Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

As the title indicates, I am looking into different scan tool for my 2019 GMC Sierra 1500. I have a Mac Scout 6250 that I bought for a very good price a few years back and it is a great tool, but the software is out of date, and it will cost $1,099.00 to update it to 2023. It will not read my truck without the update. I started researching and found the BlueDriver Bluetooth Pro OBDII Scan Tool for iPhone & Android, and the INNOVA 5610, OBD2 Bidirectional Scan Tool. Both offer repair solutions and suggested fixes and link up to a cell phone. Any thoughts or user experience with either of them? Recommendation on what you are using. If I update my Mac tool it will update the diagnostics and the repair database on the tool. After the subscription runs out, I will lose the repair database, but the diagnostics will remain. I have thought about updating the Mac 6250 and at the end of the year buying the Bluedriver for $119.00 to get access to the free repair data included. The Mac tool can do bidirectional testing and procedures. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/BlueDriver-Bluetooth-Professional-iPhone-Android/dp/B00652G4TS/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3EMUQKG8QOAUO&keywords=bluetooth+scan+tool+obd2&qid=1675002991&sprefix=bluetooth+sca%2Caps%2C228&sr=8-2&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.18ed3cb5-28d5-4975-8bc7-93deae8f9840#customerReviews

 

https://www.amazon.com/5610-Bidirectional-Lifetime-OE-Level-Functions/dp/B07Z481NJM?&linkCode=sl1&tag=validconsumer-20&linkId=dd7a9d3e9df36d4b9d963b31aa28c7a9&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl#customerReviews

Posted

 

31 minutes ago, silveradosid said:

if you dont mind using a laptop, vcx nano for gm. gives you gds2 and you will have all functions

 

I did a search and read reviews on it, and it seems pretty sketchy at best. I do not think I want to chance it after reading reviews of all the issues with malware and problems getting it set up and running. Have you used this program?

Posted

I have been going down this road for years. $1K or more is ridiculous, but one shop bill could be more and I know it's right by doing it myself.

This scanner was suggested by my son, a mechanic.

https://www.autel.com/mk3/3219.jhtml

 

Posted

I have been using Autoenginuity for a number of years. Happy with it. The OBDII connector does Bluetooth or USB cable. I have there software on my laptop and have it on my Iphone. Annual subscription after purchase isn't too bad. If it runs out I can still use it on my laptop just no updates. The Iphone app if I recall stops working without a current subscription. I bought the a bundle package that supports Ford, Chrysler/Jeep and GM. I don't recall what the bundle is called. I have not used it on my 2022 Silverado ZR2 as yet. No need as yet.

 

https://www.autoenginuity.com/

Posted

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Since I already have a very good Mac Scout 6250 scan tool, I might be better off buying the latest update subscription. It is good for one year and will allow free updates to the tool database during that time. The sub also includes one year of access to the Mac repair source repair database. There are a total of nine vehicles in my family that I can use it on so I think I can defiantly make use of it. The only time I would need to update again is when one of us buys a vehicle newer than the subscription date. Most of the scan tools out there do not come with a repair database. I checked with Mac on the added features and tests that the latest update will provide, and it looks like it will do anything I could ever need. Seems like the best long-term solution. Gotta think on it some more.

Posted (edited)

I use the OBDLink MX and the OBDLink SX for analysis and active monitoring.  The MX is bluetooth and allows for unlimited vehicle make and models with free updates.  By far the best OBD Scanner and diagnostics aide I have ever used.  Also includes diagnostics for manufacture and vehicle specific systems.

Edited by Gangly
  • Like 2
Posted

I was thinking of posting a thread on this yesterday. I'm looking for something more than just a reader. I want something that can control and test functions from the tool, like what a shop would use. I'd also like something that can read BCM codes as none of my scanners can do. The dealer said my truck had a bunch of BCM codes, but I don't know what they were. I have a feeling it was from when I tried to install a 3rd party extended range remote starter. Some of what I found on ebay were $3K or more! I'm hoping there's a cheaper alternative.

Posted

I am trying to decide if I should update my Mac scan tool or put it up for sale and just buy something like a BlueDriver Bluetooth Pro OBDII Scan Tool. I doubt I will need a full featured scanner until my truck gets a little older. I bought the extended warranty for it because of all the possible lifters and transmissions problems so I should be worry free for a few more years. TheBlueDriver will allow me to check for trouble codes and help keep the dealers honest. 

Posted
16 hours ago, Tom Hoshock said:

I am trying to decide if I should update my Mac scan tool or put it up for sale and just buy something like a BlueDriver Bluetooth Pro OBDII Scan Tool. I doubt I will need a full featured scanner until my truck gets a little older. I bought the extended warranty for it because of all the possible lifters and transmissions problems so I should be worry free for a few more years. TheBlueDriver will allow me to check for trouble codes and help keep the dealers honest. 

Well, I finally made up my mind. I decided to update my Mac ET6250 Scan Tool. The update will allow me to download software updates for one year from the date of activation so I should have some 2024 diagnostics on before the sub runs out. I am anxious to get the update installed so I can check for any codes in the history.

  • Like 2
Posted
On 1/31/2023 at 12:21 PM, Gangly said:

I use the OBDLink MX and the OBDLink SX for analysis and active monitoring.  The MX is bluetooth and allows for unlimited vehicle make and models with free updates.  By far the best OBD Scanner and diagnostics aide I have ever used.  Also includes diagnostics for manufacture and vehicle specific systems.

I second this. The OBDLINK MX+ allowed for OEM functions. If you have a diesel you can even monitor and force regens.

  • Like 1
Posted

Hey guys, thanks for all the helpful advice. I have the latest update ordered for my Mac ET6250 scan tool so as soon as it comes in, I will run a scan on my truck to see if there are any codes in the history. I felt that since I already had a high-end tool the update was the best way to go. When I bought the tool a few years ago I got a good deal on it as the Pawn shop that had it did not know what it was worth.

  • Like 1
  • 1 year later...
Posted

I'll buy a spare beater vehicle for that price!

  • Haha 1

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • Replace the fuel pump with an OEM AC-Delco.
    • Hello, first time posting here. I have an 03 Chevy 1500HD with the 6 liter gas engine. The truck ran fine until the fuel pump died on me and had to get it towed. Replaced the fuel pump with a precision pump from O’rileys and changed the fuel filter while I was there. The truck will run and drive now but it wants to idle around 500 rpm when in drive and it tries to stall if you touch the gas. It drives fine though, just doesn’t want to idle. Put a fuel pressure gauge on the rail and only have 50 psi. I guess these trucks should have 55-62 psi to run right. I thought the regulator might be the issue because when I would unplug the vacuum hose it jumped to 56 psi. Replaced the regulator and no change. The only thing I can think of is that I was sold a faulty fuel pump. Any help would be appreciated because I’d rather not have to take the bed off again if I don’t have too. Thank you!
    • I've been wrenching on GM trucks for 17 years. And I need to get something off my chest because it's been weighing on me for a long time. After all that time, all those motors, all those people standing in my bay, I've figured out there are really only two kinds of owners. The ones who already know about this. And the ones who are about to find out the hard way. A guy came into my shop a few weeks back in a 2018 Silverado 5.3. Sharp guy, maybe 35. Knew his truck cold. He'd been on the forums, read the threads, done his homework. He only rolled in so I could double-check a little module he'd already plugged in himself. Wanted a second set of eyes on it. Ten minutes, in and out, drove off happy. Two days later, a completely different story walked through the same door. Older fella this time, in a 2016 Sierra. Gorgeous truck, clearly babied, not a scratch on it. Wedding ring. Looked like a guy who took care of his stuff. He was in because his engine had started knocking on the way to work. And by the time I got the valve cover off, I already knew it was too late. Lifter collapsed. Cylinder 5. Camshaft chewed up. The whole top end shot. Same kind of truck. Same motor. Same roads, probably the same dealer. The only thing separating those two men was information. I've been at this since 2008, and I've worked on everything GM puts out. Silverados. Sierras. Tahoes. Yukons. Suburbans. Escalades. The 5.3 and the 6.2. Doesn't matter which badge is on the tailgate. They all carry the same problem. So here's the information one of those guys had and the other one didn't. It's called Active Fuel Management. AFM. GM started building it into their V6s and V8s back in 2007 to squeeze out a little better mileage on the highway. Maybe a mile or two a gallon. All to hit government fuel economy numbers. The way it works, the motor quietly shuts down half its cylinders when you're just cruising along. And the little lifters that pull that off have a tiny pin inside them that's constantly clicking in and out. Lock, unlock, lock, unlock. Hundreds of times a drive. Thousands of times a week. Eventually one of those pins wears through. The lifter drops. And it starts grinding the camshaft down like a chisel on butter. And what nobody tells you is that the shudder you feel around 40 or 50 mph? That's the system cycling. Every single time. Here's what really gets me. The pre-2007 trucks, the ones without AFM, they're bulletproof. I've got customers still daily driving them with 260,000 miles on the odometer. Not a problem in the world. GM took a perfectly good motor that would have lasted a lifetime and bolted this system onto it. And it is wrecking engines that should have run forever. The guys who hang around the forums already know all of this. So do the techs. They handled this years ago. They didn't sit around waiting for the dealership to mail them a warning letter, because that letter is never coming. It's the guys who figured somebody would've told them who end up on my lift. And I want to be clear, because this part matters. Maintenance has nothing to do with it. I've torn down motors with barely 30,000 miles on the clock. I pulled apart a Tahoe last summer with 24,000 on it. Practically a brand new truck. Owner had it less than a year. Spotless oil. Best synthetic money can buy, changed early every time. Made no difference. I've seen guys with full dealer records, every interval stamped. Made no difference. The oil changes were never the problem. The pin was. And no amount of babying that truck stops that pin from cycling every single time you drive. That's the part that eats at me. These are good motors. Take the AFM out of the equation and a 5.3 or a 6.2 will run 300,000 miles and never blink. So a few years ago I started telling every single owner who comes through my doors the exact same thing the smart guys already knew. Get yourself a FullForce disabler. It plugs right into the port under your dash. Couple of seconds and you're done. It just tells the computer to leave every cylinder running, full time. No more cycling. No more beating those lifters back and forth every time you turn the key. It doesn't reprogram anything. Doesn't touch your tune. And unplug it before a dealer visit and there's absolutely zero trace it was ever installed. I've had customers come back at 40,000, 60,000, 80,000 miles after I put one in. Zero issues. The trucks run smoother. And the lifters aren't getting beaten to death every single drive. I won't sit here and tell you it's magic. A lifter that's already damaged is a lifter that's already damaged, and this won't un-ring that bell. But it takes away the one thing causing all that wear in the first place. That's the whole game. You don't need a five-thousand-dollar delete. You don't need an expensive tune. You don't need to tear anything apart. You just need to stop the cycling. I'm not writing this for any company. I'm writing it because I'm tired of watching the guys who didn't know pay four and five figures for it. I'm tired of being the guy who has to break the news. I'm tired of knowing that the guys who did know fixed the whole thing for the price of a tank of gas, and the only difference was that somebody told them first. If you drive a Silverado, Sierra, Tahoe, Yukon, Suburban, or Escalade from 2007 or newer with a V6 or V8, you've got AFM. You've got those lifters, and they're cycling every single time you drive. So be the guy who already knew. Not the one I'm scraping metal out of next month. EDIT: A bunch of folks asked, so here it is. The one I put my faith in is FullForce. This is where to find it: https://www.tryfullforce.com/products/fullforce™-afm-dfm-disabler They back it with a 60-day guarantee too. I've handed out more than I can count and not one's ever come back to me. Not one. See less
    • Thanks for following along. I'm not author material, my tenses are all over the place and an editor would have a heck of a time cleaning up after me. Reading and writing is still a fun pastime though.   My new scanner came in yesterday, wow, where the heck has this thing been?! It connects right up to the Blazer, there's all kinds of bidirectional tests like EGR activation and percentage, toggle the fuel pump relay, EVAP purge valve, IAC control, AC relay, reset the transmission's adaptive learning, toggle shift solenoids and TCC lockup, and I can reset fuel trims with the click of a button...all things I could have used over the last 60 days!   It's also telling me there is a stored code in the ABS module for front left wheel sensor open and something about the brake switch. The ABS dash light works. It illuminates normally during the self-test at key on/ start and that's it. I cleared the codes and will see if they set when I take it out later. That, and I'm going to get (hopefully) real data on timing and cam ******. The PID's are there.   I connected the tool to my truck...holy smokes. Newer vehicles make early OBDII vehicles look like 8-bit, pixelated, early Nintendo stuff. This? This is like wearing 3D virtual reality goggles playing one of those elaborate, cinematic video games with seasons and plots in comparison. There are SO MANY modules and SO MANY tests and SO MUCH data. There's a scanner sequence for filling the coolant...   End of the day, it's a tool with way more power than I need, but the versatility to do old and new is there (and I need an adapter to connect it to my OBDI Camaro). It will allow me to do the first pass of diagnosis when out-of-warranty vehicles need help, and it will enable more DIY maintenance like brake system bleeding, ABS bleed, etc. I probably over-bought here, but, mission is accomplished.   Enjoy your Sunday...I need to shut this machine down and go get ready for the week ahead.
    • Not that I've read, after all the issues they've had in the past I'm pretty sure they learned their lesson. 
  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...