Linkpower OBD MATE OBDII OM123 Car Vehicle Code Reader Auto Diagnostic Scan Tool for 2000 or later US, European and Asian OBD2 Protocol Vehicle (Orange)

Engine Management Light illuminated along with Limp Home (Safe) Mode after and enthusiastic manoeuvre. Problem persisted. Rather than pay a garage an hours labour (about £60) to plug a laptop in, or worse a standard "Diagnostics Checkup" for £100 (plug a laptop in), I opted to pay about £25 for this little gizmo and check the fault code myself first.Reading around the many web forums, my car's symptoms were likely the result of a cylinder misfire which itself could have been a result of numerous problems with many people saying they had one thing after another changed without success. Many had spend well over a £1000 without remedy and my car is only worth about £500! No brainer to at least give it a shot then.Bought Saturday afternoon, arrived Sunday for free (Prime is priceless). Opened packaging (which was easy to pull apart without the ridiculous welded plastic things seem to come in these days) and located OBD-II/EOBD/CAN/VAG-COM port.Once plugged in it powered up. Turning ignition on (not the engine) enabled it to communicate with my cars ECU. 1 fault code found. The beauty of this machine is that it not only gives you the code but it also saves you having to look it up in the book as it tells you in words what it means. Misfire cylinder 2 detected - as I had predicted. Given that I had hoped the misfire was a one off due to the timely occurrence after enthusiastic driving I noted the code down and cleared it.To my delight the EML lamp extinguished and upon firing up the beast, no Limp Home Mode. Entirely back to normal. What a relief! The whole process took less than 24 hours and £25 to fix from it's initial occurrence. The time it took to plug in and clear code actually only took 60 seconds! Hopefully it was just a one off fault and that this little gem has saved me potentially hundreds of pounds and many days sitting in garages.And what's the worst that could have happened? The fault wasn't fixable. At least I'd have gone to the garage armed with the information beforehand and that itself is worth £25!I appreciate the fault may recur, then I'll have to do something about it but at least now I can drive to work tomorrow, albeit a little less enthusiastically!

This 'OBD Mate' car fault code scanner seems well made and robust. It can display stored (persistent trouble) codes and indicate if there are occasional codes to keep an eye on . It will also display Live readings with the engine running and other diagnostic clues. While it briefly says what the code means, a quick Google will bring up a huge list of possible codes and more detail. However, as with any scanner, while it can reveal what items on your engine are sending error codes, none of them can know exactly why this is so. Often it is because the component has failed but sometimes it is because another item is sending it a bad signal. That item may also have sent an error code. It will be very expensive to start replacing everything that sends a fault code; a quick Google for 'How to use a Code scanner' will show that you will need to brush-up on how the modern engine works. Use it sensibly and you will know if you should DIY or at least know what your mechanic is talking about. One of these can easily pay for itself!

The engine warning light came on in our 2004 Toyota Yaris diesel so I visited a local garage and was charged £25 to be told that there was a malfunction in the glow plug circuit. Considering the car has a mileage of 115,000, it is not surprising that something was bound to turn up at some time. The garage reset the fault light but it re-occurred a few days later. At this point I started to look at diagnostic units for sale and was surprised to find one at a similar price to a garage check and with many good reviews. However, I have purchased seemingly good inexpensive items in the past only to find that they are a big disappointment. I got some re-assurance having asked a couple of questions about the unit so I ordered it with (with fairly low expectations)..Amazing! - I plugged it in, followed the instructions and up came the same diagnostic fault as the garage had found. Before ordering the unit I had downloaded the appropriate diagnostic fault chart because I thought that it would only give a fault number - but no, It not only showed the code but also a description of what the fault was.The fault is not particularly important, but I felt that it was worth keeping an eye on in case another fault occurred simultaneously which we wouldn't know about without diagnostics. At £25 pound a go for a diagnostic test, this purchase is brilliant.I can't speak for other vehicles - only that it works perfectly on mine.

I was a little hesitant at first as I know the diagnostic kits the garages use cost hundreds and the software updates are not cheap either. Having paid £80 twice to have faults diagnosed on my VAG car followed by costly repairs when yet another engine management light came on, grrr !! I was getting a bit peeved, had a little google and came across this.. with nothing to lose by giving it a go except twenty odd quid I ordered it.I got back from work the next day and at about 1830 amazon driver at the door with my package...very quick turnaround...impressive.Quick scan of instructions, I mean quick, get this from its box and "plugged" into my car..So it did its stuff, gave me a fault code and the fault...number two glow plug faulty..bought new plugs and harness from part supplier and an hour after all fitted and hunky dory !!! No EMU lights on the dash, no expensive diagnostics from garage.. problem solved and I reckon this little device has paid for itself 3 times over with its first use !!! Result !!! Friends have since borrowed this with similar results...a great little machine if you have the need for it..