Best Scan Tool Poll

dzlfarmboy

dzlfarmboy

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Jun 27, 2006
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Just curious to here some opinions on what everyone seems to like the best for working on the general three Cummins/Duramax/Powerstrokes whether it's Snap On Solus, Modis,Vantage Pro, OTC Ect......



Dammit..........this was suppose to be a Poll WTF?
 
I had a Solus, then bought a Solus Pro, but I wish I would have bought a Modis just so I would be able to check sending units and such. The Solus pro is pretty dang awesome though, the only thing that bothers me is you can't check injector flow % like a DRB or Starscan on Cummins trucks.
 
Solus at work and Auto Enginuity at home/shop! Would have to say each is different and lot of price difference! I can do the same thing with either of them and the AE I use on my laptop so I have a nice big screen to view all the engine info! Never used any of the others!
 
What does the Modis do that the Solus cant do, And what type of senarios do you use some of these features on with these newer diesels.
 
The Modis is like a Vantage Pro and a Solus Pro in one tool. Also if you ever wanted the software for big trucks, Modis is the only SO scanner that it can be used on. I use my Solus for the everyday things like codes, and data log. On the 98.5-current Dodge Cummins trucks you can kill each injector, enable the lift pump, grid heaters, relays,read rail pressure, ect ect. You can program keys on some models, and view BCM parameters ect.

If you buy a Snap On make sure they give you the next update for free, after that they are about $600 each time. I have 9.2 on mine now. You can also graph different parameters and download them to your pc, which is pretty cool. Here are some I took from a truck on the dyno, notice the set psi, and actual psi dont match...


Brandons3run.jpg
 
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i'd say snap-on modis it also has a wireless printer so you can print out anything you want from the scanner. and it has a troubleshooting code section which can be helpful.
 
I have a OTC tech force and the dodge dealership use it some times cause the drb won't graph and readin rail it helps but injector kill does not work wotha crap on the OTC but u can always unhook the injector on top
 
How much real life trouble shooter does the solus have with it? I know the modis has alot of the real life trouble shooter in it from what I've heard.
 
From what I have seen the Modis rocks....even though it is not flawless. You would think that a company like Snap-on would develop a flawless product but they don't, can't or just do not have quite the expertise, so there are a few things that bother me about the Modis. The joy-pad/button, occasional brain freeze, the need for personality keys and the cost of updates. But with all the onboard trouble shooting and tech data it still leaves the competition in the dust.
 
Only the Solus Pro, Modis, ect have the trouble shooter, and there have been time that I was really glad I had it. It will give you procedures, locations, common problems, problems usually associated with codes, on and on. For instance, my mom has a little Ford Sport-trac and it kept dying on her at red lights, so my dad put his cheapo scanner on it and it gave a lean bank 1 and 2 code along with oxygen sensor codes. My dad replaced the ox sensors and it still has the same problem. I hooked my Solus Pro up, check codes it says lean bank 1 & 2. I went to the trouble shooter, then common problems, and found the lean bank 1&2 issue. It said it is common to have a lean bank 1&2 codes for vacume leaks, and to check the PCV valve hoses. sure enough we pop the hood and the elbow going into the throttle body has a crack in it about 1/2" long on the engine side where you would never see it. We replaced the hose and fixed the problem.

Now imagine all the trouble it would have been to find that little leak without it. I thought that was a pretty damn cool feature.
 
SPEEDSHIFT said:
Only the Solus Pro, Modis, ect have the trouble shooter, and there have been time that I was really glad I had it. It will give you procedures, locations, common problems, problems usually associated with codes, on and on. For instance, my mom has a little Ford Sport-trac and it kept dying on her at red lights, so my dad put his cheapo scanner on it and it gave a lean bank 1 and 2 code along with oxygen sensor codes. My dad replaced the ox sensors and it still has the same problem. I hooked my Solus Pro up, check codes it says lean bank 1 & 2. I went to the trouble shooter, then common problems, and found the lean bank 1&2 issue. It said it is common to have a lean bank 1&2 codes for vacume leaks, and to check the PCV valve hoses. sure enough we pop the hood and the elbow going into the throttle body has a crack in it about 1/2" long on the engine side where you would never see it. We replaced the hose and fixed the problem.

Now imagine all the trouble it would have been to find that little leak without it. I thought that was a pretty damn cool feature.
Click to expand...

Cool Thats what I was wanting to know and that real life details the trouble shooter has seems to be real nice for per specific vehicles with issues that aren't your typical failed parts but might be common with the way one was built.
 
I bought the Auto Enginuity when I had a intermintent not starting problem with my truck.I was just about to buy a HPOP for it when I bit the bullet and purchased the software.After running some test I discovered that it was just a cam position sensor.IT PAID FOR ITSELF ALREADY!:rockwoot:
 
Well I have a Modis my Snap on man let me use for a lil bit, was using it some yesterday with a Duramax having an issue with a P0642A 5 volt reference low code with it cutting out knocking and missing ramdomly. It has some good stuff in there, but I couldn't find where to read the Data stream for the 3 5volt circiuts it has. And I could on the MAC Taskmaster
 
Go to your trouble shooter then to "fast track data scan" see if you can find something in there. What version are you running, 9.2?
 
It's a 9.2, I didn't see it in there but I did find the problem of 2 wires chaffed on top of the engine at a harness junction, grounding them selves out randomly
 
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