http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Snap-...00447541QQrdZ1

There's an auction that has a lot of details about it. More than I can type out. I'll use that auction for reference about the unit.

I was wondering of what use this could be to me for tuning the SC. What are some area's I should check on the car with this to optimize performance? I know I can pull codes and flash the ECU, as well as a few other things, but I'm not sure of it's full potential.

I got it from a buddy who needed some cash and was a mechanic. He paid $4,000.00 for it a year ago new.

 

use for tuning is this unit will tell you total timing

 

i have used this unit several times. its a great unit but i like the newer snap-on ones which has color screen. this unit is basically a obd scanner. helps you troubleshoot and diagnoise your car. but this machine is not for tuning. its basically a scanner. for ex. your car has a check engine light so with this unit just plug it in the obd connector and will tell you whats causing the check engine light.

 

That is a very good scanner...they kick ***, very basic though...you said he paid 4k a year ago? I don't know...they have much better scanners out, even a year ago with windows based GUI's and stuff.

As long as you got a good deal on it thats all that matters. What cartridges / harnesses did it come with for obd1?

I know you have alot more options and features if you use it on an OBD2 car, and Im not sure what year your SC is...I'm pretty familiar with that scanner..its a great diagnostic tool as you can watch all the parameters of your engine - as far as tuning the car with it, you really can't... but you can watch your TPS voltage, vehicle speed, and MAF voltage, and everything else while going down the road

 

I still have 6 cartridges to find to make it complete, but I have several. I have ALL the harness's though. There's well over 20 adapters and at least 15 different cords. That's what ended up costing him, he bought everything you could get for it. The obdII cartridges seem to be the most expensive and I have all those, plus some odbI. I figured as long as I could monitor the car, I could use it to tune since I could watch everything in real time. Just checking for unknown potential that may be around.

 

What say you on it's value? :0) (don't worry i'm in it for pennies)

 

well i mean, that scanner is very good...you can use the numerical data to help you tune with a piggyback im sure...variables such as timing, injector pulse, MAF / MAP readings etc - if the said piggyback dosen't already show this data. I would use it and charge friends/whoever a little cash to see whats wrong with their car... flash ecu's free of diagnostic trouble codes...It normally runs like 50 bucks or more just to hook it up and turn it on at a regular shop. Autozone will do it for free - but you're not Autozone..

 

Judging from what you said on the cables and harnesses i'd give up at least 1000$ to own that puppy. Alot of people use palm pilots with a standard obd2 cable and 16 pin connector (200$ or so) but they are limited to OBD2 only and they don't have nearly the amount of the features as this one (You can even test air suspensions with that scanner on buicks/caddies) . If I remember right it has peak and hold charts where you can record digital signals too, similar to the Snap on Vantage - you can plug in positive and negative leads into that and use it as a multimeter as well and record signals.

 

Ahh cool thanks. I can make a few bucks if i ever sell.

Thanks.

 

brian... careful w/ the term real time. it displays the info after the ecm has received &
interprided it. meaning, the ecm has altered the parameters that your seeing. generally
their close in value, but are delayed. the more parameters your viewing @ once the slower
the info is. (further away from real time) do CUSTOM DATA LIST to speed it up. the toyota software
is extremely slow, you'll see what i mean. beware the scanner does have software
problems where it displays BS readings. if that happens... power off & reboot.

i cant tell from the pic if yours has the newer graphing feature, thats handy. we switched to
the newer modis which does 8 channel graphing. anyway, if yours graphs: try total timing, injector
duty, o2 & rpm for referance. that would help as a ref. for street tuning. the gm software is
much better for when you get around to the vette.

BTW forget reading the books. plug into the car & go straight to the troubleshooter. read & play
around in there. it explains what your looking @ on the main DATA screen.
good luck & have fun playing.
john

 

Good info bro, thank you. I didn't see myself needing the graphing one so I took his other one (and saved a few hundred $$ since it is a shadetree use thing). I was most pleased to have all the personality key's he had come with this one. Here's a bit more dynamic view of what was included. A lot of the key's are covered up, and a few items wouldn't fit in that drawer.

So $700 would be a decent purchase?

 

were you wearing a mask & have a gun? 700.00!! the software update
packages go for that!!

i see the obd2 connector & keys. the 4 software cards...
domestic, asian, domestic troubleshooter, asian troubleshooter?
if they cover the years of your cars your set !

also if you have a cool snap-on dealer, you maybe able to rent other
cards when needed. ie abs/abs troubleshooter, etc. not worth buying
as a hobbiest.