does anyone know if it shows more useful info than using a paperclip to diagnose your car? (i.e. live sensor operation,fuel psi etc.)

 

It does alot, gives you an LCD readout of trouble codes and also will monitor your engine while it is running, I have one if you want to check it out.

 

Benny!! check your PM!!

 

It also does data logging so that you can drive the car and it records the data so you can look it over when you're ready.

 

But only 13 seconds worth...

 

The newest one soon to be out is supposed to log to a laptop-so pretty much unlimited log time. They said they'd let me trade up for minimal amt. We'll see what minimal money is......

 

Win ALDL is like that. You can log data, it's almost like autotap.

How much are the AutoxRays?

 

I paid $250 for mine from summit awhile back. One thing that most people don't know about auto x-rays is that on most engines, including my l98, you can't monitor your engines parameters while under driving conditions. In real small print in the instruction manual it even says so...something like 'if your idle goes up when you link then...' The long and short of it is that it puts your ecm into a mode that bypasses the esc system, and fully advaces your timing, along with a few other things. This puts your engine in danger of spark knock at anything above an idle, which is why you're not suposed to drive under monitor conditions. This isn't the worst thing, but it makes the diference between a $5000 scanner and a $250 auto xray real obvious.

 

The auto xray scanner DOES moniter data realtime. You can watch everything as you drive down the road. I find it very valuable. Also, a few months ago my car stalled while warming up. It had never done this before and would only run for a couple seconds. The check engine light was not on, I scanned for codes and got no codes. By watching the realtime data I figured out what was wrong. My coolant temp was jumping from 98 degrees to -38.6 and everything in between. I repalce the sending unit and the car runs perfectly again! Without the scanner I wouldn't of know what to fix, but the scanner made it easy. I'd be lost without it.

 

I've gotten my hands on an auto xray, but don't have the instructions. How do you make it log the 13 secs. of run time? I figured out how to pull the codes and everything. Does it display the voltage ouputs of each sensor?

 

I have been using the AutoXray to scan my car for prom tuning. I have noticed the idle go up while scanning. I have been looking at my BLM's mostly and thought I was getting correct data. I just read the manual and it says "If your idle is affected during scanning the on-board computer is placed in "Serivce Mode" which fixes the timing and idle speed. AutoXray recommends that you do not drive your vehicle while it is scanned". My question is will the scanned data be correct if the timing is fixed? Mostly the BLM's, injector pulse, O2 volts and that stuff. My car knocks like crazy while I am scanning it while driving.

 

i purchased my auto x-ray from napa last month, special deal at the time, auto x-ray sent me the cd for the pc link up for free, now i download all the test diags to the pc. makes the capture feature extremely uselful, graphs, etc. best $300 i've spent yet.

to use the capture, while the unit is on, press "mon", then press "1-start capture", when the display shows >>>>>>>T, you can hit enter to set the midpoint, it will capture the previous 7 seconds and the next 7 seconds.

:rockon:

MD350
Formula 350