Hot take: That $800 electronic diagnostic tool was a complete waste for me

Bought one of those fancy Autel units six months ago thinking it would save me hours on fault finding. Instead I spent two afternoons just reading the manual and it still misread a crank sensor on a 2012 Cummins. My old Fluke meter and a wiring diagram found the real issue in 20 minutes. Anyone else dump money on a scanner that just collected dust?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley431mo ago

Buddy bought one, swore at it for a week, then gave it to me.

bettyroberts1mo ago

@riley43 pretty much sums up what happens with half the gear we buy nowadays - everyone swears by the shiny new thing until you realize a simple tool does the job better. It's like that instant pot my sister bought that's been sitting in her cabinet for two years.

jordanblack1mo ago

Couldn't agree more. I picked up a fancy Launch scanner last year and it gave me a bad reading on a simple O2 sensor, wasted a whole Saturday chasing ghosts until I busted out the old multimeter.