OBDII Software
 

Having borrowed my parents car all weekend I want to find out why the HELL it has such awful gas mileage and WHY the Money Light keeps turning on and off seemingly at random. There's a fault that keeps recurring and clearing and I don't own a scan tool for any modern vehicles.
The closest thing I got to a scantool is a very generic and unbranded OBDII to USB interface. I'm pretty sure it's just a level converter and an FTDI USB UART because it pops up as a COM port. So I guess I got the hardware but the software.....

I can google software and come up with countless software options that ALL demand money and include useless crippled or ad-ridden free versions or freeware where the money is in the tool they sell and the software only works with that but I don't really care for real-time performance data or sensor control or PID updates. The car is 15 years old and I just want to know what is setting the light and what faults are being stored.

Edited: actually it seems the adapter LOOKS like this one but god only knows if it's the same or a lookalike.

You do realize you can just go to AutoZone and ask them to scan it for you - for free... right?

Failing that, just buy a $20 OBDII scanner from amazon or harbor freight or some other such place. Much better way to spend your money than on some unreliable software made by some random guy.

Also, if we're placing bets, my money is on a misfire code.

Autoenginuity makes a great product.

I've also had OK luck with torque, and a bluetooth ELM adapter.

For all the VW stuff I used to do, I'd shell out the $$$ for a Ross-Tech cable. Worth every penny.

-J

Yeah most major auto parts stores will scan your engine codes for free print the codes and tell you what is wrong or what group of things to check (depending on the code)... They learned that the parts they sell doing this as a free service MORE than makes up for the drop in scanner sales.

I'm exactly the kind of cheap skate that uses this service....

Don't overthink this just buy a cheap scanner. My aging Mercedes has the check engine light come on from time to time so I bought a cheap-o scanner from Walmart, this one to be precise: link. Works great, I just keep it in the glovebox and when the light comes on, check the code. No need to go to the parts store.

If I'm buying a scantool I'm almost certainly doing so for a family members car. I've never owned a car new enough to support ANY version of OBD. ;)

I was just kind of hoping that I could make use of an existing adapter but if the suggestion is to overwhelmingly buy another with a software package included (NOT a phone app) I guess I might as well.

Well the major reason is because a cheapie scanner will just work out of the box. No need to play around with some finnicky software.

what is the car btw?

2006 Nissan X-trail which I got a feeling has a cracked head.