lexia

[gazthelad]

this is the new lexia 3........ SCANTOOL V144HC........on flea bay

[Satellitemark]

Can't see it gas.

Mark

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

[Oi69]

what is ???????

[gazthelad]

this is the replacement for the old lexia, which is being phased out.......the new one SCANTOOL V144HC. PSAPRO...check ebay..

[Lighty]

Not sure exactly what this tool is,because there is no description given for it.
Personally I think scan tools have had their day, or will have done very soon.
We are finding with more & more cars that passthough is the only way. This uses an interface , such as the one in the title above maybe . This allows you to connect to the manufacturers server and diagnose directly, so no software as such is on your computer.
The best bit about this is that you have access to the very latest diagnostics for every single car, just like the dealer has.
We have set up accounts with BMW, Vauxhall, VW, PSA , Renault (you need a special dongle for Renault), Ford.
So we now have dealer level on all these cars, this means key programming, ecu downloads etc etc.
For example , you need pass through to,program an elloys bag into a new shape C4 Picasso, because it is security blocked on the latest diagbox. Last week we paid €13 to back off the handbrake on a 17 plate Mondeo to fit new pads & €13 to set it back up again, so you can see where this is going
I was able to download the entire service history for my BMW M5 directly from their records & I can upload a new service onto that , if I have done it myself.
This is where garages will be caught out, because all cars will go digital service record soon & customers will obviously want this info uploading or their cars will be devalued.
Problem is for the diy mechanic is that you won't be able to do this because you need to be a bonafide buisness to get accounts opened with the manufacturers & this means at least having a vat number.
If for example we had an Aston Martin in next week, we could set up an account with them online & connect with the interface and have the latest diag info straight from them & they have to provide this by law at the moment.
We use a Bosch KTS for this , which cost about £1800, there are many others available, but the Bosch seems the most versatile.
Just out of interest, we can actually connect to Citroen & Peugeot using a cloned Interface, but it needs a different laptop for each manufacturer for these two for some reason.
To use this service on Peugeot & Citroen cost €35 for 1 week on 1 vin number. Most others will sell you 1 hour, which is around €8.
The PSA service is a bit pricy if you only want to do one small job.
My credit card bill is showing us spending several hundred € a month already, so this will be a big earner for the manufacturers in the future.
I can't see how anyone will be able to reproduce this in a single piece of software before long, so you Lexia's, diagbox', Snap on Versus, Launch etc will become obsolete soon.

[polar]

It was bound to come wasn't it lighty!

I suspect soon if you try and plug in the vehicle will contact the mothership and tell them pirate software has been detected and the mothership will deactivate the car. Quite simple to do really with GPS, then you will have to pay a fine, this will be disguised as a manufacturer reboot charge and a telling off for using dangerous chinese software!

Maybe just my paranoia but with Euro 6+ and manufacturers having to comply with emission standards for the first 5 years of the vehicle life. Anything you do to that vehicle will be logged and reported.

[Gravity]

Lighty's take on obd scanners is very interesting, because Manufacturer downloadable and upgradable software on a subscription basis has been available almost since the advent of the obd protocol.

This has not stopped the private owner from getting a diagnostic tool that will comprehensively cover all he will ever need to examine. Of course it will not allow him to keep getting the latest diagnostic information updates, but until he changes his car that won't bother him.

There are also clones of course, that once bought do not need a manufacturer subscription. For example, Mercedes have their Star system, available to dealers only and not to indies. This is a subscription arrangement only, expensive and carefully guarded. But now, for a comparatively small outlay, an excellent Star clone can be purchased. It won't automatically update as new models are introduced, but many Merc Indies have an unofficial arrangement with Dealers that keeps them updated. A Merc dealer will typically charge around £100 for a Star session, and much of the time the fault analysis is little different from a good code reader. Of course there are also times when an obscure fault on a Merc can only be solved by Star.

There is a caveat to this, that I have found to my cost. Any manufacturer system is only as good as the operator!

Maybe in the future it will be as Lighty suggests, but even then there will be unofficial workarounds - as there always are. No worries mates.

Gravity

[brajomobil]

Hi Lighty,

Do you know is it possible to download new firmware for BSI or ECU with Lexia cloned intrface?
If I buy connection for 1 hour. I don't have VAT number or small business. Just ordinary DIY person.

Thank you in advance.

Best regards,
brajomobil

[Oi69]

Hi Lighty,

Do you know is it possible to download new firmware for BSI or ECU with Lexia cloned intrface?
If I buy connection for 1 hour. I don't have VAT number or small business. Just ordinary DIY person.

Thank you in advance.

Best regards,
brajomobil

Thats in Croatia not in the real world ;-)

[Lighty]

I don't think it is possible, you have to have a varified account with PSA , the cloned tool is merely an interface to connect to their server. Until you have an account it is not possible.