Info: Auto ingenuity.

[briencolgan]

Hey guys. I just picked up an auto ingenuity scanner for about 500. I wanted to share my initial impressions in case somebody was thinking about purchasing one.

There's a lot to like about it. This is just a software program a cable that plugs into your laptop firstly.

So you have a huge screen that shows almost all available PID's at one time. That's a plus.

The program is not very intuitive, and the instructions are pretty brief. When I first got it it look like there was limited bi-directional control.

But there's actually quite a bit of bidirectional control. It just is hidden a little bit. For instance if you want to control fuel gauges you have to be inside the gauge module. It only shows bi-directional control for the modules you are working on which makes sense.

I got this unit to troubleshoot injectors and was seeing injector Command rates of zero on seven of the cylinders with the truck running. I realized after a while that the number format was incorrect. It was set to zero with no decimal places. And these units are in hundredths of a millisecond. So any data under 1.00 was not read.

Autoingenuity has pretty good customer service. They got back to me within a day or two about the issue and have promised an update. They say it is a formatting issue.

The scanner I had before this was the best scanner you can get from AutoZone, about 250 bucks. It showed about a dozen PIDS. You had no bi-directional control, and it didn't show balance rates for injectors.

I'm not sure how many PID's this scanner shows on the engine alone, but it takes up my entire laptop screen. There's a lot of data here.

My one sticking point with this unit is that it does not stay connected to the truck for very long and connecting it back up is a pain in the ass. I emailed the engineer about it and I'm waiting to hear reply. It may be just a setting issue or something. At any rate for $500 it may be worth the hassle of unplugging everything and plugging it back in and restarting the program. Not a huge deal just kind of an annoyance. I don't know how this compares to a tech to because I've never used one. But so far it's been able to run every test that requires a tech 2 in the GM service manual.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wilsondiesel]

First person I've ever heard of buying AE for a Duramax... That being said I use it all the time for my Ford Powerstroke Diagnostics tool. Works okay on Powerstrokes but will be purchasing Ford IDS in the future to replace it.

 

[briencolgan]

Yeah. I kinda like it, Kinda don't. I may send it back and try something else. Like I said the only problem I really have with it is the connection issue.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TheBac]

Moved to Tool Crib

 

[DAVe3283]

So are you saying you can go to the gauge module and make your fuel gauge show 1/2 tank on command?

I would be interested in something that can do that...

 

[briencolgan]

Thanks thebac. Not quite sure where to put threads. Is there a sticky?

But on this tool you can command all dials on the dash to 100% and 0%. Basically yes you can sweep the dials all at the same time.

Rpm mph fuel oil trans temp etc all move to 100% in unison.

On a completely different note, while running that high-pressure fuel test I was describing, one of the steps is taking off the glow plug relay. My glow plugs have not worked in a long time. I also had to take all plugs out as a step. I hooked them up to a battery charger and they got nice and hot. But what I noticed was that the glow plug relay requires a good solid ground through the bolts it mounts to the engine with and this was all rusty. So I'm gonna put that back on today. I bet the relay will fire right up.

I was also able to command that relay on with the scan tool. And then watch the Pid called glow plug relay status to see if the relay was engaging. There are three or four PID's for the glow plug relay alone. I don't know if anybody out there with the EFI or a tech 2 is following this, but I'd be curious to know if those stores have more capability.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[briencolgan]

I was also able to use the tool to graph the Fuel pressure relief valve. That graph experiment failed the part. I didn't really trust the result. I guess I should've, so I ran the physical test as well and that failed the FPRV too.

I still may be into new injectors, (White smoke was a symptom) but I'm going to replace this part first, put it back together and see. I'm pretty certain that I'll be able to get commanded rail pressure back up to normal again.

I can only achieve half of commanded rail pressure right now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[briencolgan]

Here's some screenshots.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cougar281]

I have auto ingenuity with the VW/Audi and Chrysler enhaced packs, and to be honest, I'm really not impressed. It sucked so bad with VW on the TDI we had that I ended up purchasing VCDS, which was 1,000's of times better. On a 97 Ram/Cummins, it wasnt exactly that 'fleshed out'. The PIDs were pretty sparse. Maybe GM is the only segment where its worth a hoot.

Sent from my 2PS64 using Tapatalk

 

[briencolgan]

There's a lot of pids and tons of bi-directional capability.

If I had my choice I'd buy something like a Solus But I wanted to stay around $500. It just didn't make sense to spend $4000 to maintain a $3000 truck.

I think I'm going to keep it. But it definitely has some downsides. They are minor but annoying.

It often loses connection with the vehicle and reconnecting is a pain in the ass.

It won't save any of your vehicles so anytime you need to Reconnect you have to manually go through and choose vin letters transmission types etc.

And nothing gets saved. For instance if you are graphing balance rates, and you set your scale for -10 and +10, the next time you reconnect to the truck the scale defaults to -512 and +512

Minor things, but annoyances none the same. If I knew of another scanner that did with this thing did in this price range I might return it. But at this price point, I get a lot of data and a lot of bi-directional control.

It does bother me when people sell software at this price and are sloppy with the details.

Those little bugs could be easily fixed I think. But of course when I contact the company, they say there is absolutely no connection issue at all, it's perfect. Translation: we're not gonna fix it.

They did however send me a patch for an error I caught in their program, a small formatting issue that caused the injector command pids not read correctly.

Summary. Fix the spotty connection problem. And allow me to save my vehicle so I don't have to manually enter it every time, and you've got a winner! Everything else is great. Although I'm highly unqualified to review given that I don't have anything to compare it to. Id love to plugin a tech 2 and see what it can do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

I have auto ingenuity with the VW/Audi and Chrysler enhaced packs, and to be honest, I'm really not impressed. It sucked so bad with VW on the TDI we had that I ended up purchasing VCDS, which was 1,000's of times better. On a 97 Ram/Cummins, it wasnt exactly that 'fleshed out'. The PIDs were pretty sparse. Maybe GM is the only segment where its worth a hoot.

Sent from my 2PS64 using Tapatalk

On a 97 ram/cummins even a drb3 didn't show that many pids as there simply wasn't that many.