Carly code readers

[jimbo84]

Has anyone got a Carly code reader?

The Sportage every few months throws a wobbler, miss-fires, drops in power temporarily, brings the engine management light on. After a minute or 2 it settles down, management light goes off and it’s normal service resumed. It is getting worse each time it does it.

I wanted to see what codes it was throwing up but have no idea what reader to get.

I’d seen these on someone’s youtube channel but obviously they’re going to say they’re good because they were getting it for free. It’s £53 at the moment.

I was after some real life experience or an alternative recommendation.

 

[jimbo84]

Scrap the Carly idea, I’ve just noticed it’s an annual subscription.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Craig-SM]

I’ve got Carly for the BMW, no subscription but I’ve had it a while. I don’t find it the greatest tool to use.

Is the Sportage petrol by any chance? If so sounds like the issue I had. Dealer wanted to change the ECU at my expense. Checked plugs which were worn despite recent major service. Replaced plugs but still persisted. A forum suggested coil pack so swapped it over with my brothers car, same engine but different model. Mine cured and his had the problem. New coil pack ordered ar a tenth of the ECU price and problem fixed.

 

[jimbo84]

I’ve got Carly for the BMW, no subscription but I’ve had it a while. I don’t find it the greatest tool to use.

Is the Sportage petrol by any chance? If so sounds like the issue I had. Dealer wanted to change the ECU at my expense. Checked plugs which were worn despite recent major service. Replaced plugs but still persisted. A forum suggested coil pack so swapped it over with my brothers car, same engine but different model. Mine cured and his had the problem. New coil pack ordered ar a tenth of the ECU price and problem fixed.

Yeah it’s a 2015 petrol. I had wondered about a coil pack with the age of the car. It’s tricky with it only being intermittent. I was hoping a code reader would shed some light onto it. I’ll pull the plugs I think and see what they look like. It’s only done around 15,000 miles since its last set of plugs and I put the decent ones in so hoping they haven’t deteriorated.

 

[Craig-SM]

Yeah it’s a 2015 petrol. I had wondered about a coil pack with the age of the car. It’s tricky with it only being intermittent. I was hoping a code reader would shed some light onto it. I’ll pull the plugs I think and see what they look like. It’s only done around 15,000 miles since its last set of plugs and I put the decent ones in so hoping they haven’t deteriorated.

I’m pretty sure the plugs on mine were original and had never been changed.

Not sure if you’re on a Sportage group but could be worth seeing if anyone local with same engine is willing to do a swap to confirm or rule out.

 

[roofman]

Carly is a good system if your paying the full subscribtion...

 

[Pete.]

I have a Otofix D1 Lite which I can thoroughly reccomend. It was £300 but no subscription and 2 years free updates and it's based on Autel system. It's got loads of features that other similar tools don't have at this price point.

Anyway, my son in law has a 22 plate Ceed which was displaying similar symptoms:

Fine when cold
When warmed up and on an open road, put your foot down and it would start mis-firing and then throw a light. He would pull over, wait a short while and cycle the ignition and it would be fine again.

We hooked the Otofix up to it and went for a run showing live data for the engine cylinders misfire count). Warmed up, foot down hard it started misfiring then threw an engine light again.

The Otofix showed this:

Because it was still under dealer warranty they go it booked in to a Kia dealership and they ran a load of tests. They diagnosed carbon build-up on the valves. The dealer has to pay for the head to come off and the carbon cleaned from the valves/combustion chamber.

 

[premmington]

Decent scanners start at £2.5k + and can cost more (lots more).

If you not paying £700/800 a year updates - the tool won't do too much.

The whole buying scanners is a minefield - you can waste allot of money buying into things that don't offer what they say on the tin.

But stuff from China is good - cheaper than dealer stuff - and easier (quicker to use).


Launch - Topdon is where it is at the moment.

Not so long ago it was Delphi/Bosch the makers of the control units - but the tech has move on...

Chinese good at back writting software - they got no copywrite laws to deal with - they got free range and they making a good job of it - to be honest...

Near dealer spec diagnostics - has never been cheaper to be truthful....

 

[carbon]

It was £300 but no subscription and 2 years free updates

This is the way even the higher end diagnostic scanners work. Buy the tool get 2 years updates then after the 2 years you need to purchase a years subscription to get any updates. Some will continue to work after the 2 years but no updates

 

[Pete.]

The subscription is about £100 a year IIRC. I'd just buy a new scanner and get the latest model with 2 years' subscription if I was worried.

The way I see it the updates would mostly be adding new vehicle models etc.