Customer Reviews

OBD II Diagnostic Secrets Revealed (Secrets Revealed series)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I can only 1/2 recommend this book.
Given in CA every other car is Audi, VW, Volvo, Saab, Toyota, Subaru, Nissan, MB, etc.
This book only covers Ford GM and Chrysler.

However, given there are so few books of any description on OBDII or EOBD, this serves as a good beginner for the DIY enthusiast.
However, I would appreciate if a similar book existed to cover all the missed applications above.
In addition, the named missing names above are also the most likely NOT to provide this type of information in their Official Workshop Manuals, so the need is even greater than for Ford, GM and Chry.

This book doesn't reveal any secrets,or for that matter much information. It is rather long on OBD II theory and has a fairly good chapter on scan tool selection but falls far short in the diagnostic department. I had hoped this book would have information on acceptable sensor values, troubleshooting / diagnostic charts, etc. As far as diagnosis goes, this book is just one small step ahead of a trouble code chart. Since most of the newer scan tools incorporate this information in the tool itself I would recommend that you save the price of this book and apply it to a better tool.

This book is only good for a reference guide for Ford and
GM trouble codes. The book doesn't help any one who is trying
to repair a really troublesome problem;in fact, it doesn't
help in trouble shooting simple problems. Problems that could
be fixed by simply turning the gas cap an extra turn or two.
I only blame my self for wasting my hard earned money. Please
take my advice and don't be fooled by the books good reviews,
wich are odviously writen by people who are not professional
technicians.

I am very disappointed in this book.

Chapter 1 covers the four strokes of an internal combustion engine. Yep, just like you learned in 8th grade. Nobody running OBD-II diagnostics needs to cover that material. Chapter 3 appears to be cribbed from the CARB Web site (http://www.arb.ca.gov/html/brochure/history.htm). There's a chapter full of recipes -- and while I'm sure they're delicious, that's not why I bought an OBD-II book.

This leaves around 170 pages of actual material, and that is filled with dozens of typographical and content errors that range from distracting to confusing.

The information that remains is somewhat useful, but not worth the cover price.

I thought from reading the sample pages that this book would explain codes and a brief explanation as to what to check for each code. It was more of an overview of ODBII with some details I could use.

I was looking for hardcore material on OBD. I too was fooled by the preview. You can find the same info on the Internet. The book publishers have done a fantastic job of packaging and making an ordinary book with common information look exceptional. What people want to know is how to use the information in the powertrain control module to solve problems. This book simply tells you what's available in OBD 2 not what to do with the info. Pages are devoted to OBD 2 codes that can be found on the Internet. If you need a glossy intro to OBD 2 this is it.

I am a hobbyist/shad tree mechanic. The history was nice but not necessary for me. I was looking for a lot more than a huge trouble chart. More about how each sensor work. More about how to interpret the code reader. More about what sensor readings are going to be call bad by the ECM. And less about cooking meals.

THIS BOOK REALLY HELPED ME UNDERSTAND HOW THE CAR AND THE COMPUTER ARE INTERACTING. STARTS WITH THE BASICS OF THE ENGINE THEN COVERS THE GUTS OF THE PCM IE.CPU ROM, RAM, KRAM,CAN, BUS, ANALOG AND DIGITAL FUNCTIONS.(EASY TO UNDERSTAND FORMAT).
HISTORY IS NEXT FROM 1955 TO OBDIII WHICH WILL BE ALOT LIKE ON-STAR WHICH USES RAIDO TRANSPONDERS. CHAPTER 4 AND 5 COVER THE DATALINK CONNECTOR THE DIFFERENT PROTOCOLS DISCETING TROUBLE CODES, THE MIL INDICATOR AND WHEN IT COMES ON.
FOR THE SCANNER BUYER CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSES PARAMATERS TO LOOK FOR WITHOUT BIAS TOWARDS A PARTICULAR BRAND.
CHAPTER 7 WAS THE MOST HELPFUL INFORMATION FOR ME ESPECIALLY THE DISCUSSION ON SORT AND LONG TERM FUEL TRIM.
THE REST OF THE BOOK IS FAULT CODES AND TIPS OF THE BIG 3 AND EUROPEAN. ALSO ACRONYMS TERMS AND DEFINITIONS ARE IN THE APPENDIX. I FOUND THE WORDING FOR GENRIC FAULT INTERPERTATION ALSO VERY HELPFUL.
THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY BOOK BUT IT WILL POINT YOU IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION AND GIVE YOU A SOLID BASE TO BUILD ON.

After reading this book and looking at some of the reviews here, I would strongly recommend it to the automotive repair technician who wants to know the basics of OBD II. This is a good starting point for someone who wants to become a better driveability technician.

After 15 years in the automotive industry, I'm still surprised how little some technicians know about the OBD II standard and why it was developed. You cannot fix an automobile with this book, but it will teach you the basics you need to know before moving onto more advanced training in driveability diagnosis.

Purporting to be the "OBD II Bible", I find that this book falls short of the mark. Although I did learn a few things from the book, I expected considerably more technical content. I was able to read through most of the book in an evening (except for the recipe chapter, which I was somewhat annoyed to find- feeling that if I wanted a recipe book, I would have *bought* a recipe book!).

I will say that the book does present clear, concise and well laid out text and graphics for the content it does have. But I was expecting a far more in-depth treatise on the subject going into possible symptoms/solutions for each type of main OBD II code.

In the author's defense, I probably am not the target audience as I am a computer engineer who's playing around with designing an OBD II scan tool as a hobby.