Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or boulder in my case), chances are you’ll know about the OBD2 port and that it can “somehow help you diagnose and fix issues” with your four-wheel drive. As you could well imagine, the OBD2 port will not really be much help unless you have something to plug into it, something that can read and interpret the data coming out of it. If you’re a bit lost or unsure of what an OBD2 port is and what it can do for you, have a read of this yarn here. With that in mind, we thought we’d take a look at the Autophix 3210 OBDII Bluetooth scanner.
We just got our hands on a rather neat little bit of kit (that we’ve got for sale in our Pop-up Store here), and thought we’d put it through the wringer, so you can make an informed decision when you’re looking at buying an OBD2 scanner/reader. The new Autophix 3210 OBD2 code reader from the team at Autophix brings all of your vehicle data and Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) to your fingertips, which can get your four-wheel drive out of limp mode and help you to diagnose and fix anything going on that you might otherwise need a tow to a dealership or mechanic for; and all via Bluetooth to your smart phone.
This is just one of a few different scanners that Autophix makes, with other options including a wired scan-tool as well as this Bluetooth model. The Autophix 3210 OBD2 reader will provide you with the following information:
- Reads & clears trouble codes
- Views freeze frame
- Reads data stream
- Displays I/M readiness
- Displays O2 sensor test data
- Battery voltage test
- Transmission detect
- EVAP system test
- Performance test
After having a play with the Autophix 3210 OBD2 reader in the HiLux, I was actually rather impressed with the unit. It connected up to my phone without any hassles, will run on any OBD2/CAN port (post-1996) and supports all OBD2 and CAN protocols, which means unless you’ve got something proper exotic, this will read what you’re plugging it in to.
The data available gives you a good amount of information, which will allow you to diagnose any hassles or issues you’re having with your four-wheel drive, and it’s rather small size means you can leave it permanently attached, and run all the data on your smartphone (in a holder attached to your dash, of course). Theses whizz-bang little units are priced at just $129.95, so the first time you need to clear a code, it’s just paid for itself in the form of a towing fee. Depending on what the problem is, and if you’re handy on the tools, it could even save you a trip to the mechanic.
All in all, it’s a decent bit of kit, as it gave a lot of info for both the trouble codes, and also live data for volts, battery condition, RPM, speed, and essentially every bit of data it’s able to read from the OBDII port, it has a ‘widget’ that puts it into a dial gauge or graph. Very cool bit of kit!
