New only seeking advice

[DeanB]

Morning all, having acquired a beautiful 2.8 Z3 this summer, there a few things that i would like to improve and need some of your wisdom and experience. 1. Can anyone recommend a good OBD scanner for my facelift Z3. 2. Is there a simple way to check if the VANOS is working correctly or in need of a refurb. 3. I have the MV1 alloys and I am searching to find the correct centre caps as the ones fitted have a chrome ring on the outside and are too loose. Look forward to your helpful comments.

 

[Shelly]

 

[colb]

Lots of old posts on here regarding OBD2 Scanner choices.
I have a Creator 310+ which works well on my 1999 1.9 Z3 and my 2003 2.5 Z4 circa £50 on ebay or Amazon. They do a 410 model as well that costs a little more, not sure what it can do over the 310+.
I also use Laptop based software, BMW Inpa and its sister programs NCS Expert DIS and others, can be problematic setting it up on a laptop.
BMW Scanner 1.4 is also Laptop based and is very easy to load on a laptop and very easy to use, its available on ebay and is cheap.
Bering a Diagnostic Geek I also invested in a Launch Tablet Scanner which is a very capable scanner and coding tool for worldwide makes not just BMW's. Downside is the cost £300ish and thats for a Chinese clone that comes with 2years free updates, after that you have to pay a renewal subscription.
You should be able to see the Vanos workng in live data on scanners depending onb their capability.
Can't help wth your wheel question, not a wheel Geek apart from replacing my centre caps on the Z3 and Z4 with ebay sourced items. With some of these I did find that they needed some tape wrapped around the plastic tabs that clip into the wheel centres to hold them in tighter so they dont fall out in use. Snce doing that I havn't lost any.

 

[DeanB]

Lots of old posts on here regarding OBD2 Scanner choices.
I have a Creator 310+ which works well on my 1999 1.9 Z3 and my 2003 2.5 Z4 circa £50 on ebay or Amazon. They do a 410 model as well that costs a little more, not sure what it can do over the 310+.
I also use Laptop based software, BMW Inpa and its sister programs NCS Expert DIS and others, can be problematic setting it up on a laptop.
BMW Scanner 1.4 is also Laptop based and is very easy to load on a laptop and very easy to use, its available on ebay and is cheap.
Bering a Diagnostic Geek I also invested in a Launch Tablet Scanner which is a very capable scanner and coding tool for worldwide makes not just BMW's. Downside is the cost £300ish and thats for a Chinese clone that comes with 2years free updates, after that you have to pay a renewal subscription.
You should be able to see the Vanos workng in live data on scanners depending onb their capability.
Can't help wth your wheel question, not a wheel Geek apart from replacing my centre caps on the Z3 and Z4 with ebay sourced items. With some of these I did find that they needed some tape wrapped around the plastic tabs that clip into the wheel centres to hold them in tighter so they dont fall out in use. Snce doing that I havn't lost any.

Wow - so much useful advice - much appreciated. Will get myself a creator 310+ scanner on order. Thanks again and if I need any further help I know where to come. Best Regards Dean

 

[Jack Ratt]

If you have an early pre facelift single vanos 2.8 the Creator 310+ will not read all of the diagnostic modules.

I believe it works OK on later 2.8 facelift models with twin vanos models but it wouldn't work fully on either of my prefacelift 2.8's.

I have a Foxwell NT530 with BMW software with lifetime updates.

 

[Jack Ratt]

BMW Diagnostic Products :: Gendan Automotive Products

You can buy direct from Foxwell but they are in China and sometimes technical support can be a little hit and miss.

Buy from a UK supplier and get UK back up

Where are you based? There may be a forum member close to you who could demonstrate their scanner to you

 

[DeanB]

BMW Diagnostic Products :: Gendan Automotive Products

You can buy direct from Foxwell but they are in China and sometimes technical support can be a little hit and miss.

Buy from a UK supplier and get UK back up

Where are you based? There may be a forum member close to you who could demonstrate their scanner to you

Hi Jack, thanks for the suggestion, I am based in the Cotswolds.

 

[Rod and Kate]

Hi and welcome from Rod and Kate in York

 

[PHILIP BAXTER]

Hi, and welcome from me in Cardiff.

 

[hard top]

to the Forum.

 

[Stevo7682]

Hi and welcome from me in Scotland .

In addition to what has been said for full diagnostic testing you will need to also buy a 16 pin to 20 pin obd adapter ( plenty on ebay) to connect to the round obd port in the engine bay .
Stephen.