Take Control of Your Repair – A Konnwei OBD II Review

During the almost seven years of being here at Tech Support Forum, I have met and helped thousands of people. People from different locations around the globe have visited this forum all seeking help for different things.

All of these people that visit this forum are unique. Some speak different languages, live different life styles, have a different income, but one thing they all have in common is that they wish to solve a problem that they have facing them.

Whether it be with computers, cars, gardening, graphical design, or even asking what college major to take, people tend to strive and look forward to fixing something themselves.

It’s quite rewarding knowing how to fix a problem and, more importantly, saves you money when you don’t need a professional.

Something that can be daunting for home repair is car problems. Cars in general, require a lot of knowledge just to identify the main area in which the problem might occur. Having a blown out tail light doesn’t always mean the bulb has gone bad; even though that is the more common point of failure, there could be a failure in the wiring or it could be a blown fuse.

Cars produced after the 1980s began to display a malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) which had the ability to notify the driver of an internal engine failure. Also known as the check engine light, this warning sign can appear for everything from slight problems to catastrophic engine failure.

The check engine light will display once the car’s internal computer has noticed a fault in the engine. Faults are calculated when a sensor reports a value that does not match the manufacturer’s parameters.

For example, the MIL may be displayed for an open gas cap or when a spark plug fails to ignite the fuel. Both of these are different problems, but one is far worse than the other. How are you supposed to know what the problem is?

Previously, you had to take a visit to your local car mechanic to find out what was wrong. There, he would plug a computer into your on-board diagnostics (OBD) port and after some technical information, the mechanic could figure out the problem. This, however, would typically come with a hefty price.

Nowadays you don’t need to take your car to a mechanic to figure out what is wrong. As our forum does, you can take the repair into your own hands and solve the problem.

Known as a Bluetooth OBD II scanner, this small device can connect to your car’s OBD port and communicate to any iOS or Android smartphone. Within minutes, you can have live data and error logs of your car’s engine system.

After a brief scan, you can isolate the engine problem and look online to see if it’s an easy at-home repair or if you need to take it into a garage. This also will help you verify if the repair shop is telling you the truth as you will already know what is wrong.

Welcome to my review of the Konnwei Bluetooth OBD II Scanner Tool. Throughout this review, I will be discussing the following subjects: the functionality and my final thoughts. A special thank you to Elecover for proving me with this device.

Functionality

The Konnwei OBD II scanner setup is very straight forward. For power, the scanner connects to your car’s OBD port and this will immediately power on the scanner; there aren’t any buttons or switches, but it does contain five status LEDs.

Elecover is a generous supplier and they offer a free application to go along with this tool. It’s just too bad that the application is rated for one and a half stars on the Google Play Store. The application was buggy and didn’t even function as intended. Not a great start for a device that is supposed to help you solve your problem.

Instead, I downloaded and installed an application called Torque (I paid for the Pro version, $4.95). This is a great little application that can do a ton of stuff. With my Konnwei OBD scanner connected to my car, I could receive real-time data on the Torque application.

Reading fault check engine codes was the best feature in my option. After a minute or two, the application would pick up and display every code in the check engine log, even if it wasn’t failing yet. In some cases, I was able to see a potential failure that the car had not warned me about.

At the time of writing this review, none of my cars had a check engine light displaying, so I wasn’t able to capture a screenshot of what the errors look like, although I have used Torque before with great success in finding out what is wrong with my car. Below is the Torque screenshot of what errors look like. You can see the error code, followed by the module where it is located. Plus, if you tap the error, you can see more information or look it up on the internet.

If that wasn’t enough, the scanner has the ability to pick up live car data and statistics about your engine. You can read current speed and RPMs. Furthermore, the application can grab information about pressures, intake, boost, temperatures, and practically anything else a repair shop could tell you.

It was quite amazing what this little application was able to pull from the OBD II scanner. Even while driving, the application was able to maintain a good connection and there weren’t any drops or delays in the information.

For OBD ports that are hard to reach or in a strange place, Elecover provide you with a helpful OBD extender tool. Using a flat cable, you can connect one end into the car and the other into your scanner. This is great if you are using a laptop and need the scanner closer for a stronger signal.

My Final Thoughts

Priced at $19.99, I think this OBD tool is a well worth investment. Konnwei isn’t a new brand to OBD scanning tools as they have made many different handheld models. Some of them are even used by millions of car repair shops. Matched with the Torque application, this device has helped save me, literally, hundreds of dollars by allowing me to fix my own car problems. When I do have to bring the car in, I can ensure that the working being done is correct as I already know what has failed.

Buy it Now:

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