OBD2 Diagnostic Scan Tool

We have an OBD2 code scanner. You can buy this from 1AAuto.com. It's a very simple tool. If you've got a check engine light on, it'll tell you what code it is. So this car does. We're going to go check it out.

You need to find your OBD2 port that'll vary from car to car. This one's underneath the dash here. That should be it there. Once you get plugged in, this will power on. We're going to follow the instructions on the screen. Let's see. I want to hit enter. We're going to turn the key on too.

Codes found, one. Let's see. If you want to read codes, hit the scroll button, enter. P0457, evaporative emissions fuel leak, so a fuel cap loose/off. I should double check the fuel cap, make sure it's tight and if it's not that, I'll have to keep diagnosing it.

But that's the basic tool. Then we can go back out and if I want to, I'm going to choose to erase that right now. I'll hit yes. And now my check engine light will be off. We're all set.

Just unplug it from the car, turn the key off, and that's how you use this basic code scanner.

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Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks.

So, you're cruising in your vehicle and you get a check engine light as you can see here on this vehicle. Now what's that mean? Check engine light actually on newer vehicles, is more of a check vehicle light. That light basically comes on. It could be one that says check engine like that or it could be in the shape of an engine as it is on some other vehicles. The computer has detected a malfunction with some part of the vehicle. What you generally do is take it to your dealer or to some other shop. They find out what the code is. How do they do that? Well they use something like this.

This is a code scanner and this is a fairly generic one. They can range in price, this one was probably around 150 dollars. They can range in price from this to up over 1000 dollars for the more sophisticated ones that detect more things, as far as ABS and different things like that. You'll take the scanner and you'll take a plug, and generally what happens is, up underneath here there'll be a plug to your computer. I'm going to use the camera here to find it. Let's see. Here it is, right over here. Let's plug our scanner up there.

Now we'll take the other end and plug it into our handheld. Actually once you plug it in it'll turn on. It starts giving some menus. We're going to do global and it's already on 2003 Subaru. I don't want to erase the data.

It wants me to turn off the key and then turn it on for 10 seconds: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Now I want to read the codes. It's linking up to the vehicle. So I have a PO452. So, this gives me the code here, PO452 which is an evap control system, pressure sensor low. That means there is basically a leak in the evaporative control. Then it has another code but it has no definition for that code. This is probably the one we can do something about. A leak in the evaporation control is usually most often is you didn't put your fuel cap on last time you put gas in your vehicle. That's generally the most common thing that causes a code like this. The second most common is that your filler tube has started to rust out. I actually checked both those things, they look okay.

Actually I'll make an admission. I know it was the fuel cap because I took it off and started up the car a couple times. Just to get the car to throw a code so I could do this little demonstration. Now I'm just going to clear that code from the car.

Go back, and erase codes. Are you sure you want to erase the codes? Yes. Okay, now I'm going to start my vehicle up again. As you can see after the car ran for a little while the check engine light shut off. In normal circumstances I'd drive the car around a little bit and make sure it stayed off. Since I know I took the cap off just to throw the code, I'm pretty sure it's not going to come back on. That's pretty much what happens when you get a check engine code on your vehicle. You take it to your shop, they run a scanner on it. Like I said, if you've got a vehicle and you do some of your own work, these scanners can be had for 200 to 250 dollars. They are invaluable. You can help friends out as well.

They run the scanner, they kind of get an idea of what's wrong with the vehicle, then they do some troubleshooting, and fix the problem

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What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you some of the functions of this OBD2 code reader that we sell at 1aauto.com. If you need parts or tools for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head on over to 1aauto.com.

You want to connect this to the OBD2 port on your vehicle. A lot of them are under the dash here, and then turn the key on and follow the instructions on the tool. Right on this main menu, if you scroll on the right, there are some different things you can click on. You can click on language and units of measurement. So if you wanted American or metric. The color of the screen you can change, or exit. Let's exit out of here.

Once you're on this screen, hit enter. It's going to scan the car right now. It shows that there's no codes read. The monitors--there's four monitors. Three of them are okay. Now, on this screen, we can read the codes, which we know there's no codes. We can erase the codes.

Next one down is view freeze frame. Freeze frame would only be there if you actually had a code, and it's only going to be some data that you'll be able to see. That's the data that happened right when that code was set. The readiness. We can check the readiness codes if it's ready to pass an inspection. Vehicle info and exit. Vehicle info, turn the key on. Engine off and press enter. We can check the vehicle ID number, the VIN number. Exit out of that. Calibration ID. Exit out of that. Verification number and previous menu.

Let's go back up to readiness. Click on the readiness codes. Since DTC cleared, this drive cycle, or previous menu. Let's click on since the DTCs cleared. It can show that the MIL light is off. That's the check engine light. Misfire monitor is okay and the fuel system okay. You can scroll through and it shows a bunch of other things. Some of the things do not apply. And, it's back to the other screen. So, there's some of the features of this scan tool. If you'd like one of these, get yours at 1aauto.com.

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