There are also reports that the pins of some connectors are easily bent and the supplied cat5 cable used by the RS232 interface may be a bit dodgy ? some are actually missing one critical wire and cannot work.
#GM TECH 2 KEY SOFTWARE#
Some tossed the supplied card and installed the software onto a high quality memory card purchased locally (must be linear, ATA won?t work). A few reports of corrupted software on the memory cards ? reflashing the same software version on the same card cured the problem. One or two problems with the onboard battery ? in one case, the battery holder was soldered in backwards, in another, removing and replacing the battery cleared some sort of a glitch. The clone behaves exactly like the original.Īctually, most problems I read about turn out to be either user error or a cable issue. On the other hand, I also came across numerous "success stories", like one mechanic who did a side by side comparison ending in the comment that functionally, he couldn't tell the difference. A number of people report that the hinge on the case was broken, apparently during shipping. In another thread, the Tech 2 display went haywire and the car would not start ? turned out the vehicle battery had dropped to 9v while playing with his new toy. I did come across one thread where the car would not start after use, but it turned out that the user turned off the wrong option ? the car started again after that option was re-enabled. I have not been able to find any verifiable instances of the tool causing damage. However, it also seems that at least some of the Chinese vendors are replacing/repairing defective product. Certain vendors stop answering e-mails once the sale is completed. One fellow reported that his Tech2 mysteriously died after 5 months of steady use. CANdi modules are designed to be powered by the OBD connector). Hardware-wise, it seems the CANdi module is the most susceptible to failure (this may be caused by connecting to the AC power adapter with CANdi module still connected to the Tech 2. (I assume he was representing it as being ?the real deal?). There is an official court record of one fellow who was charged with one count of trafficking in goods bearing counterfeit marks ? implying that the crime was not in selling the tool, the crime was putting the GM logo on it. Well, I was able to verify that last one. I also came across a warning that people have been charged for having or selling counterfeits. Proofs are offered in the form of photos showing missing components like capacitors, heat sinks and even entire chips. It doesn?t take much research to find a wide array of warnings that these are shoddy reverse-engineered copies that will fail prematurely, probably taking your car with it as it bursts into flames. These are clones, not made by Bosch for sale by GM. I?ll add my personal experience in Part 2, for those of you that prefer to skip the research: Now, before you rush right out and buy one, here?s the good, the bad and the ugly. When Bosch bought Ventronix, they shopped elsewhere for their parts, but Pandora?s box was already opened, and patent protection only lasts 20 years? The net result is that a number of Chinese vendors are offering Tech 2 scan tools at hobbyist price levels.
Frustrated, I was prowling the net looking for an alternative when I discovered the Chinese have cloned the GM scan tool holy grail: the Bosch/Ventronix made Tech 2.Īpparently, Ventronix farmed out the manufacture to a Chinese firm for many years. I have a laptop interface and software (AutoEnginuity) that is fully CAN capable, but I?ve discovered does not access all the available data streams on at least one of my cars. I have stumbled over a possible solution.Ī bit of background: I have a dedicated scan tool, the OTC 4000E, but OTC stopped supporting it in 2001 so it?s only useful for older cars. They are not just ?code readers? a decent scan tool lets you delve into the actual data stream and see what?s going on in the car?s little tin brain, saving time, money, sanity and probably the odd marriage.īut most people don?t have a real scan tool, because good used ones sell fast and new ones cost more than the current market value of a used car. So many times I have seen people crying for help diagnosing mysterious problems and almost always, the first thing that should be done is to hook the car up to a scan tool. But the subject was recently raised here, and so some may find this useful: I originally wrote this for another GM vehicle forum.
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