What you need to know about OBD scan tools in Australia and how it works

The below article will cover what cars OBD2 tools will work with and what features they have to offer and how to tell if your car has OBD2.

The simplest answer is if your car in in Australia and is a 2006 model or newer then it was a requirement for the vehicle to fully OBD2 Compliant - We where a little bit behind the USA where all cars from 1996 up are OBD2 Compliant.

So, if your car is 2006 or newer you are in luck as you can use any of our OBD2 scan tools. Read below to find the difference between our range of scan tools

Basic OBD2 Scan Tool WiFi or Bluetooth – These devices allow you to check any engine fault codes logged in your vehicle. These are the codes that will cause the check engine light to illuminate on your dash board. These tools are quite cheap and you just plug them into your car’s OBD2 port which will be within 50cm of the steering wheel so normally just under the steering wheel somewhere usually to the left, looks like the bottom half of a triangle and has 16 pins. Once this is plugged in you can leave it plugged in and connect your phone or tablet to this device and download an app to view live engine data and view/clear engine fault codes. They are great tools as they allow you to work out what is wrong with your car without having to take it to a mechanic just to tell you something basic. Therefore saving you time and $$$.

Hand Held OBD2 Basic Scanners – These are handheld tools that will do everything the above scan tools will do but they have their own screen and interface so all you need to do is plug it in to your OBD2 port and scan for codes. They do not need their own power supply as they draw power from the vehicle to operate so need to replace or charge batteries. Again a great way to save money by not having to take your car to the mechanic. 

Full System Diagnostic OBD2 Scan tools -These are professional level tools that plug into your vehicles OBD2 port. They will either connect Via Bluetooth, WiFi or have a cable. Bluetooth and WiFi can be great for ultra portability but with the cable there will never be a risk of the connection dropping out and causing damage to the vehicles modules (rare but it can happen). They will read any fault stored within the vehicles modules for example engine, airbag, ABS, DPF ect. When a fault is recorded on your car it will take a freeze frame of when it happened so you can see a number of values that will help your work out why it happened. It will also give you the fault code and description of this so you can work out where the problem is. These tools will allow you reset functions such as throttle position sensor after replacement, carry out injector coding and program new modules to the vehicle after replacement. Most will also be compatible for programming new keys. The more advanced tablets run off an android system so you can connect to the internet and use it like you would a tablet from home. They also have camera installed for photos and videos and allow you to send detailed diagnostic reports to the customer or to a printer. The Autel + Vident let you plug in a bore-scope camera or Oscilloscope to the scanner.

 Hopefully this has helped and if you are still unsure please don't hesitate to get in contact with us!