My engine is not running smoothly, typically at 1700-1900 RPM/60 mph.

I replaced distributor cap/rotor and spark cables a couple of years ago (approx 30.000 km ago) Then it worked fine.

Recently I got problems with the engine not running smoothly any more and therefore I recently replaced the spark plugs and cathalytic and rear muffler and rear pipe and the 3 sensors on the pipes.

Still it does not run in a smooth manner. (Although at slow speeds it seems fairly ok)

Therefore I am considering to buy a diagnostic tool to help me in diagnosing the issues.

This diagnostic tool looks very promising (but a bit old fashioned? I have an android tablet (Google Nexus 10/Samsung) and have heard about diagnostic tools that connect to such tablets, but are they any good), but does it work?:
GM Tech-2,Vetronix GM Tech-2 Scanner

Does anyone have experience with this?

Is there a better diagnostic tool in the same or lower price range that you would recommend instead?

Any good suggestions regarding the engine problem? ( There is no check engine light coming on )

 

heck i think the tech 2 is about as high up as you can go. im surprised that those are so cheap i wonder if its outdated or something, we have different scanners at work that cost way more then that and we find ourselves having to borrow the tech 2 occasionally from another shop to fix some vehicles cause the boss is to cheap to buy his own.

they have amazing datastreams on those things, tells you everything you want to know about your car also has controls where you can go in and manually control evap controls, tps, whatever. im not crazy familiar with the tech 2, used it like twice

 

That thing better walk and talk for that price. I know this is a little simplistic, but I just ordered an obdII diagnostic bluetooth device from Amazon for around $25. Download the app "Torque" on your Android-compatible device and you're basically set! The bluetooth device plugs into your vehicle (it says ALL obdII compliant vehicles will register) and you read from your smartphone or tablet. They have a "Torque Free" and "Torque Pro" version to use. Just my .02 here. The bluetooth device on Amazon is linked . It got great reviews from over 800 people!

 

Were they using the adapters for fun, or were they actually trying to debug problems? To me it seems like a lot of the 800 positive comments were like: "Fantastic - I managed to connect to my tablet/phone (whatever) - and I could see something". But for the time being I question the amount of diagnostics this piece of equipment supports. The background being that when I looked at other diagnostic tools in the past (that I almost bought) they were not able to read/display abs diagnostics for instance.

I have posted a question on Amazon. It will be interesting to see what people reply.

And yesterday I purchased the product that I have provided a link to. It will be interesting to try it. I hope it is the real Tech 2 and not just a copy cat.

 

I'm especially interested to know if your purchase proves to be a real, functional Tech2. For that price it would be amazing!

 

Hi!

I don't know whether my Tech2 is the real thing or not. But to me it seems like it provides the right values. But since it is fairly old electronic design, and since I am only a DIY and not a real mechanic I cannot guarantee that what I see is correct. (you need to know what values to expect. I have a manual, so I know what the values should be in theory, but still using the Tech2 that I bought has not revealed to me why my truck runs a rittle rough. I have replaced the rotor and distributor cap again since I found corrosion on the coil terminal of the distributor cap. And I have replaced the coil cable. That helped but did not completely fix the problem. I will replace the spark plug cables as well, but ran into problems releasing the plastic clips without ruining them. And it is a bit cold outside, but when I find the opportunity I will have another go at it...