Anyone have experience hooking up a OBDII scanner? I have recently got a "CHECK VSC" light, which 2 days later went away (yes I know it could have been the gas cap). In any case, I just wanted to try out my fathers scanner but had no luck. It keeps saying that vehicle is not responding.

The odd thing was that I noticed the LCD display on the dash said "DIA AWD 84/86" (the 84 and 86 would toggle), also noticed at some point "CHECK VSC" turned on, but then turned off. I got frustrated and unplugged the cables. Restarted the car to make sure no lights were on.

I must add my scanner is old, but it is OBDII compliant so I would think it should still work.

 

The "over the counter" scanners will not work on the 2IS. Lexus only.

 

My ScangaugeII works just fine on the 2IS.

 

Not true. Generic scan tools offer only a very limited subset of the functionality of the factory scan tool, but they are fine for simple tasks like reading and clearing codes.

There are a number of OBD2 protocols: C.A.N, ISO9141, J1850PWM, J1850VPW, KWP20. I believe our cars require a scan tools that supports the CAN protocol.

 

Thanks Bichon, thats is what I thought. I probably should just try another scanner, since this one is old anyways. I'm just getting a bit frustrated, my "CHECK VSC" light came on today but not the CEL. ahh crap...

 

Autozone will read the codes for you for free if you don't want to buy another scanner

If you want to buy one anyway here's one for 40 bucks that supports CAN
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=94169

 

I had luck with the Autozone scan tool as well with other cars. Typically, you have to put down $150 deposit and they refind when you bring it back. Even if your car is right in front of the place. Not a bad idea though, it does not cost you anything and worth a shot. I had luck diagnosing and clearing codes with other cars and did not want to pay $100-$200 to get a scan.

 

Thanks for all the replies, I will give Autozone a shot later today.

 

may sound like an idiot but what do these scanners do.. and why do codes need to be cleared??

 

They plug into the diagnostic port on the car and read codes. The codes tell you what is wrong with the car (ie for example using a totally made up error code, Code 8675 might mean the front left O2 sensor has a problem, and code 1234 might mean the crank position sensor has a problem, and so on)

You might clear a code when you've fixed an issue (or think you have) so as to see if the code shows up again (and thus tells you if the problem is really fixed or not).