Since we are on the subject of scan tools ill put my 2 cents in. You may be able to do some stuff with one but unless you have a manufactuter specific one you cant use one to its fullest diagnostic potential like turning on and off modules and activating relays and things of that sort. Now yes many manufacturer scan tools the public can obtain but when you are working on many different makes this can become extremely costly. Were talking thousands of dollars

 

I beg to differ. I can open windows, turn on the heated seat, operate the rear wiper, and a lot more interesting features with my AutoEnginuity scan tool. Nothing GM about it, but it communicates with the other devices on the serial bus just fine. My original AutoEnginuity scan tool would not do a CASE relearn on my Rainier, but the hardware is 4 years old. The newest ProLine hardware works just fine.

 

No your right swartlk you can most certinatly do many things with a generic scan tool. I should have specified my point more. What i meant is the the potential for a manufacturer specific scan tool is so much greater the a generic. Now this varies for each make and model of course. For example and this is just an example, like you said you can contol the heated seats with your scan tool but say you want to do that on a honda accord (just an example) you may need a honda scan tool to do that.

 

If I wanted to do that with a Honda, I would purchase the Honda enhancement package for my scan tool and have the same capabilities. The folks over at AutoEnginuity are pretty quick to update their scan tools for newer models.

And since I already have a laptop, that is not part of the expense. The scan tool can operate from a desktop as well, but you would have to have it out in the shop with you.

 

Understandable but to have an enhancement package for every make still will add up. And I highly doubt that it does everything a manufacturer specific one does while I am sure it is close and a very good choice for diagnostics in my opinion. But each "generic" scan tool is different too.

 

In my experience with the folks over at AE, if their scan tool doesn't do something that you think it should, let them know. If they can make it happen, they'll send you over a new config file and it'll then work. Not really something that a shop can deal with, but they are very good at what they do. I have done this on a few different occasions and had a new config in less than 2 days. Just saying.

But lets get back to how this applies to GM. The Tech 2 scan tool and TechLine software updates are available if you want to pay and they are exactly what the dealership uses.

 

Im not really all that familiar with AE, it sounds like a really great setup and probably 97% (guesstimate) it would be just fine, so maybe im just dissecting this too much. I personally dont like the computer based setups cause you always need to be near a computer or carry around a laptop, even though Ford and Nissan (prolly others) are computer based anyway.

 

The entire ProLine enhanced software package is $1400 from AE.

You can liken this to new computer OS's. When a new OS comes out, there is a certain waiting period for drivers to get your hardware operating at peak performance. Hopefully you can get it to work with the basic settings. Most of the time, the outside manufacturers of the peripherals are playing catch up. Well, that is not a huge factor in computers anymore with beta cycles and developer channels, but the analogy still works.

There will always be delays as the outside manufacturers catch up to get each individual device built into their hardware/software.

 

1400 is pretty reasonable when you look at the price of a soulis or modis scan tool or equivalent. And I agree completely that there is some catchup involved. But before we get way off topic all I was saying is that for the most part there are just some things even a good generic scan tool cant do that a manufacturer specific will do, even though it may not be that significant of a difference.

 

they have cars now (dont know if this has been covered yet) where you cant even check the transfluid. where the dipstick used to be it says see dealer for service. if i saw that while looking at a new car i would walk right out the door. true stuff is getting harder to work on. which is why i been buying new and selling soon as the warranty is up. and always have old 80s junk as back up vehicles or project vehicles. so easy to fix