What does an OBD2 Scanner tell you?

"What does an OBD2 scanner tell you?" Welcome to Mercie J auto care where compassion and craftsmanship come together. I am Rick Smith, master certified technician. Scanners are a little bit like phones or computers. It all depends on what you have and how much horsepower they have. So you can have these very little basic ones for very little money like we got off of Amazon. You can have something more middle of the road but still not very expensive and then you can have the very expensive big stuff. Now OBD2 is regulated by the government, so there's certain information that has to be there so even a basic OBD2 scanner can actually give you quite a bit of information. Things like engine temperature, something called fuel trim, sensors, like oxygen sensors and throttle position sensors, things like that. One of the things I really like about these little basic ones is they will also tell you where you’re at on whats called the OBD monitors which tells you whether or not you’re good for emissions. Now when you start to get into the more expensive stuff, you get beyond OBD2 data, which is what the government says you have to have access to and then you can enhanced data which is other information from the car that the manufacturer can give you such as maybe your ABS brakes or power windows or air conditioning. All other parts of the car have a communication stuff as well and then with the expensive stuff, We also have the ability to do what is called bidirectional control. I can command something to happen, I don’t just read data. So I hope that helps. You understand a little bit of what an OBD2 scanner will do for you and thanks for watching. Until next time, safe travels to you and blessings.