Buying a Scan Tool

[redtrucks]

Looking at buying a inexpensive CanOBSD2 scan tool to at least diagnose and be able to turn off the check engine light. I am a diesel tech by trade so I'm not just another backyard mechanic with no experience on what I'm doing. Just had a check engine light come on in my wife's vehicle and it was a bad egr valve, took the dealer less that an hour to troubleshoot and replace but cost me about $120 in labor. I just hate paying someone else for something that I have the talent to accomplish. If the job were to be more than I can handle I would have the dealer repair but it would be nice to have an idea on why the check engine light was on. Looking at purchasing a Craftsman model 009-87702 - on sale for a $100. Anyone have an experience with this tool?

[delcecchi]

Won't some of the auto parts places like O'reillys do a scan readout for free? Or am I hallucinating again?

[redtrucks]

In my small town the auto parts stores don't want to compete with the repair shops so they don't offer that service. I would rather own my own tools than ask or borrow someone elses.

[deadeye]

Whatever you get just make sure you get a readout with a description of the code. That will help alot with troubleshooting.

I have a Innova (basically the same thing as the craftsman without the label) and I like it. There is obvious limitations with it and I do wish I has a Modis or a Genisys but for how much I use it I am happy. If I was doing this for a living it would be another story but its enough to get me into trouble

[Deep]

I bought the $59.00 one from Mac tools, works great on just getting the code out and resetting the code. Like said before at my work it is a diffrent story.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Most of the time I use the Mac ET-50 to pull codes. About $50, and saves a bunch of time on finding out if the problem is a pattern failure or something I need to get out the Mentor to dig a little deeper.