Best OBD reader?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Mrs Ds 2006 Honda Shitvic has a dash warning light for VSA/Traction Control/ABS which comes and goes.

I don't have an OBD reader...I'm guessing you can probably get Bluetooth+App ones now or some shizz.

Does anyone have a recommendation?

[MrLongbeard]

Not for a Civic, you really need Honda Diag software to dive into them.
However, with those symptoms (assuming the tyre pressure light and power steering light also come on) I diagnose 1 of 2 possible causes;
1, battery is knackered and on its way out.
or
2, one of the rear ABS sensors is going flaky.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Aye, but which one

Problem manifests itself (and goes away again) when you drive over bumps, so it's gotta be something jiggling.

[KungFooBob]

I've got this one...

https://m.gendan.co.uk/product_UCSI2100_16.html

I got it after I discovered that the cheap one I've had for a decade couldn't handle command strings long enough to perform certain functions on a couple of vehicles I own.

It works especially well with BMW cars and bikes, I can do all sorts of crazy shit with the right apps.

A cheap elm compatible Bluetooth jobbie and the torque app will allow you to read the obd2 code and reset it, but it won't tell you the Honda specific code.

Also, the Bluetooth ones don't work with iPhones, you'll need a wlan one

[MrLongbeard]

Off-side at a guess based on info from Civinfo forum, and me having the same earlier this year, 70 quid part.

[Big Red]

A cheap obd code reader will only read engine management codes, it wont give you access to the abs system.
You will have to fork out a bit more for a more expensive scanner if you want access to other systems other than engine management.
It is more than likely one of the abs wheel speed sensors going open circuit.
If the light is on, I would stick a multi meter on each sensor checking their resistance when disconnected from the wiring loom on the car.
The faulty one is the one either open circuit or giving a reading far away from the other sensors.

[KungFooBob]

A boggo ODB reader should tell you which wheel sensor it is. The ODB standard covers quite a lot, not just engine management. It won't do stuff like let you cycle the ABS pump or reset the electronic parking brakes tho'

My £9 jobbo told me when the front left speed sensor on my SL gave up the ghost.

[MrLongbeard]

A boggo ODB reader should tell you which wheel sensor it is. The ODB standard covers quite a lot, not just engine management. It won't do stuff like let you cycle the ABS pump or reset the electronic parking brakes tho'

My £9 jobbo told me when the front left speed sensor on my SL gave up the ghost.

Not on a Honda, I've got 2 bluetooth OBDII readers, and one generic wired jobbie and they can't see owt, you really need a hooky copy of Honda's HBD software and a special cable.

[Sadlonelygit]

Autel AP200
Std 16 pin reader, comes with a free download for 1 vehicle, other vehicles are $21. Apparently it's all auto data/snapon cloned software......who sued them!
Gives live read outs of everything you need.
Got one for my MB sprinter, brilliant bit of kit.

[Mr. Dazzle]

A boggo ODB reader should tell you which wheel sensor it is. The ODB standard covers quite a lot, not just engine management. It won't do stuff like let you cycle the ABS pump or reset the electronic parking brakes tho'

My £9 jobbo told me when the front left speed sensor on my SL gave up the ghost.

Not on a Honda, I've got 2 bluetooth OBDII readers, and one generic wired jobbie and they can't see owt, you really need a hooky copy of Honda's HBD software and a special cable.

AFAIK it's ilegal for OEMs to 'hide' stuff from the ODBII readers like that, but I should imagine there's plenty of scope for interpretive readings of the rules.

[MrLongbeard]

A boggo ODB reader should tell you which wheel sensor it is. The ODB standard covers quite a lot, not just engine management. It won't do stuff like let you cycle the ABS pump or reset the electronic parking brakes tho'

My £9 jobbo told me when the front left speed sensor on my SL gave up the ghost.

Not on a Honda, I've got 2 bluetooth OBDII readers, and one generic wired jobbie and they can't see owt, you really need a hooky copy of Honda's HBD software and a special cable.

AFAIK it's ilegal for OEMs to 'hide' stuff from the ODBII readers like that, but I should imagine there's plenty of scope for interpretive readings of the rules.

The boys on the forums are claiming that mid range stuff £150+ autels etc can do it, but even then it's a coin toss as to whether they'll work or not, so I gave it up for a bad idea

[Sadlonelygit]

A boggo ODB reader should tell you which wheel sensor it is. The ODB standard covers quite a lot, not just engine management. It won't do stuff like let you cycle the ABS pump or reset the electronic parking brakes tho'

My £9 jobbo told me when the front left speed sensor on my SL gave up the ghost.

Not on a Honda, I've got 2 bluetooth OBDII readers, and one generic wired jobbie and they can't see owt, you really need a hooky copy of Honda's HBD software and a special cable.

AFAIK it's ilegal for OEMs to 'hide' stuff from the ODBII readers like that, but I should imagine there's plenty of scope for interpretive readings of the rules.

Ever owned a mercedes?
'could not connect to vehicle ecu' is the default setting for it's OBD port
Hence why I now own an Autel!

[KungFooBob]

Not on a Honda, I've got 2 bluetooth OBDII readers, and one generic wired jobbie and they can't see owt, you really need a hooky copy of Honda's HBD software and a special cable.

AFAIK it's ilegal for OEMs to 'hide' stuff from the ODBII readers like that, but I should imagine there's plenty of scope for interpretive readings of the rules.

Ever owned a mercedes?
'could not connect to vehicle ecu' is the default setting for it's OBD port
Hence why I now own an Autel!

Yeah, a 2014 SL350 R231, my ten plus year old Bluetooth odb reader and the torque app worked flawlessly. I got a code for front wheels sensor, which I fixed and codes for the nox sensors, which I cleared before trading it in.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Purely by chance, I've actually been having discussions at work today (big German OEM) about sensors, CAN, signals, self-diagnostics and reliability

There's a shit tonne that goes into it.

None of them knew a good cheap OBD reader. Funily enough, it's not a problem they encounter.

No we don't have one I can use before you ask.

[Sadlonelygit]

AFAIK it's ilegal for OEMs to 'hide' stuff from the ODBII readers like that, but I should imagine there's plenty of scope for interpretive readings of the rules.

Ever owned a mercedes?
'could not connect to vehicle ecu' is the default setting for it's OBD port
Hence why I now own an Autel!

Yeah, a 2014 SL350 R231, my ten plus year old Bluetooth odb reader and the torque app worked flawlessly. I got a code for front wheels sensor, which I fixed and codes for the nox sensors, which I cleared before trading it in.

Must just be sprinters then!
When I d/loaded the software it was totally separate from the MB main download, which sort of screwed things up for a while as you only get 1 free!

[porter_jamie]

Autel AP200
Std 16 pin reader, comes with a free download for 1 vehicle, other vehicles are $21. Apparently it's all auto data/snapon cloned software......who sued them!
Gives live read outs of everything you need.
Got one for my MB sprinter, brilliant bit of kit.

This. For the money it is ace. Cheap enough and very handy I carry it in the car all the time. Saved my Bacon once when her Volvo map sensor shat itself I could clear the fault and carry on. It went into limp home mode and I eventually worked out if it kept it below 55 it was fine. With the limp home it was struggling to do 45 and on a motorway that was scary. There's no reason not to have one imo

[Mr. Dazzle]

I had a bit of a dig around the forums...touch wood I won't actually need an OBD reader.

These cars can be sensitive to tyre pressures when it comes to ABS/VSA faults apparently. Well I suppose they're actually sensitive to the wheels spinning at mismatched speeds, which is caused by mismatched tyre pressures. The sensors presumably do 'plausibility checks' on each other to detect faults, and those checks are equally presumably based on certain assumptions about how different the wheel speeds might be.

Anyway...I checked the pressures again and they were a couple of psi different, which I'm surprised is enough to be a problem. The fault hasn't reappeared for a while.

Jinxed it now of course.