OBD fault code readers

[8bit]

Folks,

As above, I could do with getting myself one of those little handheld OBD-II fault code reader things. Went to a local place today, they wanted £78 for the one they had. Went to Halfrauds, they had a sticker saying £132 on theirs!

I know you can get these things for £15 upwards on eBay but there's so many I got confused so thought I'd post here and see if anyone has something like this that they recommend. Particularly for mk1 Leon Cupra R (2005) but I guess all Seats around that age will have the same type of port etc...

Cheers in advance!

 

[repoman]

Search for U281 code reader on e bay thats the one i bought, works well

 

[Slimy]

The cheap ones are lead only, so you need a laptop to use them. Handheld ones seem to start from about £30, and I'm fairly sure they would work fine on your car. The Ebay ones are perfectly adequate, every so often they don't work but they're definitely the exception rather than the norm. To cover that, simply buy it from a UK seller (rather than China!) so you can send it back.

As SEAT's got younger, they changed the type of communication which makes the cheaper options completely useless. But you should be fine.

Don't bother with shop bought ones, they're no better.

 

[8bit]

Search for U281 code reader on e bay thats the one i bought, works well

Cool cheers - do you know if you can do a full ECU reset (e.g. the adaptions, fuel trims etc) with that one?

 

[Slimy]

Fuel trims get reset when you do a fault code reset, so that should be fine. I don't believe it will be able to do a throttle body adaptation, that's a VAGCOM only job.

 

[jase20vt]

i bought 1 last night off ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160512242572&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

 

[KernowFR]

You need to be a bit careful with the OBD readers that allow adaption ! I have had to attend to a couple of cars where its not explained with tags like VCDS, and users have lost the remote matching by pressing mmhhh what does this do ?

 

[Slimy]

You need to be a bit careful with the OBD readers that allow adaption ! I have had to attend to a couple of cars where its not explained with tags like VCDS, and users have lost the remote matching by pressing mmhhh what does this do ?

Good advice there. The VAGCOM software comes up with an 'Are you sure?' message whenever you're going to do something risky, I guess the handheld ones just let you get on with it.

 

[8bit]

Fuel trims get reset when you do a fault code reset, so that should be fine. I don't believe it will be able to do a throttle body adaptation, that's a VAGCOM only job.

I didn't mean throttle body adaption, I meant the fuelling adaption, I guess that is the same as trims tho - sorry wasn't very clear! Being able to do throttle body adaption would be handy but then...

You need to be a bit careful with the OBD readers that allow adaption ! I have had to attend to a couple of cars where its not explained with tags like VCDS, and users have lost the remote matching by pressing mmhhh what does this do ?

So you're saying some OBD readers can do throttle body adaption? If so, that's risking losing remote fob pairings and stuff?

 

[Slimy]

Sounds like the most basic fault code reader/resetter would do the job then.

 

[8bit]

Cheers, well I just ordered one of those U281 things off ebay just now, for about £26 if it just shows me the code numbers and lets me reset them I'll be happy enough with that for now. Cheers all

 

[MJ]

Those are, quite frankly rubbish. you should have bought an autel vag 405 for about £45 delivered.

Full fault codes and definitions, READ/ERASE function

Most control units covered

CAN-BUS capable

Live OBD data

Full OBD2 functionality for all cars

Full service light reset for nearly all vag cars upto 2008

Well worth the money, we have 2 at work and for the money nothing can touch them, they are very quick and get the thumbs up from everyone i know who has one.

Nothing other than VCDS, VAS equipment or more expensive diag gear will do basic settings the cheap code readers do just that - read codes and nothing else. At least with that autel machine you get a few extras.

 

[8bit]

Oh well, bit late now - where were you this time yesterday before I ordered the cheap one! To be honest the one I ordered seems to claim to be able to do most of that stuff and unless the Autel can do a proper throttle body reset (can it?) then the cheap one will do me until I can afford to get a proper VAGCOM setup.

 

[MJ]

the one you've bought doesnt even tell you what the fault is, just displays a generic obd number, the autel gives you a full definition, the obd code and a vag specific one.

 

[8bit]

Fair point, although I was thinking I'd be able to look up the codes online somewhere, thought the codes were pretty standard across all car manufacturers?

 

[MJ]

obd are but can be varied and online match-ups can be confusing.

 

[8bit]

OK well thanks for the info anyway, if this cheap one doesn't help then I'll go for an Autel after Christmas. Cheers MJ

 

[MJ]

no probs mate, i only preach about them because for the price - nothing even comes close!
and thats in comparisson to VCDS and dealer gear.

 

[Slimy]

To be fair, while only getting the number rather than the full description is a drawback, there are plenty of VAG websites with the lists of codes. Even the Ross Tech website has most of the major codes listed, and you can guarantee if it's a common code it'll be listed on here as well!

But any device compared to the SEAT dealer prices is usually a good buy, whether its an £8 lead or a £200 CANBUS biggie.

 

[K1Shane]

Was looking at a few of these on ebay. It seems hard to find one that will work on a mk2 cupra. They all say will work on MK2 leon, but not the leon that have can-bus (1P)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VAG-409-1-USB...iagnostic_Tools_Equipment&hash=item19c2415f1b

Can anyone recommend a cheap lead that i can use, that will work on my Cupra?