diagnostic reccomendations...

[Piggy]

I've been drashing on with avoiding diagnostic stuff...

and then been doing it just with a cheapy ebay £20 dongle. But the ELM327 dongle is fine, the software sucks.

So any recommendations for general OBD2 fault read and live readings software/dongle/lit that won't cost the earth.

I only use it maybe once a month at an absolute PUSH!

Ideally compatible for early windows as I have an old laptop for the garage!

[ConorTRG]

One of my systems is a genuine Delphi system and would highly recommend it. Has alot of features and has a nice/user friendly layout. You can pick up a copy of it but I think some are hit and miss and a lot won't connect to BMW and some won't connect to ford from what I hear.

If you working at one particular range of cars I'd go with a dedicated system for them like pug planet, vaux com, vcds etc

[cully]

piggy you have a PM

[Niall]

In order to get something that will work with most cars, you would have to spend a fair bit. These sub £50 ebay jobs just don't cut it.

My advice though, get your self a decent multimeter and test probe and learn how to use them properly. Yes on occasions you need computer diag to help diagnose faults especially if they are intermittent but most faults can be traced more accurately on older cars with a good meter!

[Piggy]

I got a very good multimeter n probe buddy.

But still very useful to read codes and see live data

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Thanks cully

[Toms306]

I've got a Laser 5091. I know the prices have gone up since I bought mine but it hasn't failed to connect to anything yet.

I do also have specific software though, pp, forscan, VAGCOM. There are things that no cheap generic reader will do.