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I just lost a whole afternoon to a bad sensor reading from a cheap scanner
I was chasing a rough idle on a 2015 Civic and my old generic code reader gave me a P0300 random misfire. I spent three hours checking plugs, coils, and injectors. Turns out it was a cracked vacuum line the whole time, and the scanner just threw a generic code. I wasted about $200 in labor I can't bill for because I trusted the wrong tool. Has anyone else had a generic scanner lead them way off track? What's a good mid-range one you actually trust?
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karenf406mo ago
Tell me about it. My cheap scanner once sent me on a wild goose chase for a bad O2 sensor that was actually just a loose gas cap.
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the_mary6mo ago
Been there with a cheap scanner giving me false codes lol. I learned to always check the simple stuff like caps and connections first. Saved me a ton of time and money on my old truck.
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spencerh955mo ago
Honestly, I've had the opposite happen. My good scanner caught a weird misfire code that just looked like a rough idle. If I'd just checked the cap I'd have missed the failing coil pack. Sometimes you need the tool to point you past the obvious stuff, you know?
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