any geeky car techies here
 

I am about to purchase a BMW diagnostics kit because Id rather spend the 100 quid it costs me for it than the 100 quid a throw at the main steelers.

http://www.talktomycar.co.uk/images/BMW_carsoft_65.jpg

also a PCMCIA interface adaptor.

http://www.talktomycar.co.uk/images/pcmcia_1.jpg

all in with software for 100 quids I had my BMW hooked up to my cousins £3,000 dedicated code reader/diagnostic machine and It detected that both my boost pressure and EGR flow rate was too low and after some investigation it flagged up two 3 more faults which were

no 1 and 4 glow plug inefficient and the mas ar flow meter and air temp sensor faulty.

I knew there was somthing up when My car would go into limp mode after 300 miles of constand driving and After a Mass air flow sensor and air temp sensor replacement and a code reset my car was back with avengance no more limping onto approach ramps at 30 mph in 3rd gear at 5krpm which was very dangerous.

my thinking is that it could make me a good little hobby and some money too seeing as the average charge is 30 quid for an OBD II diagnostic scan that takes less than 20 mins to complete.

what you guys think eh

Also it has the added bonus of allowing me to fully service my car without going to the main Steelers to have my service lights reset again for a surcharge.

cool eh

so instead of on average a 500 quid service I can buy OEM servicing kits from ebay for 30 quid a throw and do it all my self for a fraction of the price

Why not get a Serial to USB adaptor instead of the pcmcia one? I know my laptop no longer has PCMCIA but uses the newer ExpressCard standard. If you ever upgrade your laptop with one that no longer uses PCMCIA, it would be much easier w/ a USB adaptor.

USB IS to unstable and I dont want an error to be written into my ECU that Destroys It

all proffesional Diagnostic kits use serial because of this reason.

looks great... do you think it would be compatible with the 2.0 BMW diesel in the MG ZT?

You can get them for most cars, there usually kicking around on Ebay. Their good IF you get a reliable one. Some are a but dodgy and say theres a fault when there isnt.

That thing is pretty sweet. I wouldn't mind having something like that. Could make a few bucks off of it. If someone owns a BMW, I would imagine these people would take it to the shop pronto and pay whatever for it to get fixed. Then there are the stores that check to see what is up for free. That is what I do.

But I want to get one of those cheap devices that display the code and what the code stands for for like $50 that works on every car made from 96 and up.


But damn, that thing is high tech!

Looks like a lot of kit for the money. Should make some beer money as well ...
I'm after a Vauxhall/Opel/GM TECH kit for an early ninties Calibra - not a sign of one, unfortunately.

I was considering getting one for my Alfa but it turns out it contains only one diagnostic message "Ha ha, you bought an Alfa, everything is broken"

I guess you can take it as far as you want, but personally I got pretty far with a OBD-USB cable and some software from the net. Price was 20e or something.

There is also a Bluetooth OBD module, for fancier wireless diagnostics. I tried it together with the N800 and the open source CarMan software. Attached the N800 to the dash with some velcro and had online diagnostics nicely available as I drove around.

Get it if its **** its only 100 quid down the pan which isnt alot these days.

Home servicing is great as you always know what has been done and that it has been done well.

And going to a bmw main dealer for servicing is pretty much asking to be screwed in the ass.