But modifying settings via the OBD-II port needs to be done very carefully - making mistakes can potentially cause damage to the vehicle.Īlthough the process is straightforward, take your time to read the instructions carefully - don't be tempted to skip steps.Īlso, some people like to "undo" these changes before taking their vehicle to a dealer for service or repair work. Depending on your vehicle's features, some of these may not be available to you, but plenty more should be! Is it safe? I've written this guide with our 2016 Ford F-150 Platinum in mind, but the same techniques work on almost any relatively new Ford vehicle.
Ford vehicles in particular use this a lot - and free software called FORScan makes this accessible to anyone! Same if you have new tires installed - they use that port to reset the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) for the new tire.īut why do we care? Well, in addition to reading error codes (which can be very useful), some vehicles also allow you to modify lots of hidden settings with it. Have you ever had a warning light on your car, and taken it into a garage for service? Odds are, the first thing they did was plug a tool into that port. Only one way to tell is to get a real VCX and not a clone and see how it goes.The OBD-II port is usually just under dashboard beneath the steering wheel and looks like this. Many have commented that they have had zero problems writing to the modules using the VCX whilst others say they are crap.
IDS or GM or ODIS etc Then they deal with compatibility in the PC driver software which is written by Fly who appear to have some respect at doing this type of work. I like their approach of having a generic high speed programmable interface box that is configured for the particular function i.e.
I do believe they exist and maybe the SP177-C series are good A grades - I hope so as I may order one just to test when I have some spare money.īTW, I have just ordered a genuine VXDIAG VCX Nano Wifi to play with direct from the manufacturer off .uk. Price is seldom an indication of the quality too - I too would like to know where we can buy an excellent quality clone that is fully tested with v81 through to v104 firmware, not blacklisted and reliable.
So there are good and bad offerings which this thread is about, where to get the good today, as the retailers chop and change their suppliers is always a mystery. I do agree as an engineer it should be done given the nature of a workshop environment - but there is a whole lot of things that need to be designed as part of the manufacturing process for that method before you just spray a hermatic seal on which significantly increases cost. As to the suggestion of a conformal coating being applied, I cannot see such a coating in the pictures I found of a genuine VCM2. The way these things are made you have to have a solder resist, usually the defacto green, so that the surface mount components can be soldered.
I have never seen any pictures of a VCM2 clone that has bare copper traces. This loss of a quality connector in favour of a sub D style connector on the VCM2 is certainly no improvement for reliability in my opinion either. Whilst a metal box will survive a crush incident it does nothing to lesson a shock wave destroying reliability of electronic parts - of which many have ceramic as an integral part of their construction. Now to my opinion the new case is an improvement as shock absorption is better than a metal box. Gone is the diecast housing replaced by impact plastic as has the industrial multipin connector. The original VCM2 does not seem to have the same build quality from the photos found as the VCM1. Mine is not "A" grade but likely a B grade as they did opt for the wired banana power jack rather than a PCB version which is such a minor technical issue and not worthy of people's junk judgement.Īs noted in my original post about "Gold", the real VCM1 board has the cadmium plating at exposed test points but also has a diecast aluminium housing so I would opinion that the VCM1 was constructed to a very high standard. There is no sign of cost cutting, all parts are there. Now my clone when compared has nothing missing. But the good thing is they have high res photo's of the original Vectronix boards. Well they were written a few years ago and I am sure they picked the most rubbish clones then available. I have been looking at a couple of articles extolling the virtues of buying genuine VCM. They must have took some shortcuts to save $$. I'm pretty sure that the Chinese "engineers" who developed those clones didn't copy the OEM board 100%.