The Snap-On Scanner has been around for some years now. When first introduced there were not many vehicles that it was able to communicate with. Even those that were had very limited useful information to access anyway.

By 1990 we were seeing faster and more powerful computers (ECU's) controlling the engine management and the need for this type of equipment became more necessary. Several manufactures made this type of equipment including Bosch, Crypton and Snap-On tools. The Snap-On version was called a Scanner, and the one that I chose.

The ability to communicate with these systems was now becoming more common. By connecting a piece of equipment that was able to access the stored information in the cars computer a technician could extract a code and look up its definition which could help pin point an area of a fault. This could save a lot of searching and testing and subsequently save the customer a lot of money.

Not only are codes available from the cars computer, the Scanner can also show live data as the engine is running. This can show the trained technician what is happening in real time and also whether the engine management computer has had to adapt the fuelling requirement to keep the engine running correctly. Such information helps to find faults that are present but may be unaware to the driver.

The new colour Scanner is also capable of graphing this information allowing the technician to see this over a period of time.

For more information. snapon.com