I originally wrote this for another GM vehicle forum. But the subject was recently raised here, and so some may find this useful:
So many times I have seen people crying for help diagnosing mysterious problems and almost always, the first thing that should be done is to hook the car up to a scan tool. They are not just ?code readers? ? a decent scan tool lets you delve into the actual data stream and see what?s going on in the car?s little tin brain, saving time, money, sanity and probably the odd marriage.
But most people don?t have a real scan tool, because good used ones sell fast and new ones cost more than the current market value of a used car. I have stumbled over a possible solution.
A bit of background: I have a dedicated scan tool, the OTC 4000E, but OTC stopped supporting it in 2001 so it?s only useful for older cars. I have a laptop interface and software (AutoEnginuity) that is fully CAN capable, but I?ve discovered does not access all the available data streams on at least one of my cars. Neither can do dealer programming. Frustrated, I was prowling the net looking for an alternative when I discovered the Chinese have cloned the GM scan tool holy grail: the Bosch/Ventronix made Tech 2.
Apparently, Ventronix farmed out the manufacture to a Chinese firm for many years. When Bosch bought Ventronix, they shopped elsewhere for their parts, but Pandora?s box was already opened, and patent protection only lasts 20 years? The net result is that a number of Chinese vendors are offering Tech 2 scan tools at hobbyist price levels.
Now, before you rush right out and buy one, here?s the good, the bad and the ugly. I?ll add my personal experience in Part 2, for those of you that prefer to skip the research:
These are clones, not made by Bosch for sale by GM. It doesn?t take much research to find a wide array of warnings that these are shoddy reverse-engineered copies that will fail prematurely, probably taking your car with it as it bursts into flames. Proofs are offered in the form of photos showing missing components like capacitors, heat sinks and even entire chips. I also came across a warning that people have been charged for having or selling counterfeits.
Well, I was able to verify that last one. Sort of. There is an official court record of one fellow who was charged with one count of trafficking in goods bearing counterfeit marks ? implying that the crime was not in selling the tool, the crime was putting the GM logo on it. (I assume he was representing it as being ?the real deal?).
I did come across reports of failures. Hardware-wise, it seems the CANdi module is the most susceptible to failure (this may be caused by connecting to the AC power adapter with CANdi module still connected to the Tech 2. CANdi modules are designed to be powered by the OBD connector). One fellow reported that his Tech2 mysteriously died after 5 months of steady use. Certain vendors stop answering e-mails once the sale is completed. However, it also seems that at least some of the Chinese vendors are replacing/repairing defective product. I have not been able to find any verifiable instances of the tool causing damage. I did come across one thread where the car would not start after use, but it turned out that the user turned off the wrong option ? the car started again after that option was re-enabled. In another thread, the Tech 2 display went haywire and the car would not start ? turned out the vehicle battery had dropped to 9v while playing with his new toy. A number of people report that the hinge on the case was broken, apparently during shipping.
On the other hand, I also came across numerous "success stories", like one mechanic who did a side by side comparison ending in the comment that functionally, he couldn't tell the difference. The clone behaves exactly like the original.
Actually, most problems I read about turn out to be either user error or a cable issue. One or two problems with the onboard battery ? in one case, the battery holder was soldered in backwards, in another, removing and replacing the battery cleared some sort of a glitch. A few reports of corrupted software on the memory cards ? reflashing the same software version on the same card cured the problem. Some tossed the supplied card and installed the software onto a high quality memory card purchased locally (must be linear, ATA won?t work). There are also reports that the pins of some connectors are easily bent and the supplied cat5 cable used by the RS232 interface may be a bit dodgy ? some are actually missing one critical wire and cannot work.
I came across this recent post from an insider in China:
?Clearly, these T2s are all made in China, to be specific, in Shenzhen,Guangdong. I believe there're 2 or 3 factories producing them, as they vary a little. There're lots of sellers on Taobao.com, which is China's ebay. They seem to be very similar. No one can really tell the differences before trying out. Same here, some are good and some are bad, even from same supplier. From my point of view, these type of product is not too cheap for lots of factories to produce. Plus the technique. So, basically, all the T2's at low prices within 1000usd are quite similar ones. And they absolutely all come from China. Maybe an OEM factory produces geniun T2, in the meantime, produces some lower cost ones to meet other markets. Otherwise, it's not that easy to have the technique to produce it to work. To cut costs, some of the electronics are replaced with different brands, including the accessories like cards, candi, wires etc. However, no one dare to change design, so they function very normally when everthing's in order. The replaces items are cheaper and more unstable, without testing I guess. Thus, we all rely on lucks. I also think all the sellers are dealers, no manufacturer is selling this. May avoid legal issue.?
By far, the biggest headache seems to be getting the Tech 2 talking to the software supplied for your computer, called ?TIS2000?. This is all old technology and while some have had success with various emulators and adapters, the most reliable method is an older computer, running WinXP, and equipped with a real serial port. The software works as-is for basic stuff like graphing snapshot data, but requires a security dongle to access advanced features like reprogramming a module. There is a software crack floating around, but it requires a physical parallel port (ie: ?LPT1?) and installs a driver to fool TIS2000 into believing the dongle is present at the port. The supplied software only covers vehicles up to 2007.
Alternatively, GM offers access to their ?TIS2Web? internet service for as little as $55 for 2 days. There may even be updates for older cars that came out after they discontinued the CD service. You can check for available updates car by VIN number for free before purchasing access. (note: there is also GlobalTIS, but it does not apply to North American brands. There are specific versions for Opal, Saab, etc.)
Note that while the patent protection on the tool may have expired, I think the software is probably copyrighted, and I believe copyright protection lasts for either 50 or 75 years. So while purchasing access to TIS2Web is perfectly legitimate, cracks and keygens are probably illegal. I'm not promoting them, just noting they exist.
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So many times I have seen people crying for help diagnosing mysterious problems and almost always, the first thing that should be done is to hook the car up to a scan tool. They are not just ?code readers? ? a decent scan tool lets you delve into the actual data stream and see what?s going on in the car?s little tin brain, saving time, money, sanity and probably the odd marriage.
But most people don?t have a real scan tool, because good used ones sell fast and new ones cost more than the current market value of a used car. I have stumbled over a possible solution.
A bit of background: I have a dedicated scan tool, the OTC 4000E, but OTC stopped supporting it in 2001 so it?s only useful for older cars. I have a laptop interface and software (AutoEnginuity) that is fully CAN capable, but I?ve discovered does not access all the available data streams on at least one of my cars. Neither can do dealer programming. Frustrated, I was prowling the net looking for an alternative when I discovered the Chinese have cloned the GM scan tool holy grail: the Bosch/Ventronix made Tech 2.
Apparently, Ventronix farmed out the manufacture to a Chinese firm for many years. When Bosch bought Ventronix, they shopped elsewhere for their parts, but Pandora?s box was already opened, and patent protection only lasts 20 years? The net result is that a number of Chinese vendors are offering Tech 2 scan tools at hobbyist price levels.
Now, before you rush right out and buy one, here?s the good, the bad and the ugly. I?ll add my personal experience in Part 2, for those of you that prefer to skip the research:
These are clones, not made by Bosch for sale by GM. It doesn?t take much research to find a wide array of warnings that these are shoddy reverse-engineered copies that will fail prematurely, probably taking your car with it as it bursts into flames. Proofs are offered in the form of photos showing missing components like capacitors, heat sinks and even entire chips. I also came across a warning that people have been charged for having or selling counterfeits.
Well, I was able to verify that last one. Sort of. There is an official court record of one fellow who was charged with one count of trafficking in goods bearing counterfeit marks ? implying that the crime was not in selling the tool, the crime was putting the GM logo on it. (I assume he was representing it as being ?the real deal?).
I did come across reports of failures. Hardware-wise, it seems the CANdi module is the most susceptible to failure (this may be caused by connecting to the AC power adapter with CANdi module still connected to the Tech 2. CANdi modules are designed to be powered by the OBD connector). One fellow reported that his Tech2 mysteriously died after 5 months of steady use. Certain vendors stop answering e-mails once the sale is completed. However, it also seems that at least some of the Chinese vendors are replacing/repairing defective product. I have not been able to find any verifiable instances of the tool causing damage. I did come across one thread where the car would not start after use, but it turned out that the user turned off the wrong option ? the car started again after that option was re-enabled. In another thread, the Tech 2 display went haywire and the car would not start ? turned out the vehicle battery had dropped to 9v while playing with his new toy. A number of people report that the hinge on the case was broken, apparently during shipping.
On the other hand, I also came across numerous "success stories", like one mechanic who did a side by side comparison ending in the comment that functionally, he couldn't tell the difference. The clone behaves exactly like the original.
Actually, most problems I read about turn out to be either user error or a cable issue. One or two problems with the onboard battery ? in one case, the battery holder was soldered in backwards, in another, removing and replacing the battery cleared some sort of a glitch. A few reports of corrupted software on the memory cards ? reflashing the same software version on the same card cured the problem. Some tossed the supplied card and installed the software onto a high quality memory card purchased locally (must be linear, ATA won?t work). There are also reports that the pins of some connectors are easily bent and the supplied cat5 cable used by the RS232 interface may be a bit dodgy ? some are actually missing one critical wire and cannot work.
I came across this recent post from an insider in China:
?Clearly, these T2s are all made in China, to be specific, in Shenzhen,Guangdong. I believe there're 2 or 3 factories producing them, as they vary a little. There're lots of sellers on Taobao.com, which is China's ebay. They seem to be very similar. No one can really tell the differences before trying out. Same here, some are good and some are bad, even from same supplier. From my point of view, these type of product is not too cheap for lots of factories to produce. Plus the technique. So, basically, all the T2's at low prices within 1000usd are quite similar ones. And they absolutely all come from China. Maybe an OEM factory produces geniun T2, in the meantime, produces some lower cost ones to meet other markets. Otherwise, it's not that easy to have the technique to produce it to work. To cut costs, some of the electronics are replaced with different brands, including the accessories like cards, candi, wires etc. However, no one dare to change design, so they function very normally when everthing's in order. The replaces items are cheaper and more unstable, without testing I guess. Thus, we all rely on lucks. I also think all the sellers are dealers, no manufacturer is selling this. May avoid legal issue.?
By far, the biggest headache seems to be getting the Tech 2 talking to the software supplied for your computer, called ?TIS2000?. This is all old technology and while some have had success with various emulators and adapters, the most reliable method is an older computer, running WinXP, and equipped with a real serial port. The software works as-is for basic stuff like graphing snapshot data, but requires a security dongle to access advanced features like reprogramming a module. There is a software crack floating around, but it requires a physical parallel port (ie: ?LPT1?) and installs a driver to fool TIS2000 into believing the dongle is present at the port. The supplied software only covers vehicles up to 2007.
Alternatively, GM offers access to their ?TIS2Web? internet service for as little as $55 for 2 days. There may even be updates for older cars that came out after they discontinued the CD service. You can check for available updates car by VIN number for free before purchasing access. (note: there is also GlobalTIS, but it does not apply to North American brands. There are specific versions for Opal, Saab, etc.)
Note that while the patent protection on the tool may have expired, I think the software is probably copyrighted, and I believe copyright protection lasts for either 50 or 75 years. So while purchasing access to TIS2Web is perfectly legitimate, cracks and keygens are probably illegal. I'm not promoting them, just noting they exist.
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