It seems most consumer grade scanners have limits of capability. What do you have to spend to get something with real capability?

Are you going to do your own work? You have to factor whether the results are going to be accurate. You get a really cheap one it could cost you much more in the long run. Most run about 200 bucks.
This is the one dealerships use: Autel MaxiCom MK808. It is not cheap.

What vehicle is it that you want to tune, and what ECU/TCU parameters are you looking to change?

At less than $500, I would not consider the Autel MaxiCom MK808 mentioned above to be expensive, but there are vehicle specific tools and/or software in that price range that would likely provide more capability, depending on the platform and what you want to be able to do.

Yeah, I almost went that route.

Happened upon a dealership that was closing and was able to buy some of their equipment.

It wasn't cheap by any means, but it was money well spent.

I don't have personal experience with it, and it is a purely diagnostic, not a "tuning" scanner. I think you'd need more specialized equipment for this. But I am impressed (on the surface) by the Thinktool Pro. It is around $1200, much less than any Snap-on. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=thi...gementacceptance_1_5 Video of it in action, on a YouTube channel I follow:



I'd fancy it myself if A, I'm less than a year to retirement, and B, there is no real money for me in advanced diagnostics. Also, I don't know where you'd get support if it breaks.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Are you going to do your own work? You have to factor whether the results are going to be accurate. You get a really cheap one it could cost you much more in the long run. Most run about 200 bucks.
This is the one dealerships use: Autel MaxiCom MK808. It is not cheap.

$365 doesn’t sound too bad, although both my Toyotas are fairly new, I’m thinking about buying one for future use.

https://www.auteltechshop.com/...l-maxicom-mk808.html

I heard the best stuff is very expensive and uses a live, paid-for subscription service, using live-stream data over the internet for diagnostic operations. From the little I've seen used, one needs skills to use and understand them, and more than normal bow-staff and num-chuck skills. Hooking up, adjusting, and interpreting oscilloscope screens, for example, for all kinds of live signalling data. I suppose it would be easier if you had repeated, hands-on training from a professional mechanic good at explaining things, but I don't know where one gets that type of training and experience without committing to the field as a young person and getting picked for big programs created for stealerships and such. And I believe the money is many multiple thousands of dollars, not just $500 here and $1500 there, chump change for serious diagnostics. Re tuning, I thought turning was specialized gear found in speed shops with auto-scale dyno equipment, but I don't know about tuning per se.

diagnostic and tuning are two different goals and markets. The tuning market is 100% vehicle specific. The diagnostic market is driven by what is it you want to diagnose. ODB2 scanners are cheap and easy. But every mfg has a ton of diagnostics above that federal minimum. Good stuff that crosses a decent selection of vehicles is 2K or more. And that assumes you don't want abs and/or tire pressures and/or... And you don't want some of the more difficult vehicles like exotic imports (add $5k) and keep going. Unless you are running a repair shop the real stuff makes no economic sense.