Practically Classics Forum

thinking of treating my self to a new toy, i need one thats compatible with 2001 clio etc.. ive found these... i dont want to connect it to the laptop or phone or anything, just a simple gadget for the technophobe to show me what ive broken now.
http://www.outiror.com/automobile/garag ... -auto.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diagnostic-Scan ... reader#Ask

The Amazon one looks promising but bear in mind that using this sort of thing still needs a computer of some sort for the database to run.

They both look like standalone readers, which are handy to read the codes but have limited functions (they can read and clear some codes but not all of them). I have one similar to the Amazon one that I bought when I had the last Golf (2002 diesel) and it worked fairly well - though the plug wasn't all that great and it kept losing its connection! However, I gather it isn't suitable for my Mk5 Golf and, so far, I haven't bothered to try it (I didn't need the reader to discover the engine had "blown up"!)

The devices themselves are standalone in the sense that they have a display, but their database requires a computer. It's usually below a Gigabyte and no permissions are required beyond port access. You can use a reader of that sort without the media, but you'd still need a source for the information. It won't cost you fortunes in internet useage as updates are few and far between.

The Amazon one looks very much like an orange AKA to the Fluke one that we use in work but short of having the pair side by side and opening them up I can't be sure.

thanks chaps all recomendations are welcome

Mine was (allegedly) VW-specfic, but the same make and model number as the Amazon one - the instruction book had the list of codes and what they meant. I suppose that's why it isn't suitable for the Mk5 but, as I wrote earlier, I haven't researched this at all. Annoyingly, the ones I've seen that plug into the computer (or whatever) all say they are for early Mk5 or earlier vehicles - my Mk5 is a late one and has DPF, which is the only code that has needed to be read since I bought the dashed car - and it was a sensor that was faulty and not the DPF itself and the local garage sorted it (probably cheaper than I would have done it for as they only fitted one sensor ).

Thinking back, it wasn't much help when the Mk4's door lock's "door closed" switch broke either - it didn't show the fault and a proper VAG-Com (or whatever) said it was the "Comfort Unit" (or was it "Convenience Unit") that controls all sorts of unrelated things!

cheers!

I've got that Amazon one... bought it to pull the codes out of my XJR and reset the engine management light..... used it for a few years now and wouldn't be without it.... it came with a booklet of generic codes and then I downloaded the codes for the 2001 XJR and printed them off to refer to. It won't pull codes out of airbag modules or ABS modules but will read the main ECU up to a point and will delete the codes and reset the light.
I've used it on loads of other cars too..... 52 plate Clio, 51 plate 206 & 106, BMW 1 series to name a few.
Recommended.

I have one, its a cheapo Chinese Bluetooth thing that connects to my phone using the torque app, less than a tenner all in. It reads generic codes, which is quite handy as a starting point, and it works on my daughters latest motor, a 10 plate VW fox, identifying a cylinder 3 misfire....but you still need ye olde oily rag skills to actually find the cause. A coil pack on the way out in this case as swapping them around moved the misfire.

It doesn't do airbag resets or abs or anything like that, but abs is pretty simple to sort with a standard multimeter anyway and for what it cost it's pretty useful!

It does airbag resets if you run a Smart ForTwo, ForFour or Roadster, this may be something to do with Ian Hawkins' having written Torque because he wanted accurate information from the STAR box on his own Smart. It may also be pure coincidence. Torque was compatible with everything that STAR would do, but without the £80 bill from the Mercedes dealer for the few minutes that the car would have been connected up. That was then, now STAR is free to download and also runs on a telephone or other BT(2 on)-compatible portable computing gadget running the required (FREE, Rich!) easy to use software.

But Rich doesn't have a modern telephone because he needs his mid-'90s Nokia to play Snake.