Blog
Fault codes, sensors and the tricks of diagnostics: what the codes mean, where to start checking and why a cheap adapter sometimes lets you down.
Checking a used car before you buy: what a scanner shows
Fault codes get cleared before a viewing. But some traces cannot be cleared — and those are the ones to look at.
4 September 20264 min
The fuel cap: codes P0455, P0442 and P0457
Three codes whose culprit costs nothing in a third of cases and is fixed by hand in five seconds.
3 September 20262 min
Misfires: P0300, P0301 and why you should not keep driving
The one group of codes where «it can wait until the weekend» costs more than the repair itself.
3 September 20262 min
Fault code P0420: the catalyst or just a sensor
The most expensive-looking code in the book. And the most common case of replacing a thousand-dollar part for nothing.
3 September 20263 min
Inspection readiness: why a healthy car gets turned away
No warning light, yet the station asks you to come back later. What the on-board self-tests are and how to complete them.
3 September 20263 min
Live data: what to look at first
Sixty-seven parameters is a lot. Here are five that answer most questions about how the engine feels.
2 September 20262 min
«No answer» is not «no faults»
The difference between silence and a clean memory is expensive. Most cheap scanners do not tell the two apart.
2 September 20262 min
Why the service reset does not work on every car
It is easy to promise a reset on every car. We say plainly where it will work and where it will not — and why.
2 September 20262 min
Fault code P0171: where to start
«System too lean» is the most common entry in the engine memory. The cause is almost never the part people suspect first.
2 September 20262 min