And if you’re up to spending a little more, you can buy OBD readers that are manufacturer specific which will give you details on what is setting off a code. VWAG cars are hell, but if you have VCDS/Rosstech (or ODIS if you can get your hands on it) simple plug and scan will majority of the time give you the exact cause with an event history of the code and not just a vauge “Bank 1 lean” etc, and even if you don’t want to do the repairs, if you know what is broken, ordering the parts and giving to a shop ends up being much cheaper and quicker then the cost of them doing the diagnosis and repairs
I just brought my car in for an airbag light and inspection. They read the codes and stopped without charging me anything. They handed me the manufacturer printout of possibilities and future steps, and recommended I goto the dealer for a related recall. Of course the recall wasn’t enough so now I’m out thousands.
I know this is just one example but reading the codes myself would have made no difference. As far as I can remember out of all the problems with all the cars over the years, reading the codes would never have made the difference. I’m tempted because it’s cheap and knowledge is power, but realistically I don’t see it helping
Maybe this is directly related to how much work you can do on your own vehicle, when guided by a problem code, but I’ve never had a scenario where this was even close
When I used to be a professional mechanic I solved many issues by simply reading the manual after checking codes. My library has access to the Chilton online manuals for free, there’s also google. I’ve also diagnosed issues by reading Amazon reviews for parts after reading codes.
To be clear, I agree it’s important for mechanics to be able to read the codes, but disagree about consumers. I might do it since that’s gotten cheap and I like to see data but don’t expect it to be useful.
Basically if it’s easy enough to do myself, reading the code doesn’t usually help diagnose. If reading the code helps diagnose, the chances are tiny that it’s something I can work on. Obviously there are people who do a lot more of their own car repairs
It’s a good skill to know so you don’t get ripped off. You can find the most likely culprit and look up the book time and parts cost. Then go to the mechanic and don’t tell them you know. Just say the light is on. If they come back with some wild price for the issues, then you can tell them to put the car outside and you’ll come pick it up.
If by actually help you mean does it ever fix things? No, an OBD reader will never fix a problem, it is just a diagnostic tool, it helps locating a problem without having to essentially do a full body scan by hand, kinda as if you had a leak in a house, and instead of having to inspect every pipe in the house tearing down walls, you just use a tool that tells you “leak found, upstairs shower, hot side valve”, yes you still could have found the leak just by hand if you wanted, but it might have taken days or weeks, and tons of money replacing unnecessary pipes.
Its good you have a shop that did the OBD readout and gave you suggestions for free, most shops around me you’ll be paying hundreds for that, but I agree it still suck regardless that you are down a path that is gonna cost thousands, for what it is worth, if you have an airbag/SRS problem, an OBD reader definitely wouldn’t help as anything SRS is always really expensive, usually not just a case of plug and play parts, even just a broken wire isn’t just a simple soldering job and hardware adaptions very much are vehicle specific and can be timely if calibration is necessary
Taking the analogy t to health…… a thermometer is an excellent diagnostic tool I can use to decide whether to take other actions like fever reducer, staying home, deciding whether so seek medical attention. It’s useful to me. An MRI machine may be very useful to a doctor but if I could have one in my home it would not be. It may be a great tool but I can’t use it to decide on my best course of action nor save money.
I suppose it depends on how much work you do yourself (and admittedly I do less than I used to), but I’ve never had such a readout change what I do. Even in the above example, addressing the error code was something I was going to have to have someone do and I have a shop trustworthy enough to point out when there is a potentially cheaper option for me
And if you’re up to spending a little more, you can buy OBD readers that are manufacturer specific which will give you details on what is setting off a code. VWAG cars are hell, but if you have VCDS/Rosstech (or ODIS if you can get your hands on it) simple plug and scan will majority of the time give you the exact cause with an event history of the code and not just a vauge “Bank 1 lean” etc, and even if you don’t want to do the repairs, if you know what is broken, ordering the parts and giving to a shop ends up being much cheaper and quicker then the cost of them doing the diagnosis and repairs
But does it actually help?
I just brought my car in for an airbag light and inspection. They read the codes and stopped without charging me anything. They handed me the manufacturer printout of possibilities and future steps, and recommended I goto the dealer for a related recall. Of course the recall wasn’t enough so now I’m out thousands.
I know this is just one example but reading the codes myself would have made no difference. As far as I can remember out of all the problems with all the cars over the years, reading the codes would never have made the difference. I’m tempted because it’s cheap and knowledge is power, but realistically I don’t see it helping
Maybe this is directly related to how much work you can do on your own vehicle, when guided by a problem code, but I’ve never had a scenario where this was even close
When I used to be a professional mechanic I solved many issues by simply reading the manual after checking codes. My library has access to the Chilton online manuals for free, there’s also google. I’ve also diagnosed issues by reading Amazon reviews for parts after reading codes.
To be clear, I agree it’s important for mechanics to be able to read the codes, but disagree about consumers. I might do it since that’s gotten cheap and I like to see data but don’t expect it to be useful.
Basically if it’s easy enough to do myself, reading the code doesn’t usually help diagnose. If reading the code helps diagnose, the chances are tiny that it’s something I can work on. Obviously there are people who do a lot more of their own car repairs
It’s a good skill to know so you don’t get ripped off. You can find the most likely culprit and look up the book time and parts cost. Then go to the mechanic and don’t tell them you know. Just say the light is on. If they come back with some wild price for the issues, then you can tell them to put the car outside and you’ll come pick it up.
If by actually help you mean does it ever fix things? No, an OBD reader will never fix a problem, it is just a diagnostic tool, it helps locating a problem without having to essentially do a full body scan by hand, kinda as if you had a leak in a house, and instead of having to inspect every pipe in the house tearing down walls, you just use a tool that tells you “leak found, upstairs shower, hot side valve”, yes you still could have found the leak just by hand if you wanted, but it might have taken days or weeks, and tons of money replacing unnecessary pipes.
Its good you have a shop that did the OBD readout and gave you suggestions for free, most shops around me you’ll be paying hundreds for that, but I agree it still suck regardless that you are down a path that is gonna cost thousands, for what it is worth, if you have an airbag/SRS problem, an OBD reader definitely wouldn’t help as anything SRS is always really expensive, usually not just a case of plug and play parts, even just a broken wire isn’t just a simple soldering job and hardware adaptions very much are vehicle specific and can be timely if calibration is necessary
Taking the analogy t to health…… a thermometer is an excellent diagnostic tool I can use to decide whether to take other actions like fever reducer, staying home, deciding whether so seek medical attention. It’s useful to me. An MRI machine may be very useful to a doctor but if I could have one in my home it would not be. It may be a great tool but I can’t use it to decide on my best course of action nor save money.
I suppose it depends on how much work you do yourself (and admittedly I do less than I used to), but I’ve never had such a readout change what I do. Even in the above example, addressing the error code was something I was going to have to have someone do and I have a shop trustworthy enough to point out when there is a potentially cheaper option for me