Auto Scanners: What is all about!

Nowadays the vehicles in general have become comparatively reliable due to improvements made in design, materials and manufacturing techniques. Various automobiles servicing and repairs have somewhat, become obsolete since the range of skills required by the today’s technician has broadened. Even though the erstwhile skills are important, due to the introduction of computer controlled systems, additional skills have been necessitated. At the same time an average vehicle owner now has a bird’s eye view of various aspects of the vehicular functionalities.

In respect to the computer controlled systems, the diagnostic and monitoring procedure of a car engine has become smarter. It has become easier to monitor and efficiency and perform maintenance due to an on board diagnostic (OBD) system. It can always monitor the running condition of the engine. In the context of automobiles an OBD, is a generic term referring to a vehicle's self-diagnostic and reporting capabilities. An access to the state of health information about various vehicle sub-systems is provided by OBD systems to a vehicle owner or a repair technician. A computer chip interfaced with various systems and sub systems of a car is what an OBD system comprises of. If a malfunction in any of sensors or engine parameters is detected by an OBD, the electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle saves standardized diagnostic trouble code (DTC) information of the malfunction in the memory. Subsequently the DTCs can be accessed and processed by an external scammer to the OBD in order to retrieve the diagnostic results.

Earlier, simply a malfunction indicator light (MIL) would have been illuminated, if a problem was detected. However, the nature of the problem couldn’t be provided by these versions of OBD. The latest version of the OBD provides real-time data captured in the form of DTCs through the aid of a standardized fast digital communications port. This allows s the car owner, technicians and enthusiast alike to determine the problem and rectify the malfunctions. The aforesaid process is only possible with a device known as scanning tool or auto scanner. The data obtained by the scanner can be decoded comprehensibly with help of software on PC.

Earlier when scanners that featured almost all the functionalities, code readers were a popular choice among the automobile servicing centers. Now since the prices of diagnostic tools have reduced the demand, the demand for scanners has come into existence. In general there are 3 types of scan tools available - OBD-II generic, OBD-II enhanced and factory scan tools. A generic scan tools can only provide emissions based information, whereas the enhanced models can provide information about ABS, HVAC, transmission and SRS as well as OEM specific information. Be it a Mercedes Benz Scanner, one simply has to look for small depression or cavity to locate the port where the scanner I required to be connected. The scanners come along with instruction manual that has all the steps listed by the manufacturer. It can be referred if one encounters problem with the scanners.