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P38 diagnostic tool .


P38 Paul

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hello peoples , can anyone advise me on what diagnostic tool to buy to help me with my diesel P38 m/y 2000 ? hawkeye , nanocom , rovocom . are they all near enough the same , or is there a must have diagnostic tool ? any advise at all , or your diagnostic tool experience's would be invauable to me , good or bad . thanks for looking , Paul .

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Depends what you need to do.. Honestly I would start with basic thing like ELM as a best value for money.. most of 'non-dealers' tools are all the same things just reading OBD codes, sometimes with several 'extra' abilities to access other CAN units like SRS etc.. but for the price of hawk eye I would rather get a X431.. still not sure why would you need to for everyday use..

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I would start with basic thing like ELM as a best value for money........... still not sure why would you need to for everyday use.

Interesting I looked up ELM and it is only for petrol cars after 2001 and diesel after 2004 so not useful for most RR P38's although for the cost it would have been good. For a RR for everyday use I would say it is important. So far on my P38 I have had 2 suspension failures and a complete lockout on the engine immobilizer in 6 months. So having the full software would be useful and save me money.

I too am contemplating getting one so am interested to see what is best for my Disco, P38 and CSK. ALthough the CSK does not need that much.

Paul you forgot Bearmach and Lynx as options.

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Yeah, you are right.. I still believe you should be able to get OBD codes and live data from the engine ECU. As for EAS you defenitely need a separate scanner (as far as I am aware it uses non standard pin's 11/12 on OBD) and I can imagine that on hardware level it also can be something like ISO9141, but not sure about that..

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Interesting I looked up ELM and it is only for petrol cars after 2001 and diesel after 2004 so not useful for most RR P38's although for the cost it would have been good. For a RR for everyday use I would say it is important. So far on my P38 I have had 2 suspension failures and a complete lockout on the engine immobilizer in 6 months. So having the full software would be useful and save me money.

I too am contemplating getting one so am interested to see what is best for my Disco, P38 and CSK. ALthough the CSK does not need that much.

Paul you forgot Bearmach and Lynx as options.

The ELM interface works on P38s. The GEMS ones are only OBD1, and the live data isn't always correct, but fault reading and resetting works well. On the Bosch it just works, as they're OBD2.

You can make a cheap cable and use some free software to do the EAS stuff :)

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You can make a cheap cable and use some free software to do the EAS stuff :)

I know I bought a cable off eBay and it was great just plugged it in and it worked and cleared the fault. The problem now is I want to see what other functions I can play with if I can connect my laptop up to it properly. :hysterical: Now just wait for catastrophic failure having pressed the format BECM by mistake :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

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Depends what you need to do.. Honestly I would start with basic thing like ELM as a best value for money.. most of 'non-dealers' tools are all the same things just reading OBD codes, sometimes with several 'extra' abilities to access other CAN units like SRS etc.. but for the price of hawk eye I would rather get a X431.. still not sure why would you need to for everyday use..

hello mate , i was thinking of getting a diagnostic tool because of the number of different faults i have on the car , one of the annoying faults is that the side lights are flashing instead of the indicators when arming & disarming the alarm , & i believe that you can change this setting with the nanocom , also , it might point me in the right direction to fixing the random flat battery syndrome , & why , when i return to the car the side lights are on without the light switch being left on , these are just three faults out of the 101 faults that i have with this car , so i thought a diagnotic tool would be the right way to go instead of it going back to the dealer every time it needs to be plugged in . thankyou & all of the other people for all your continued good advise on this subject . happy range rovering , Paul .

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a Bluetooth ELM adaptor, the EAS unlock software and cable and have had until recently a nanocom evo - my vehicle is a 1995 4.0 SE with LPG conversion.

The EVO is a fantastic piece of kit and will talk to all of the computers in the truck, read live data and do some pretty impressive work with the BECM. And yes you can set what lights flash when arming/disarming with this unit, but it will do much, much more. at the best part of £400 it isn't pocket money, but is well worth the investment if you want to work on the P38 yourself. My local dealer wanted £70.00 per Diagnostic plug in, and that quickly adds up!

The ELM adaptor will talk to just the ECM and it struggles with some of the live data - MAF is a no go for example. However for under £10.00 it is a really useful. There are more expensive versions but I'm pretty sure the limitations are down to my truck being early OBD I rather than the ELM chip. I've used mine with Torque for Android and Scanmaster-ELM for PC and both report similar results. There is plenty of software for ELM stuff out there.

EAS Unlock is invaluable if you don't have anything else and does everything you could want at a really cheap price.

I don't know much about Hawkeye or Lynx but I don't think that they are as comprehensive as the Black Box stuff.

Dave.

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p.s. to add - P38's have a really nasty appetite for batteries and can be really fussy about voltage!

Once you have tested your battery, checked/cleaned all the earth points (RAVE is essential for this) then check your RF receiver (just behind the O/S/R seat under the rear quarter light behind all the trim) as the early models are known to be triggered by Wifi and constantly wake up the BECM draining the battery.

Dave.

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The evo is not vin locked - When you buy the tool it comes with a licence for one model of vehicle & engine type. It will then work on anyvehicle of the same type. You can buy additional licence 'keys' to unlock additional engine/vehicle types.

Dave.

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Evo will read abs & srs and clear codes. For each vehicle you need a software licence plus a diagnostic lead, can't remember exact costs but it's all on the BBS website.

The evo will talk to -

ECM

ABS

SRS

Autobox

Hvac

BECM

EAS

the other cool thing the evo will do is read inputs and switch outputs - so it is really handy for checking switches and wiring as well as talking to individual modules

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The EVO will clear faults which will extinguish the light - however - this won't fix the problem causing the fault code. Most modules do some kind of self check on power-up and if a fault is found then a code will be generated and in certain circumstances a warning light turned on. If you don't fix the underlying problem then the SRS light will be back on in no time.

I had an SRS fault when I bought my truck - fixed by replacing the SRS brain and resetting with my EVO. There is also an inline resistor low down in the loom behind the centre console that can cause problems.

Dave.

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