Just realized I was killing my own diagnosis with a cheap scan tool

For 10 years I used a $40 OBD scanner for everything. Last week a 2018 Silverado came in with a misfire and the tool said cylinder 3, so I replaced the coil and plug. Still misfiring. Borrowed my buddy's $1200 scanner and it showed a fuel injector issue on cylinder 3 instead. Swapped the injector and it fixed it. Now I'm second guessing every job I did with that cheap tool. Anyone else ever lose trust in their basic equipment after one bad call?

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wren82626d ago

Thing is, that cheap scanner probably wasn't wrong about the misfire code. It just read the generic cylinder 3 misfire, which is where the detective work begins. The expensive tool goes deeper and can see live data and other codes that point to the injector. A misfire is just a symptom, the cheap tool only tells you the location, not the cause. So I wouldnt throw the thing away, just know it's a starting point, not the whole answer.