Frank-in-San-Diego

I have never used a scanner. I have a 1987 Corvette and a few more OBDII cars (a Ford and a Toyota)

I would like to buy a scanner that would read my Corvette (OBDI) and all other common cars. I would also like to have something that can give me real time feedback.

What should I use??? What should I buy???

BTW I am not a tuner, you guys are grad students and I am in Kindergarten. Give me the easy to use, easy to buy, beginner answer, not the PhD answer please

puzzigully

Hi Frank,

i'm probably just graduating from kindergarten, so not too far ahead of you

I have a 1987 Corvette as well and have successfully used Datamaster to "see" whats going on in real time.
Datamaster only allows you to "see" whats going on, you can't make any changes using this software.
You do need a cable to connect your laptop to the car - i purchased Moates' "ALDU1 and CABL1" - there are others, but I found this worked straight away.

I dont think there is anything yet, that the OBD2 guys have, like a bluetooth connection to a smartphone so you can see realtime as you drive.

You can do it with the 1987, but you'll need a laptop, so not as convenient.
I have found that when you connect the cable and "see" the data, the vehicle does operate marginally different - probably because you are asking it to send data while running?

My next step is to work out the software to make changes.
I think i've worked out the hardware I need, just need to wrap my head around the software and terminology used...

I'm almost ready for Elementary class now, I hope!!

hope this helps you

Cliff Harris

This happens when you put a 10K resistor across ALDL pins A & B. Don't do that. There sometimes is a switch on the cable or you might have to disable it in software.

puzzigully

Cliff, you are correct, the ALDU1, that I'm using from Moates requires that resistor to be there so Datamaster will give up the data (I think, as I haven't tried it without the 10K resistor remover by flicking the switch on the side of the unit)