Actron CP9145 Great tool AND C.A.N. compliant

I got this when it was a Gold Box deal in May 2008. Got it for a GREAT price well under $eventy doll@rs.
At that price this was a steal. I use it to turn of check engine lights after I do an oil change on my 2007 Kia Sedona EX. Used it to diagnose my fathers 1995 Ford Ranger pickup. And diagnosed a bad vacum in my 2000 Subaru.
This device will pay for itself in about a year when you consider a trip to a mechanic in NYC costs $5 - $10 to turn an idiot light off.

Great tool for any level of user. I am not a mechanic. I am actually a computer programmer. Can do basic things like oil changes, tune ups, ect and this is easy to use.

I read some have asked if its C.A.N. compliant and answer is yes BUT only if its the new firmware. Mine was luckily. If yours is not there is an upgrade, but it costs money. Go to actrons website to see what the firmware is for the C.A.N. compliancy

Actron CP9145 Great product at a great price!

Easy to operate works better than I expected. The bad speed sensor in my Dodge Durango was located and replaced. My speedometer,ABS and my trip computer now work perfectly again and I saved alot of money. Instead of the dealer's $800 charge, My cost was about $230 (including the cost of the AutoScanner) and a couple of hours to do it myself.I also have used it on two other vehicles in which it again worked flawlessly! A much needed tool for today's vehicles.

Actron CP9145 Saved me money and time

The Actron 9145 was very easy to use and appears durable and well made. It diagnosed a problem in minutes that I would not have been able to without it and saved us more than the cost of the 9145 plus the parts to fix the problem if the dealer had to fix the car. And now we have it for the next problem that arises. It sure takes the mystery out of the mechanic "putting the car up on the computer."

Actron CP9145 PAID FOR ITSELF

This is the greatest product ever. I bought it for my husband for christmas and has already paid for itself twice over. Had problems with two vehicles that had engine lights that kept coming on, as you know a garage will charge at least 75.00 just to hook you car up to their tester. well my husband plugged in the autoscanner and it instantly showed the code and we solved the problems in both vehicles for almost nothing and cleared the engine light code so they could be inspected in new york state. Would recommend this product to anyone who has some knowledge of automobiles, but even if you dont it saves you the cost of the diagnosis,easy to plug in to your car or truck and gives you a code thats easy to look up and see what the problem is. GREAT PRODUCT PAYS FOR ITSELF OVER AND OVER EASY TO USE

Actron CP9145 rules the codes

Excellent device, diagnosed my vehicle precisely, saved me the charge of diagnostics by dealer, went in told them what was wrong and bought the part and all was well.

Actron CP9145 Back yard mechanic

This autoscanner is just what you need to help one determine why
your auto/truck isn't performing to it's maximun potential. Easy to use, gives trouble codes with definitions on screen. Does it all but you have to buy the parts and replace. Saves you money when going to service shop when you know what's needed before they say what's needed.

Actron CP9145 CODE SCANNER

Works just as advertised, easy to follow directions in the manual and even if you mess up, going back in the procedures can be done without any problems. It helps to keep your dealer honest or helps you avoid costly repairs by guessing on repairs.

Actron CP9145 Great!!

I bought this diagnostic tool to work on my 1996 pickup truck. The price on Amazon was the lowest I saw anywhere, and this product works great. The only caveat is that you will need to do some research once you get the code. The scanner will tell you very quickly and easily what the car computer says, but that does not tell you why, or always what the code means. All in all, this is a great investment for a beginning to intermediate backyard mechanic.

Actron CP9145 scanner

Since I've never owned a OBDII tool before I don't have anything to compare the Superscanner with. However, I found the tool and the manual easy enough to understand. Sorting out the codes isn't too bad for anyone with some basic automotive knowledge and Internet access to research the readings. The scanner itself uses simple menus to pull and delete codes and will read sensor output (timing, coolant temperature and much more) in real time. I found the included CDROM to be basically useless because of minimal code descriptions. An Internet search engine will find the answers in detail.

Actron CP9145 Scanner Does The Job!!!,

First, I want to address the issues from the complainers:

For the reviewer that complained the unit was too big - You do realize this unit is larger because it has a fuller display and gives you more information than those tiny handheld units?

For the reviewer that stated about the cord being short - These were designed with the professional mechanic in mind. The same people who usually have the car/truck on a lift. At that height, the area where the OBDII connector is (which is usually under the dashboard near the drivers knees) this puts it at the right height.

For the reviewer that said they wished there was a cheaper option for the OBDI vehicles - You do realize that most of the cars before OBDII can be read with an ignition key sequence, or for the most part, with a jumper wire or paper clip? I have done this for years. That is all the OBDI kits do. The create a "jumper wire" between these 2 points to cause the engine light to flash to get your codes.

For the reviewer that stated that it does not show live data - Are you sure you know what you are looking for? Or are you trying to describe something different. It has the live data and freeze frame data. With the car running, it shows current voltages, temperatures, RPM's, etc.

If you are looking to purchase this, but are unsure, don't let the few negative reviewers steer you away. This is a capable product in the hands of someone who has basic mechanical knowledge. It is going to read the computers codes and give them to you. It is your responsibility to ake that information and diagnose your problem. The unit does exactly what it advertises it does, and it dies it very well. This is actually my second one I bought. I loaned my first one out, and never got it back.

Actron CP9145 Does everything it says its supposed to.

I did alot of research and found this scanner to be the best bang for the buck. I've heard people saying the light has to be on for this scanner to work but I don't think this is true. I was able to pull a code after my light had gone off for some time on its own.

And as far as the real time data scanner goes I think it was worth spending the extra money on this tool as compared to the lower end tools.(As long as you know what you are looking at) If you really don't know much about emmissions and the sensors in your car don't spend the extra money. It will be of little or no use to you.

This is a diagnosing tool and will not fix your problems for you. It will only point you in the right direction to fix it yourself and will erase the code after the problem is solved. This tool does everything it is supposed to do.

I have only used this tool once so far and I belive it has paid for itself.(Between diagnosing, Labor and Parts$$$$ that I would have otherwise paid a shop to do).

Actron CP9145 Affordable Entry Level Scanner

If you work on 1996 vehicles and newer, this is a must have tool. It is very user friendly and will help you track down a faulty sensor. It will also clear the check engine light and clear your codes, saving you a trip to a shop that has a scanner. One more thing, it gives you "Real Time" information on what your sensors are reading when the vehicle is running.

Actron CP9145 Excellent Product

I experienced very good service from Amazon in receiving my scanner on time. The product was packaged well, and although this was my first time using a scanner, I found it very easy to use after getting familiar with a few parts of the manual. The quality seems excellent. I tried it on my Toyota Matrix (all systems good), then tried it on my wife's Volvo S90. It uncovered a bad transmission sensor, which explains some of the shifting problems we had during the colder weather. It was very nice being able to turn off the check engine light (I know I saved a little money on that one). I did find the connector a little hard to release from both cars, but nothing serious enough to rate the product less than 5. At first, I was going to purchase a less expensive model, but my wife convinced me to upgrade to this model. That was a smart decision and I would highly recommend this model to anyone.

Actron CP9145 Scanner

Outstanding unit. Does all that the dealer does and charges you $90 for. Use 3-4 times and your money is paid back. Know what the problem is and buy the necessary repair parts to fix yourself. Save hundreds and have the satisfaction the job was done right. Definitely use the computer disc and read the manual. Great product and easy to follow manual. Highly recommend if your car/truck is out of warranty.

Actron CP9145 This product does a lot more than everyone else is saying

First of all, my background is as an electronics technician and engineer. I have designed electronic control circuitry for textile mills that used the same principles found in automotive computers. I got fascinated by automotive computers when my local dealership was unable to fix a problem that caused the check engine light to repeatedly come on.

Before buying a scanner, I read everything I could get my hands on, about automotive computers and looked very closely at the different scanner choices available.

Nothing prepared me for what this scanner actually does. The main 3 automotive manufacturers all build some diagnostics into their computers.

This scanner will let you take advantage of any other onboard diagnostics that exists. If you own a Ford product, the onboard computer and this scanner will perform a very impressive range of diagnostics that nobody else has mentioned in their reviews, and product descriptions don't describe, such as a 'wiggle test' to see if you have a bad connector between a sensor and the onboard computer, checking the spark plugs and spark plug wires and overall cylinder performance. It will activate individual solenoids, to diagnose that kind of problems. It will help diagnose air conditioning problems, overloading of the transmission, and many other situations that were much more than I was led to expect by reading the product descriptions and reviews. I must make it clear that Ford products seem to be the only ones listed as having such a wide range of diagnostics, although GM and Chrysler additional diagnostics were described. This Scanner seems to be able to work with whatever diagnostics are available.

I had planned to connect it to each of my vehicles and take sensor readings before I had problems, to help me spot anything out of range when a problem occurred. It turns out that I didn't need to. It already has normal ranges for just about any make and model of car or light truck, including Asian or European.

I was blown away. Tell this scanner what make and model you are connecting it to, and already has a wide library of information available to compare with what you are seeing, tell you if anything is out of range, and make use of whatever onboard computer diagnostics are available.

Finally, the Amazon price seems to be the low price anywhere. You can easily pay $400 for this scanner, elsewhere. Also, I compared it with the Snap On $800 shop scanner and the only thing the Snap On does, which this doesn't, is display very specific diagnostic steps necessary to pinpoint problems. That, however, is the same information you can get from other places, and much of it is for free.

This is an excellent choice for anyone.