size:100%">Sent from Samsung tablet</div></div> <br>"Michael B. Trausch" <mbt@naunetcorp.com> wrote:<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 06/12/2013 11:49 AM, neal wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:89sbgpo2rxqh4wncc03pnb55.1371051955636@email.android.com" type="cite">
<div>If you need immediate results, as noted Autozone will do for
free. <br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
If they have the time to help you.<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:89sbgpo2rxqh4wncc03pnb55.1371051955636@email.android.com" type="cite">
<div>Note that stock ODBC readers will NOT find all manufacturer
data, at least for Toyota and Mercedes there is a wealth of data
ODBC cannot access - only dealer computers can. In many
cases the DTC code is only an approximation of what is really
going on. You can experiment with crowd-sourcing your DTC code
against what others have done to fix, but, unless it's cheap to
try, you might be better off getting the dealer to read the real
codes. </div>
</blockquote>
<br>
All cars export their internal data to standardized codes. Many
shops use only the codes, because they have a standardized meaning.
The computers can often report far more than what has been
standardized, so you have the same problem there that you do in the
rest of the IT world: lack of standardization means difficulty for
information interchange.<br>
<br>
I assure you, however, that P0300 is clear enough to aid you in
troubleshooting. Hell, P0300 is a lot better than you'd get if you
kept driving an older car only to possibly kill it. :-)<br>
<br>
Most OBDII codes aren't actually hard to translate into something to
confirm (or often something to swap). Another one that is very
common is P0420, which has a very slim list of possible fixes.<br>
<br>
OBDII also allows manufacturers to have vendor-specific codes; most
codes you'll find that have meaning in terms of either performance
or emissions will be in the "P" category. There are also B, C and U
codes. Each code type has a "manufacturer specific" range, where
the code meanings are published by the vehicle manufacturer (e.g.
Ford, GM). Those codes, when received, are opaque until you find
the right documentation, but I have yet to run into something
outside of the category of relatively "easy" (discounting the
difficulty of finding funds!) fixes, though I've only had to pay
attention to my car for legal reasons since I moved here. :-)
Before I moved here, I hardly worried about the MIL since my cars
always had it on anyway.<br>
<br>
— Mike<br>
<br>
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<td> Michael B. Trausch<br>
<br>
President, <strong>Naunet Corporation</strong><br>
☎ (678) 287-0693 x130 or (888) 494-5810 x130<br>
<br>
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