Bought a cheap OBD2 scanner from Harbor Freight and it cost me a full day's pay

It was a $30 unit that kept giving me a generic P0300 code for a misfire on a Ford Escape, but it wouldn't show me the live data or specific cylinder. I spent hours swapping coils and plugs before I borrowed a real scan tool from the shop next door and found it was just a bad injector on cylinder 2. Anyone have a decent mid-range scanner they actually trust that won't break the bank?

3 comments

3 Comments

cameronrivera2mo ago

Yeah those cheap scanners are basically just code readers lol

wesley_hart1mo ago

Wait, has anyone tried hooking one of those up to a modern electric or hybrid car? I bet those cheap scanner things just totally crap out when they see anything that isn't a basic engine code. No way they can read battery cells or all the computer modules in an EV.

gray_walker492mo ago

Remember when my buddy tried to use one of those on his old truck? It kept saying everything was fine while the thing was literally smoking. Ended up being a whole wiring mess the cheap tool couldn't even see. Makes you wonder what else those things just... miss completely.