Good older non computer vehicles are hard to find, especially in the rust belt. and sometimes you just have to upgrade your knowledge and toolkit to keep up. And it works on the Hummer H1, Ford F750s, Cab and Chassis all the way down to a chevy bolt and volt.
Yeah, this unit is a big step up from a ODB2 reader. I can perform bi-directional tests .. ie, is the purge valve opening or closing, turn off individual coils and fuel injectors, test out sensor circuits and some light programming. My shade tree fixing has been forced to move beyond the reader for my own vehicles, let alone friends who have dem spiffy new computer laden suckers.
Pretty cool. I recently used an OBD2 reader to diagnose a problem on my neighbor's 98 Jeep Cherokee. Bad MAP sensor. Replaced the offending unit and fixed the problem. Neighbor lamented that he "liked the old stuff". I explained to him that this IS the old stuff.
Well, when you have to tear off the entire upper intake, throttle body, purge valve, remove the battery, numerous connectors and vacuum lines and fuel rail to get fuel injector #3 and #5. You'd best not be in a hurry and you'd best be sure that they are really the problem. You gotta do the same thing to get to the rear spark plugs and coils except removing the fuel rail that holds about a pint of gasoline. EDIT Also noteworthy ... everything is plastic. Don't be in a hurry. Don't force anything. Or you are going to be doing a wiring repair or waiting for 3 weeks to get a new piece of plastic. And yes, 91 inch-pounds with a torquing sequence to reinstall the intake.
I had to do the same thing recently. Looked at the Xtool choices but ultimately went with an Autel. So many to choose from and a stupid number of versions from each manufacturer. Hard to choose. So why did you favor the D7? (This is to bolster my buyer’s remorse that I didn’t pick something else
Car Care Nut youtube channel. and 3 years of free updates to software. plus amazon was having a flashsale and i had a discount code from the youtube channel. basically got it for 320 total with tax and shipping. Yeah, it was like 200 bucks off. Couldn't resist.
Damn, not bad at all. Good for you. I got the Autel as it had TPMS capability (I’ve had some issues with those damn things) and allegedly online ECM reprogramming which if I get an ECM at the salvage yard might be handy. The xtool I was looking at, dont recall which, was about $500, My Autel was $900, OUCH!! Also looked at Launch. It appears lots, if not all, of the Launch and maybe some Autel and Xtool sold on Amazon are not manufacturer authorized retailers. I was skeptical about upgrades etc if gray market or counterfeit. I thought Autel dealer was likely legit. I saw the Xtool 3 years free updates… not bad. We drive old cars at our house, probably will be 6-8 years before I need an update
If you know what the damned thing is telling ya,, they're worth their weight in gold . I can't half figure out what my little cheap 40 dollar scanner is telling me ,, I just finished, about 30 minutes ago,, getting a new ac compressor bolted back in an 03 f250 6.0 diesel ,, 3/4's of the job is removing a bunch of crap just to get to the damned thing ,,,, I sure miss them old cars of the 60s and 70s ,,, nothing but motor ,, none of all these covers and shrouds,, excess pollution crap,, hoses and lines going every freeking where . Oh well ,, just ventin' ,,, got to get back out and finish putting all that crap back on ,, gonna take it and have it recharged tomorrow.
Yeah, you are right, there are a bunch of amazon scammers selling knock offs. I used the link from CarCareNut channel to get to their official store and went from there. He has a couple of full length reviews of nearly professional grade and professional grade machines. I went with the nearly professional as I'm not yet needing to do this car diagnosis/repair thing to feed my family ... quite yet.
