Tech II Scan tool?

ok the quick version is: Is a "Tech II scan tool" something different than the OBD 2 scan tool I used at O'reilly's? (ok, I figure it is, but I want to be sure).

The longer version is:

The CEL came on in my wife's new (to us) Saab 9-3 wagon (2.8 turbo). I borrowed the local O'reilly's OBD scanner and got the code "P0089" which told me I had "fuel pressure regulator performance issues".

Doing some poking around the Saab sites I found out that this may be a problem with the fuel pump, or the fuel pressure sensor on the fuel rail. The proper way to troubleshoot was to use a "Tech II Scan tool" to command the fuel pump to run at different pressures and monitor the pressure at the fuel rail with a mechanical gauge to compare/verify proper operation of the fuel pump.

The one and only place I looked for a “Tech II tester” was this link and at near $600 I really would rather take my chances of the car stalling on the highway. (I JUST moved across an ocean and into a recently purchased house. Money is tight)

I have my reserves about taking it to a shop, especially as I'm kind of new to this area (Tacoma, Wa). I get the feeling that since the code is there (CEL is intermittent) that they WILL want to change the suspected bad part (to the tune of $1000 for the pump).

There are lots of threads on the Saab forum, and most of them are littered with suggestions of checking the gas cap, or keeping the tank more than 1/4 full, etc, etc, etc. but I dont have much faith such fixes (doesn't mean I'm not going to try them though! $1000 or check the gas cap? I'm going to check that gas cap like it's going out of style!)

My basic plan at the moment (to convince myself that I'm doing something productive) is to make sure that gas cap is tight, change fuel stations (fueled up at a 76 last time) and then reset the CEL.

I will then proceed to cross my fingers, burn a few old Rotary parts while doing "boing boing boing" moves (like that old RX-3 commercial) around the fire in an attempt to appease the Piston Gods in the hopes that the C-E-L stays o-f-f.

Good times

Tech II is a GM specific scanner (and likely Saabs built in the GM years.)
To program a key fob on my '03 Saturn Vue requires a Scan II device. I luckily got a small town Chevy dealership to do it for free.
Not exactly free... I needed a proper key cut since the only one that came with the used car purchases was really warn. The right way was to get a key made at a dealership using VIN information. Charged $8 for a none chipped, plain metal, black plastic head key ($1.99 elsewhere) except for the whole VIN thing. I got him to program a clicker fob for no extra charge.

The Tech2 was GM's scan tool before they moved to the new RDI or something equally acronymny.

If you can get a hold of a MODIS or some other top of the line tool, you should be able to do it.

The odds of finding a scan tool that will run bi-directional on a Saab are pretty slim. Ex-Saab dealer or specialist should have something, but a normal GM dealer probably doesn't have the Saab specific card in their Tech 2. OTC and Snapon don't even admit that Saab exists, and will barely acknowledge Volvo. Maybe one of the Chinese knockoffs, like a Launch or similar- they steal the software and clone stuff...

If you want to buy something: read this - http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=260738

Otherwise, do the suggested checks, maybe put in a new fuel filter, and look for a vac leak/crack around the fuel pressure regulator/damper.

If you do buy said tool, I would pay shipping to rent it for a weekend to disable the damn DRLs.

Damn! I found a couple MODIS Snap-On units locally. They're asking near $3000.

The search begins for a loaner

asoduk wrote: If you want to buy something: read this - http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=260738 Otherwise, do the suggested checks, maybe put in a new fuel filter, and look for a vac leak/crack around the fuel pressure regulator/damper. If you do buy said tool, I would pay shipping to rent it for a weekend to disable the damn DRLs.

Holy crap, 51 pages? Looks like his Technese II scanner worked until about page 50 or so (to be honest I read the first 2 pages then started scanning )

From what I read on Saab Central the only "fuel filter" in this car is the "sock" on the pump... sounds fishy, but my jack stands wont be here until February. When I went looking for a fuel pressure regulator I found that there isn't one on this model either (no pressure regulator AND no fuel filter?). I guess they modulate the fuel pressure via the pump. This is my first time running into this as well, but I guess it makes sense.

I'll do some tooling around looking for leaks (vac, fuel, or otherwise), I'll crank down the cap, and since the tank is almost to 1/4 I'll try some new gas from a Shell station. In the end there doesn't seem to be any performance degradation (that I would suspect would accompany a failing fuel pump) so I'm kind of hoping it'll "just go away"

Still, that Tech II tool thingie would be handier than a glove to have access to. I saw one for sale for about $6000. It looked more like R2D2 than a hand held device though (I betcha it's already out-dated).

The fuel pump isn't that bad of a job either (if its the same as the 2.0). The dealer way requires dropping the tank, but if you lift up the rear bench you should see a panel under the center seat. On the older cars its like a paint cap. The newer cars have it welded in place. There are some posts about creatively cutting the panel out to access the the pump assembly. Once you have access its pretty straight forward (hint: you don't want sparks). Your options are the entire assembly or just doing the pump (Walbro). Don't use regular "fuel hose" as it will fall apart being submerged.

In the end, you'll be ahead having it diagnosed with a Tech II and fixing the problem yourself.

Nice! When the wife isn't looking I'll pull her back seat out and give the panel a gander.

Thanks for the heads up (I didn't really want to drop the tank if/when it came down to it)

If there is a fuel pressure sensor, a good scanner should be able to read it in datastream. Is there a fuel pressure test port? Why not just hook a mechanical fuel pressure gauge to it, any scanner that can read the fuel pressure sensor data, and just compare the two numbers over a range of circumstances? I dont see why you need to be able to command the pump to do anything in particular as long as you can verify that the sensor reading and the actual pressure are close to each other.

good point.

I'll pop back into O'reily's and see if their scanner'll show the fuel pressure.

Have not physically looked for a fuel pressure port, but I'm positive there is one (as of now, my tools are on a boat so I don't even have the star drives on hand to remove the engine's beauty cover ) I bet that same O'reilly's has a fuel pressure gauge I can borrow

I was coming in here to post that.

asoduk wrote: If you want to buy something: read this - http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=260738 Otherwise, do the suggested checks, maybe put in a new fuel filter, and look for a vac leak/crack around the fuel pressure regulator/damper. If you do buy said tool, I would pay shipping to rent it for a weekend to disable the damn DRLs.

The Oreilyzone scanner wont show fuel pressure, more than likely just codes. At least get a cheap Bluetoof scanner and an Android app for such data streams (called PIDs)

Yup, no fuel pressure from the vato-zone scanner :( oh well, it was worth a try. After the trip to the parts store I went and got gas, cranked down the cap, and then went and reset the light. So far it hasn't come back. Still keeping my fingers crossed though.

I have an android tablet in my households good shipment, I'll have to pick up one of those bluetooth deelymahickeys when it gets here.

Good times.