salimshah

Its time for an upgrade from a dumbed down OBDII reader to Techstream.

Any recommendations or word of caution.

I have moved away from windows os to IOS.

Salim

DocRT

Unfortunately Techstream won't run directly on IOS. However, all is not lost.
You can run Boot Camp or VMWare and then install Windows. If you then boot into Windows you can install Techstream.

I use VXDiag VCX Nano. It costs more than some cheap Chinese interfaces but it does offer more options such as key and ECU programming

tadiguy

+1 for Techstream
VCX Nano is nice and smooth and even support passthrough for Generic OBD to other vehicles. The problem is it may require activation and time limited license. If that is a problem then checkout OTC VIM.

@DocRT: Does your VCX Nano have expiry date for license? If you didn't activate it yourself then the vendor may have pre-activated it (who knows when) with only a few years left on license. You can check license status with VX Manager or advance PC date several years forward and see if Techstream complains about VIM license being expired. I'm interested in getting one without time limitation.

salimshah

Does it also let you get into service modes or it is informational and to change some settings.

Salim

tadiguy

Not sure what you mean by service mode; you can control a lot: pumps, valves, solenoids, injectors, etc. and provides tons of info you can use for diag if you know what they are.

salimshah

Service mode like "brakes in air bleed mode"

Salim

DocRT

Yes, it does come with a licence. The licence on my VCX Nano (which I've had for a couple of years) expires on the last day of 2020 and by that time I'm sure there will be an even better tool available. It's still good value considering the many benefits over a cheap Chinese clone.

Allscanner, the manufacturers, are very helpful and they may be willing to update the licence after expiry, it's probably only a firmware update.

Yes, it does. If you search across all forums you'll find more details of what can be done with Techstream. Brake bleeding, for example, is HERE.

tadiguy

Yes.
I haven't had to do brake job on my 450h yet, but this CL DIY thread and other sources indicate it's possible:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...re-system.html

tadiguy

Thanks. I got mine recently from China, supposedly new, but it was activated in 2014 and expires end of 2020. I'm considering returning it and find one where the license clock starts from when I bought it.