OBD scanner that can do what vcds can?

[WhereDaGold]

I don’t have a laptop so would like to buy a standalone scanner tool that can change some things like vcds can and looking to do basic maintenance like brakes. I saw a post saying someone cleaned their throttle body which their tool allowed them to do. I’m not a mechanic but I got good with my wrx I used to have, could get it down to a block with heads and reassemble with the knowledge I gained online. So I guess what I’m saying is I need something something that I could use for that level of maintenance, and possibly change some other things that vcds could also do. I looked at the schwaben professional Audi/vw tool that ECS currently has for $173 but don’t know if there’s other options I’m missing

[Fresh.S4]

Truthfully you want vcds with a laptop.
It'll 100% pay for itself if you are mechanically adept like you are saying.

You could be cheap and get something like an obd11 plugger but that's like <insert witty comment>

You can find a basic windows laptops for very cheap on offerup. Like less than $75.. vcds cost $180? I believe.
Obd11 is much cheaper but the headache to figure the menus and having to purchase credits.... Lol

[wrxkyle]

Truthfully you want vcds with a laptop.
It'll 100% pay for itself if you are mechanically adept like you are saying.

You could be cheap and get something like an obd11 plugger but that's like <insert witty comment>

You can find a basic windows laptops for very cheap on offerup. Like less than $75.. vcds cost $180? I believe.
Obd11 is much cheaper but the headache to figure the menus and having to purchase credits.... Lol

you don't need to purchase credits with obdeleven. you can use the credits as lazy mode if you don't want to go in and code each parameter like you'd have to do in vcds.

vcds has access to a few more parameters, but obdeleven has been working for just about anything i'd use vcds for. the only think i've wanted to do but couldn't was check clutch fluid temp specifically (not just trans fluid temp)

obd eleven is supposed to have logging and gauge mode but that's taking forever to get on the iphone version ones. the old android only one could do that though.


having obd eleven on a phone is way more convenient than running it on a laptop.

[natemail]

I don’t have a laptop so would like to buy a standalone scanner tool that can change some things like vcds can and looking to do basic maintenance like brakes. I saw a post saying someone cleaned their throttle body which their tool allowed them to do. I’m not a mechanic but I got good with my wrx I used to have, could get it down to a block with heads and reassemble with the knowledge I gained online. So I guess what I’m saying is I need something something that I could use for that level of maintenance, and possibly change some other things that vcds could also do. I looked at the schwaben professional Audi/vw tool that ECS currently has for $173 but don’t know if there’s other options I’m missing

Absolutely buy a cheap older Thinkpad and VCDS. A scan tool under $500 probably won't have the same ability to log to an excel file like VCDS is capable of. Seriously, being able to log multiple parameters while driving can make it really easy to diagnose issues. Bite the bullet, buy a Thinkpad T410 or something, slap a $30 SSD in it, and use VCDS. If you were able to afford a B8/B8.5 S4, you should be able to afford the couple hundred for a laptop. I'm surprised coming from the Subaru world that you haven't used a Tactrix and RomRaider to do ECU logging on a laptop. I have a bugeye WRX and have extensively used the logging to fix issues and check the car's health.

[wrxkyle]

Absolutely buy a cheap older Thinkpad and VCDS. A scan tool under $500 probably won't have the same ability to log to an excel file like VCDS is capable of. Seriously, being able to log multiple parameters while driving can make it really easy to diagnose issues. Bite the bullet, buy a Thinkpad T410 or something, slap a $30 SSD in it, and use VCDS. If you were able to afford a B8/B8.5 S4, you should be able to afford the couple hundred for a laptop. I'm surprised coming from the Subaru world that you haven't used a Tactrix and RomRaider to do ECU logging on a laptop. I have a bugeye WRX and have extensively used the logging to fix issues and check the car's health.

i did, and still have my tactrix, but my accessport was way more convenient. having the basics on my phone with obd11 is great for on the fly stuff. currently yes the obd can't log, but that's being worked on. otherwise the obd can do almost everything that vcds can, and with the credits system people that don't want to bother long coding themselves off instructions can just click and complete. you get free credits daily as well. i've never used the credits and just long code.

vcds is more powerful and can do a few more things irrc but obd11 does work great for basics, coding, doing your own repairs, etc. vcds isn't a very good logger as it polls slowly in comparison to tuner's logging cables. if you're stock you probably don't need to log much, if you're tuned you probably have logging capabilities with most tuners that have flash cables. the really advanced advanced stuff vcds can't do either and you need ODIS.

[Fresh.S4]

currently yes the obd can't log, but that's being worked on. otherwise the obd can do almost everything that vcds can

vcds is more powerful and can do a few more things.

So basically vcds > obd11.