ScanGauge II
 

Worth it?

Maybe!

Yes! See my Mileage Log below. April was when I got the SG. Immediate 10% jump, just from seeing what works and having instant feedback. Further refining of technique brings me up to over 30% improvement now.

I've saved $200 in gas since then, easily paying for the unit itself. In my opinion, it's THE BEST upgrade you can do for fuel economy.

Wished it would work on my bus. Looks neat.

No obdII for something that big?

Edit: just looked up the compatibility list. No Ford, GM or Dodge diesel trucks. :( sorry

Yeah, something about the age and being diesel. Ford has diagnostics for it, but it's a little pricey. :D

When it displays SES codes, how are they displayed? In detail, or just the code?


I'd rather it be able to tell me why the SES light is on than tell me a code like "P1449" or something, then I have to get on the internet and try to decode that or bother everyone else finding out....

Well, nothing will tell you exactly what's wrong. Fault codes are just what they are. Yeah, somethings are specific like a faulty sensor, etc., but other items come from combinations of items that require that each item be checked or be sent through a series of checks. Might be three items that control a specific set of parameters, but only one of those items is failing.

I'm not sure if that makes sense to you, but that's the way it is. Think of the code as a clue on where to look. Sometimes, it points to one item. Other times, it points to an area.

Not sure I'm following you.

Say you have a misfire in cyl. #3, does it tell you, Misfire: Cylinder 3.

I recently had SES Lights on and had to (once again) make a trip to see a friend w/ an Actron scan tool to find out why the SES came on. Luckily, his tool tells you what is wrong, other than say "P1440". Get what I mean?

Maybe not worth it but I bought two of them. :)

It is not very hard to look the codes up on the net or in a book. I have a cheap scantool also that says what the problem is. I was looking at a used 1996 saturn and it was warmed up but the computer was running on 115 F. I thought it was neat to see the common temp sender failure right on the scangauge. I don't know if the scantool would have been any more useful. The car was not setting any codes.

I don't read enough codes with mine to make looking up the code a big deal. I suppose if I did it for a living I would like a nicer one. The standard verbiage can be misleading, i.e. my saturn returned a code for "camshaft position sensor malfunction", My saturn doesn't HAVE a camshaft position sensor and this seemed an odd time for the computer to start noticing it. A google for the code and my car model led me to the cause of the problem, the ignition coil was going south.

Every penny!!!! :)

Ditto.......and programmable!:thumbup:

To Project84.

Yes, I have an actron as well as a scangauge, and no the scangauge doesn't "interpret" the readings like the actron does.

Giving a number and an interpretation is useful because you can basically get a gist of what is wrong. I mean yes, I can just look it up, but how about just knowing what is basically wrong? I mean there are certain things like if you get a p0420, if you've run into it before, it's something bad with emissions in the catylytic converter area. So at least you know not to go digging into the intake for cat problem.