I bought the book a month ago and have been reading and learning. I'm just a hobby mechanic, but I love troubleshooting and wanted to learn more about OBDII. My wife has a 2009 BMW 328i Couple (e92) and one of the TPMS sensors in the wheel seems to be down, so I will need to replace and have the car learn the new TPMS sensor. My buddy has a tire changer machine so I can do the work myself. I had gotten by on a cheap OBDII scanner until this point.
I bought a Foxwell NT710 earlier this week for its bidirectional capability, which is coming in the mail in two days. It has a 14 day return period. It was $249 and includes software for one brand. In my case it's BMW/Mini/Rolls Royce. Additional software for other brands is $60-$80 each. My Dodge diesel is pre-OBDII and we have no other car.
I just joined the forum this morning after lurking for a few days. I'd like to know whether anyone has an opinion on these Foxwell units.
thanks
"One learns by doing."
Last edit: 4 months 2 weeks ago by 11Andrew11. Reason: typos
I spent a little time with the NT710. It's the first bidirectional scanner I've owned so I have nothing to compare it to and my feedback is pretty limited.
The other day, I spent about 30 minutes downloading the most recent software for the chosen car (BMW) and for the scanner itself. Today, I connected it to the car and tried to automatically ID the VIN, but that failed because it said the BMW software was not up to date. So, I downloaded it again and tried again and got it working.
I was most interested in the ability to program and reset the TPMS functionality. My car keeps throwing a TPMS malfunction, and I suspect it might be one of the sensors in the tires. I've had a low tire warning since this has been happening, so it seems like the system is working. I bought the scanner because Foxwell told me I could reset the TPMS and also program in new sensor IDs. (spoiler - I don't think this is true).
The NT710 manual is crap for anything specific to the functionality of the unit as it relates to looking into the car submenus. It really doesn't say anything about it. Just the basics about the unit itself. So, I just jumped in and went through every menu on the system, both in OBDII and BMW, and couldn't find anything related to TPMS other than a TPMS code had been tripped.
When using these bidirection scanners, do you usually just have to jump in and figure it out? Will the Ford menu be different than the BMW menu because the manufacturers set up their menu structures differently, or is that structure more a function of the scanner and they're similar? Also, is the TPMS setting info usually easy to find, or is that not typically part of a normal bidirectional scanner?
I personally have never used a Foxwell scanner so I don't know much about them. I would have probably gone with an Otofix D1 Lite which can be had for about $370 on Amazon and can access many different brands of vehicles and has active tests and special functions. It runs Autel software. I have the D1 version and it is a very capable tool. One of the Xtools would probably also be a better tool than the Foxwell.
I personally have never used a Foxwell scanner so I don't know much about them. I would have probably gone with an Otofix D1 Lite which can be had for about $370 on Amazon and can access many different brands of vehicles and has active tests and special functions. It runs Autel software. I have the D1 version and it is a very capable tool. One of the Xtools would probably also be a better tool than the Foxwell.
Thanks Monte. I've seen the Otofix. I'll give it another look.
The Foxwell NT710 is going back to Foxwell under their 14-day return guarantee, which is nice of them. I just have to pay the $14.50 return shipping. I'll continue to look around and try to find something that addresses the TPMS issue. Perhaps, though, I'll need to buy a specialized tool or suck it up and go to a tire shop. I think, first, I'll just deflate each tire, one at a time and see what TPMS error message I get in the car.
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