Diagnostic tools - buy one or find a friend with one?

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Frenchdame

Frenchdame

Well-Known Member
Posts
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Location
Thirsk, North Riding
I was just browsing some Landy stuff on Youtube and quite a few of the diy adds show diagnostic tools being used and I just wondered how many home mechanics or diy folks actually have one and just how useful they are. I suspect I'm too dense to be able to use one let alone understand the readings, Also I worry that I would be tempted to use it before every trip just to be sure. My father-in-law was given a timing strobe as a pressie some years ago. Well, that was the end of the family day out in his Mark 2 Cortina estate. He never left the front door again without complaining that he thought the timing was out. Given the electronics on today's motors, is it worth investing a few quid to buy a diagnostic tool? Particularly for a Disco II TD5?
 
Hi.

Most would recommend one of the following for the D2 Td5, as they are not fully OBDII compliant.

Nanocom Evo
Hawkeye.

I have the nanocom Evo, because it allows me to program the car to accept second hand keys.
But I would probably get a hawkeye if that facility was not needed at the time of buying.
If you do a search on here for Hawkeye / nanocom / diagnostics then you will see plenty of hits discussing them.

I would suggest , finding someone local who has one and ask to have a look, it is quite an investment.

However, as per the timing gun, if you mess up with the diagnostics you can cause yourself a lot of hassle.


Cheers
 
My LR is a bit 'old' and doesn't need a diag tester .. however, I do all our maintenance at home and I bought an ebay bluetooth ELM3 OBDII for the wifes Nissan and sons Fiat, a free App on Android, 'Torque', later bought it for £2.99 and found it's the best tool for when things have gone wrong to give a pointer to where to look.

If I had a vehicle with a test port I'd definitely invest in one, with a nod to what @neilly posted ... Find someone else with one first just to see what it can do for you before investing.

If you don't do any maintenance or think it will cause you issues then it probably ain't worth the cost ...
 
As @neilly has already said, the diesel Discos didn't become compliant until the release of the D3 in mid-2004, this limits the diagnostics devices really to the Nanocom, Hawkeye or Lynx for DIY work. Unfortunately, the cost of either one of them is not insignificant, but they are the only ones which give you known truthful results.
Those little dongles mentioned by @Paul D, which plug into the diagnostics socket and work with a mobile phone app might give you some results, but unless you're able to cross refer the results from them to a know good device they're probably no better than a light on the dashboard on the D2 Td5.
When I bought my D2, I did factor in the cost of a Nanocom, and to be honest, I've probably used it on other people's Discos more than my own, but it's there when I need it, and even though some people reckon that you can recoup the cost by charging for a diagnostics run, in reality that isn't going to happen.
I'm very much of the opinion that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", so changing values just for the sake of it isn't in my remit. If however you do have a fault on the vehicle, a decent truthful scanner can save you many pounds if you had to get the vehicle to a "professional".
With that in mind, it would seem to be a reasonable idea to at least have the ability to "phone a friend" who can help out.
 
neilly said:
Hi.

Most would recommend one of the following for the D2 Td5, as they are not fully OBDII compliant.

Nanocom Evo
Hawkeye.

I have the nanocom Evo, because it allows me to program the car to accept second hand keys.
But I would probably get a hawkeye if that facility was not needed at the time of buying.
If you do a search on here for Hawkeye / nanocom / diagnostics then you will see plenty of hits discussing them.

I would suggest , finding someone local who has one and ask to have a look, it is quite an investment.

However, as per the timing gun, if you mess up with the diagnostics you can cause yourself a lot of hassle.


Cheers
Click to expand...

i GUESS
brian47 said:
As @neilly has already said, the diesel Discos didn't become compliant until the release of the D3 in mid-2004, this limits the diagnostics devices really to the Nanocom, Hawkeye or Lynx for DIY work. Unfortunately, the cost of either one of them is not insignificant, but they are the only ones which give you known truthful results.
Those little dongles mentioned by @Paul D, which plug into the diagnostics socket and work with a mobile phone app might give you some results, but unless you're able to cross refer the results from them to a know good device they're probably no better than a light on the dashboard on the D2 Td5.
When I bought my D2, I did factor in the cost of a Nanocom, and to be honest, I've probably used it on other people's Discos more than my own, but it's there when I need it, and even though some people reckon that you can recoup the cost by charging for a diagnostics run, in reality that isn't going to happen.
I'm very much of the opinion that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", so changing values just for the sake of it isn't in my remit. If however you do have a fault on the vehicle, a decent truthful scanner can save you many pounds if you had to get the vehicle to a "professional".
With that in mind, it would seem to be a reasonable idea to at least have the ability to "phone a friend" who can help out.
Click to expand...


Thank you. It's all really good advice for me and it is appreciated. Ta
 
There appear to be two models of Lynx, the hardwired one that's been out a while, and this new dongle-based one, the Evo, which wirelessly connects to a smartphone? It's the wireless one I'm interested in, to find out if it's any good, mostly!
 
The Mad Hat Man said:
@Shippers mate has a Lynx
Click to expand...

Having lunch with him tomorrow..he's an auto tech so probably wont use phone app or wireless...will ask though what he thinks and report back

Especially here in the Algarve up in the hills internet's shall we say like a S3/2A/S1 steering a bit vague.

Sorry to edit again but lunch is a barbeque ...watching Scottish news weather don't miss it
 
Last edited:
Discodevon said:
Hi mate

I can highly recommend Nanocom

Very clear and easy to use

Cheers
Click to expand...
Yeh, from Neilly and others it seems like the way to go. And Nanocom website price is far better than retail so I might get myself a Christmas pressie. Just one question - how big is it? Can I hide it from the wife or tell her it's for testing her microwave?
 
Frenchdame said:
Yeh, from Neilly and others it seems like the way to go. And Nanocom website price is far better than retail so I might get myself a Christmas pressie. Just one question - how big is it? Can I hide it from the wife or tell her it's for testing her microwave?
Click to expand...

The Nanocom device itself is 5 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3/4 inches. The leads take up more space; there's the lead which connects to the diagnostic socket and a USB lead to connect it to your PC to contact BBS for the unlock codes and updates.
 
look to see if anyone is doing a group buy, a few of the forums do it now and then.

Also, to avoid exchange rates, I used a preloaded exchange rate card to buy mine with.

SIze wise, if you look on you tube you can find some of the videos BBS have done.

Cheers
 
brian47 said:
The Nanocom device itself is 5 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3/4 inches. The leads take up more space; there's the lead which connects to the diagnostic socket and a USB lead to connect it to your PC to contact BBS for the unlock codes and updates.
Click to expand...

This brings up an important point - my machine runs Linux, NOT Windoze: Will it work with that?
 
I don't know, but when doing updates, it's a case of downloading a file from BBS and then opening it not from the computer but directly from the Nanocom which is connected to the computer by a USB cable. I think it's fair to say that the computer just acts as a store and an internet connection, nothing more.
Maybe a quick email to BBS will confirm it for you. But I think it might be a challenge no matter which device you opt for.
 
neilly said:
look to see if anyone is doing a group buy, a few of the forums do it now and then.

Also, to avoid exchange rates, I used a preloaded exchange rate card to buy mine with.

SIze wise, if you look on you tube you can find some of the videos BBS have done.

Cheers
Click to expand...
Thanks Brian47 and Neilly and all others. Cheers
 
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