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What is the cheapest J2534 useable pass through device that works with all car brands that won't brick your ECU? I understand the VCX Nano has bricked a few cars, and that the OBDLink is unacceptably slow, along with many of the fake OEM units.

yes, that's the one. I'm trying to diagnose a multiple misfire, so planning to scope injector voltage, fuel pump current, primary ignition coils voltage and current, and starter current for a relative compression test. I don't really have anything other than the Picoscope example waveforms for...

I got a Hantek IDSO1070A and the probes that come with it have HF probe compensation dials you adjust to get an accurate waveform. But the BNC to banana plug adapter or cable you can get to connect to breakout leads or back probe pins, etc, don't seem to have the compensation dials. Nor do the...

i think that's how Eric the Car Guy broke his ford piston

well, that's a useful data point. so you're saying they deliberately overheated it somehow? or just neglected all maintenance or drove the wheels off? how many PSI loss would you say crosses the threshold of "significant"?

no leaks seen on either car no hissing sound heard. *says I'm overthinking this and then proceeds to present even more thoughtfulness on the topic* you know, i feel even less secure trusting these block tester things. i had what i believe was a false positive on my toyota, and i've heard of...

are you using it on your radiator? how did you determine where it was leaking?

car is a 2016 Honda Odyssey and there are no records to show if coolant has ever been changed. the 2nd car is a 2012 volvo S60 and the coolant looked pretty clean on that one. changed a couple years ago along with the engine.

well, the first car had a little bit of schmoo that my inexperienced eyes are not able to discern are significant enough to be problematic or if they are just some ordinary level of stuff getting into coolant or precipitating out from not being changed soon enough.

right, I tested both cars starting 2 psi below the coolant cap psi indication.

that's what I was hoping to avoid, especially on the first car (FWD 3.5L V6).

i did it on the first car as part of a pre-purchase inspection. i had already had a compression test performed on the car that revealed 5.71% variance between cylinders, and a leakdown test that showed between 0% and 2.9% leakage among the cylinders. i did it on the second car because i...

yes, the tests were done totally cold (cars sitting engine off for ~16hrs)

I was worried about doing a cooling system pressure test with cars of unknown headgasket condition because I wouldn't want to push water into the cylinder and then cause a hydrolock, bent rod, steam detonation, etc. but it occurred to me that cooling systems stay pressurized for a good, idk, say...

that's why i'm trying to get good at the latter.

except used wheelchair vans generally have these kinds of issues. and vans that meet one's own particular needs are far and few between. it's just a much more challenging market to be shopping in. plus with the VCM on these engines, there's kind of a big tradeoff to adding a lot of miles as...

right, carfax is far from a complete maintenance history. but i tried to call around and reconstruct more records, so the next step was to test the actual engine. no actual problem has been identified, just doing comprehensive due diligence.

many people say this, but i've seen no data to back it up, and i've heard anecdotes to the contrary. what kind of compression loss shows up as a misfire? 30%? if i'm down 15% on a car i'm buying i still want to know about it. negotiate on the price or be able to know how much i'm willing to...

yep, looked into all those things. questionable because it had never had it's oil changed over 6 years, it lived in a dusty area and was used infrequently, and other things. plus, the buyer only gets one shot at using her fundraising money to buy a car. hence, me being completely thorough...

as i've explained to others, not when its a $70k custom modified wheelchair van with some question marks in it's carfax. I had already looked at 100 things prior do doing this and, well, it's already done. yes, this is a great way to screen before committing to pulling plugs. Cylinder 1 at...