What OBDII Scanner Should I Get?

[horse]

...So after a bit of homework I found VOL-FCR software online and bought a VAG-COM 409.1 KKL OBD2 USB Cable off ebay for $14 from a vendor in Brooklyn NY. (super fast free shipping BTW).
Hooked it into my old Netbook and BINGO had my service light turned off and found and reset an ABS error.
I highly recommend the VOL-FCR software. At least for my 96 850 it worked flawlessly.

Hi Horse,

I´m very interested in VOL-FCR but I read that needs a OBD2-Serial cable...how did you get the VAG-COM cable worked (my laptop doesn´t have a serial port)?

Thanks!

EASY ---
it's called the instant serial to usb work around--->

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VAG-COM-409-1-K ... 27ce83e374

It's what I bought & it works flawlessly, was fast shipping from inside the USA and priced right.

Just need to go get the newest drivers installed ahead of time. ( google is your friend)
then reset com to com 1 ( it defaults to com 3).

I tested it on a notebook running XP and a laptop running win 7

the win 7 setup actually installed newest drivers on it's own.

Happy scanning.

[B234R]

Right, I´ll look for a cable like that in ebay, preferably from an european seller (over here the customs are charging too much taxes for parcels from USA...)
My laptop is running Windows 7, so if I can avoid reinstalling XP, much better.

Thanks a lot!

[valvster]

Just make sure the VAG-Com cable has a FTDI chip in it and you should have no problems.
You can get drivers from the FTDI website.

Valvster

[B234R]

The FTDI chip is to emulate a serial port, right?

I´ve seen a few cables on ebay but the seller doesn´t say if the cable has FTDI chip.
If I can´t get a FTDI chip cable I suppose I could buy a serial cable and a USB-Serial converter.

Thanks, Valvster and Horse.

[valvster]

It's been some years since I researched this cable but this looks like the exact same one I have :
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-DIAGNOST ... 1c2283a397
I recall most reports said that USB-Serial converters did not work but the Ebay Vag-Com usb cables did.
Luckily my car never seems to generate fault codes so the last time I used it was to reset the service light about a year ago.
Have just received an ELM327 bluetooth connector last week to hook up with my Android phone and Torque app ....still no codes in the ECU but I'm interested in using the app as a trip meter and to check fuel economy(my odometer doesn't work).
I also hope to get a boffin interested in producing an app to read the stored mileage in our 96 -97 model 850's.

Valvster

[horse]

........
I recall most reports said that USB-Serial converters did not work but the Ebay Vag-Com usb cables did.
..............

Exactly!
Just get a USB Vag-Com cable that is blue & not shipped from china and you'll likely be good to go. I see they offer a bunch on UK Ebay. Usually offered as USB VAG-COM cable for VW and BMW.

One thing the Software doesn't want to do is connect to the computer and pull the generic codes and reset them. But it's great for the service light, ABS, seats,and other stuff a standard scanner won't do.

AGAIN - It works with Win 7 and XP from my tests.
Just remember to install the newest drivers first....... then after install of cable go into Device Manager and reset it to use COM 1 instead of the default COM 3 setting and you'll be good to go. I did not bother to reset baud rates or anything else.

[B234R]

Perfect, I think this could be as good as any
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300732667040? ... 1423.l2649

I´ll order it, I would like to use Vol-FCR to find out what´s wrong with my car´s ABS, I´m becoming a bit obsessed with that

Again, many thanks!!!

[rspi]

I have a couple, a TopCan one (I think that's the name of it) and the http://www.ScanGauge.com. I like the TopCan one for reading codes and clearing them because it explains the codes. It cost me something like $59 off eBay and I've had it for about 4 years.

I also like my Scan Gauge II. It cost about $170 but I must say that it paid for itself within 6 months of using it because it helped me save about $525 on my fuel tab the first year I used it. I wrote a review on it here:
http://volvoforums.com/forum/audio-visu ... age-47174/
The only thing that I don't like about the ScanGauge II is that it does not explain the code, just reports the code number.
A couple of things I do really like about the gauge is the fuel trip info, including the cost of a trip and the software update that now reports and saves 1/4 mile times.

There is also a tool called Ultra Gauge that is like the Scan Gauge. It is suppse to clear codes and report mileage. It was about $60 or $70 a year or so ago, not sure what the cost is now.

[horse]

Perfect, I think this could be as good as any
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300732667040? ... 1423.l2649

I´ll order it, I would like to use Vol-FCR to find out what´s wrong with my car´s ABS, I´m becoming a bit obsessed with that

Again, many thanks!!!

Looks like a decent one.
You'll get plenty of ABS info with the stated software too!
If nothing else it's worth it for the ABS and resetting that pesky dealer service light.
Enjoy.

[B234R]

I´m not been very lucky with this.
I´ve bought a USB VAG-COM KKL 409.1 cable locally, I´ve installed drivers from FTDI web

http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

and I changed the USB Serial Port setting from COM9 (default) to COM1. Everything seemed OK.
I ran VOL-FCR Demo, connect the lead to laptop and OBDII, turn the key to II, push "Start Comms" and...after a few seconds appears the following message: "No response from car. Time Out. Is the ignition at position II? Wait 3 secs then try again".

I´ve been uninstalling and installing the driver and Vol-FCR three times, but it´s the same again. I´m thinking that the cable could be damaged.

It was easier to go to the workshop, let the car to the mechanic and spend a few euros...