What's On
Your Shopping List? Dear Motor Age,
Please advise me with the best and easiest to use scanner/diagnostic tool that may be available. Also do
Snap-on's Modis and Solus do the same things?
Thanks in advance for your time and for answering my questions.
Regards,
Sam, Manager (via e-mail)
Route One Shell, College Park, MD
Dear Sam,
From what I've seen, there's not a bad scan tool out there, just one that may not be appropriate for the job. If you're diagnosing driveability or emissions problems, you need to spend the big bucks and get a top-of-the-line tool from one of the major tool companies. There's also excellent scan tool software available that runs on a laptop computer. If you work on imports, especially European cars, you'll need more than one tool, because none of them can do everything on all cars. While these are big investments, perhaps the most important investment is in the training needed to learn how to use them. Even a middle-of-the-road professional scan tool can do much more than just pull codes. At the other end of the spectrum, there are some decent code readers available at parts stores, and there's also diagnostic software that will turn a PDA into a mini scan tool. Both of these show little or nothing beyond the generic OBD II data, but to an experienced tech, that's still useful information. The better products come with a book that lists and describes each code.The Snap-on Modis and Solus are two different tools. The Modis basically combines the capabilities of most of
Snap-on's diagnostic tools, including the Solus, into one package, and it's priced accordingly. The Solus is the company's new scan tool that can display data numerically and/or graphically, a very nice option indeed. But they're also still selling the old reliable MT2500
-- aka the “Red Brick” -- with all the latest updates.If you've never had a scan tool, you have a lot of research to do before spending any money. I would start with these two questions: What do you intend to do with it, and are you willing to get some training to learn how to use it effectively? Misunderstanding a scan tool reading can be just as frustrating
-- and expensive -- as having no scan tool data at all. Check out resources such as iATN, the Tool and Equipment Institute (ETI) or even a high school vo-tech teacher. Start learning what a scan tool can really do before you decide which one to buy.Hope this helps.
Jacques Gordon, Technical EditorThe Overheating VW
JettaRecently, Motor Age reader Marc Bonhomme had a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta in the bay for a rough running engine that would also overheat. It only had 75K on the odometer.
After pulling the plugs, he found a cylinder that was getting wet with coolant, so he replaced the head and the thermostat. When the job was completed, it ran much better, but the temperature gauge would rise to 190°F, stay there for a bit, then steadily continue upward. The fans would come on just before the gauge red-lined, but Marc always shut the engine down to prevent damaging the new head.
He decided to check the water pump and discovered that these pumps have a plastic impeller mounted onto a steel shaft. The impeller had broken off, so there was no coolant flow. A new water pump put the car back to top-running condition with no overheating.
Thanks Marc for sharing this hard-won bit of knowledge, we're betting it will help make someone else's day, too.
