What OBD2 scanner should I buy?

[Silverb19]

I've been thinking for some time about buying a diagnostic ODB2 scanner, and following the replacement of my rear discs and pads, I now actually do need one to clear all the brake warning lights.  I knew about disconnecting the Battery before attempting the job, but because I had trouble undoing one of the calliper bracket bolts, I took it round to a retired mechanic friend of mine who finished the job, but I forgot to tell him about the Battery trick. As a consequence, I've now got all the brake warning lights on (VSC, ABS, pad wear and the handbrake light).

So back to the reason for this post.  What scanner do I need to buy which will allow me to reset these lights? I have a copy of the Technet software somewhere, as I bought a cable a few years ago which wasn't much good as it wouldn't allow me to reset the codes.

Hope someone can point me in the right direction

 

Thanks

[FROSTYBALLS]

Duplicate thread deleted.

[QuantumFireball]

I have an OBDLink LX - not the cheapest out there but good quality, and works well with Torque, Hybrid Assistant and other apps on my Android phone. I'm not sure if Techstream supports bluetooth scanners, if you're planning on using it with that.

[mickburkesnr]

Thing to remember with most of the bluetooth OBD2 scanners is that they won't work with Apple devices. Can't remember the reason why, but I think it's the version of bluetooth they use, Apple can't make money from it so they decide not to support it.

I have used with great success the ELM-327 derived scanners.

[Jezclax]

Think this is one case where I would advocate buying a cheap one - got my ELM-327 one for under a fiver off eBay - and seeing if it will do what you want. I understand it's the software as much as the hardware with these things. 

I only wanted it to pull data off and check for error codes, it does that. I'm sure it could do more given a bit of time and effort. 

Jez

[johalareewi]

Cheap bluetooth devices are cheap for a reason.  You can try them but don't be surprised when they don't deliver and you end up buying a proper one.  Has happened to me a few times.  I can recommend the OBDLINK.  They do wired and wifi versions as well as bluetooth.

[Jezclax]

35 minutes ago, johalareewi said:

Cheap bluetooth devices are cheap for a reason.  You can try them but don't be surprised when they don't deliver and you end up buying a proper one.  Has happened to me a few times.  I can recommend the OBDLINK.  They do wired and wifi versions as well as bluetooth.

I agree with you, buy cheap buy twice as they say.

In my case it was a case of rolling the dice with a device that cost £3.50 delivered. I can stand to lose the price of a pint if it didn't do what I wanted and then buy a better /more expensive one at a later date. Chalk it up to a learning experience.

Tools are something I rarely scrimp on.

Jez

 

[mickburkesnr]

I bought cheap and bought twice with the ELM-327 that I bought, just because I lost the first one as they're so small.

A mechanic who worked on another car of mine told me that they had a client come in after buying an OBD2 reader from Argos for £99, completely wiped the ECU on the owner aparently.

I think really if you go on Amazon, get one that's backed by Prime and has a good (and I mean good) review rating you can't go too far wrong.

[QuantumFireball]

One thing about the cheaper devices is that they're usually quite slow (in terms of how frequently they can retrieve data from the ECU) - so if you want to get live data readouts like with Hybrid Assistant or Torque then they may not be up to the job. But if you just want to check/clear error codes or change settings, they're probably fine.

[Pj-here]

14 hours ago, Silverb19 said:

I've been thinking for some time about buying a diagnostic ODB2 scanner, and following the replacement of my rear discs and pads, I now actually do need one to clear all the brake warning lights.  I knew about disconnecting the battery before attempting the job, but because I had trouble undoing one of the calliper bracket bolts, I took it round to a retired mechanic friend of mine who finished the job, but I forgot to tell him about the battery trick. As a consequence, I've now got all the brake warning lights on (VSC, ABS, pad wear and the handbrake light).

So back to the reason for this post.  What scanner do I need to buy which will allow me to reset these lights? I have a copy of the Technet software somewhere, as I bought a cable a few years ago which wasn't much good as it wouldn't allow me to reset the codes.

Hope someone can point me in the right direction

 

Thanks

I use a snap-on Solus Pro. A very expensive option, but it does most work, you can pick them up for under £500 second hand. Lots of code readers are just that, a reader, the generic machines don't always clear all fault codes,  sometimes you will need a device which can access vehicle specific information. You might be better nipping round to a local garage, they will all grab a quick profit and usually charge between £25 - £50 to plug in and clear the ECU. 

[Silverb19]

Thanks for everyone's input so far, but has anyone got a scan tool which doesn't cost an arm and a leg which they know for certain will reset the brake warning lights on the dashboard? or is it necessary to pay big bucks for a capable tool?

Thanks

 

 

[johalareewi]

A scangauge II can make a lot of changes using the X gauge feature.  Prius Chat will have a list of the x gauge codes you can use on your prius.  You can see if there is one to clear the brake warning light before you buy the tool.

https://www.scangauge.com/products/scangauge-ii/

https://priuschat.com/search/35135991/?q=x+gauge&o=relevance

 

 

[Silverb19]

Thanks Johalareewi. Sounds goo!