Hi there,

I saw an advert in Autocar for a Gendan diagnostic code reader:

http://www.gendan.co.uk/product_GDVAG.html

Is it any good? I don't want to do anything advanced like changing the engine management settings and so on; all I want is to be able to understand and do something about codes which may appear on the display. At £39.95, is it worth the money for this sort of thing?

Importantly, would it fit my car? It says it will fit all 1996 to 2009 (the website says 1996 to 2007) Skodas with a 16-pin socket. Mine's a 2006 Octavia 1.9 TDi PD Estate, but I have no idea how many pins the socket has and I have no idea where to find it! All help gratefully received.

Thanks,

scandalxk

I've not used one, but it should do the basic stuff. It won't have the functionality of VCDS or the dealer VAS tool, so you may have to pay someone for more advanced diagnostics. It will physically fit your car.

I carry one in the glovebox. Decent enough piece of kit. It will read fault codes from engine, auto boxes, ABS and Air Bag units. It will also clear codes from those modules. It won't read things like the comfort control system or aircon etc, and it can't do adaption for new modules. Gendan also do a more advanced scanner for £89 that will read everything, and do adaption as well.

I carry one in the glovebox. Decent enough piece of kit. It will read fault codes from engine, auto boxes, ABS and Air Bag units. It will also clear codes from those modules. It won't read things like the comfort control system or aircon etc, and it can't do adaption for new modules. Gendan also do a more advanced scanner for £89 that will read everything, and do adaption as well.

Is that this one ?

Would you mind explaining what you mean by adaption for new modules ?

Cheers

Importantly, would it fit my car? It says it will fit all 1996 to 2009 (the website says 1996 to 2007) Skodas with a 16-pin socket. Mine's a 2006 Octavia 1.9 TDi PD Estate, but I have no idea how many pins the socket has and I have no idea where to find it! All help gratefully received.

I've an Octavia Mk2 2005 2.0 TDI PD and it fits that no problem. I get an error on the A/T (automatic transmission) code reader option but that's because I don't have automatic transmission I plug it in every month or so to keep any eye out for any codes popping up.

Is that this one ?

Would you mind explaining what you mean by adaption for new modules ?

Cheers

That's the one, great piece of kit for the money. Adaption is the function needed to 'pair' some new components to the cars systems. Also used for resetting flap motors in the air con, throttle body resets etc.

The same function can be performed on my Morris 1000 Traveller, but using a hammer.