[MVB180]

Has anyone ever had any luck with the cheap scan machines? Just wondering as I have one and it never shows up anything, I've had a issue and wondered if it might show up on a diagnosis scan. Just wondering if I'm doing it right, I plugged it in and it came up on the dash with the engine light and an exclamation mark. Do u use them with engine running or lights onkyy

[rasa bmw]

engine on is best as some bits of ecu need it on,,but cheap scanners can lead you to more money,,as they give a generic code and can not delve into the code or produce live data or test functions.get a good bmw scanner,,ive got a foxwell NT 510 £117 delivered,,proper piece of kit,,or you could get the cheapest and best ie a cable and download "inpa" use with wndows laptop,,it is more hassle than a plug in scanner but you can do a lot with it including coding etc,,

[MVB180]

Originally Posted by rasa bmw

engine on is best as some bits of ecu need it on,,but cheap scanners can lead you to more money,,as they give a generic code and can not delve into the code or produce live data or test functions.get a good bmw scanner,,ive got a foxwell NT 510 £117 delivered,,proper piece of kit,,or you could get the cheapest and best ie a cable and download "inpa" use with wndows laptop,,it is more hassle than a plug in scanner but you can do a lot with it including coding etc,,

Thanks for that

[Andy198712]

Nice thing about the NT510 (I have one too) is you order it and get to choose one free manufacture.
So I have BMW which also covers mini and rolls Royce I think for some odd reason...

Anyway, it also acts as a code for for all cars and can clear code for them too, just doesn’t go into as much depth.

But you can purchase extra manufacture software for it also if you had another make in the family or brought another car ect....

[rasa bmw]

Originally Posted by Andy198712

Nice thing about the NT510 (I have one too) is you order it and get to choose one free manufacture.
So I have BMW which also covers mini and rolls Royce I think for some odd reason...

Anyway, it also acts as a code for for all cars and can clear code for them too, just doesn’t go into as much depth.

But you can purchase extra manufacture software for it also if you had another make in the family or brought another car ect....

yeh,,and naturally he will want thje choice of "bmw" ha ha,,and i like the ease of use,,no faffing with laptop etc

[MrSweet1991]

Yeah, I'd say theres a few routes and some have their pros and cons. I'd say, one of the more popular options is Carly for BMW, under £50 for the adapter and a RIP off for a "subscription" for the Carly app to use all the functions but if you ever did acquire the obd you can send me a PM and I could send you the Carly app. Not only that, theres a project ongoing for ProTool that's bringing a lot of exciting things again using an obd adapter so as for convenience that route is quite interesting and very easy to use.

Laptop plus INPA and/or ISTA D/P (ISTA+ drops programming support for E series) is ultimately the best you could get at the expense of a long download, installation and requiring a laptop each and every time but the possibilities are endless with that setup.

Then theres these scanners which I'm not familiar with so cant touch on anything with those