Have used it on other cars (my old Caddy) to find intermittent sensors and stuff. I can't speak as to others, but I rarely touch it because it's always buried under stuff in my garage.

Professional-grade lab oscilloscopes (with the sweet phosphor green screens) are expensive...thousands. You might get lucky and make friends with an instructor at a magnet school, at least around here the high schools used to use them back in the 70's and 80's. If they're cleaning house you could pick one (or ten) up cheap or free. Although nowadays you can get consumer-grade mini oscilloscopes for <$250...I think even Walmart sells them.

I think I made a pretty penny a few years ago from these: I used to teach robotics at a local high school, and they were throwing away some 20-year-old HP/Agilent oscilloscopes that worked great. I sold them to the local electronics surplus store for $400 apiece...funded my first Camry!

 

Nice. Good for you. I search around, the least expensive one on Amazon is a multimeter with oscilloscope functions for $80. Next up is an unknown brand for about $90. Looks decent though.

https://www.amazon.com/all-sun-Oscilloscope-Handheld-Digital-Multimeter/dp/B013QQDTFW

Beyond that, price starts to sky-rocket and I don't even want to look at them. There is a guy called scanner danner on youtube who does this kind of stuff all day all the time. I always find him boring and ineffective. Maybe it is just because I don't have the tools and therefore the knowledge? Anyway, it seems he won't become much popular no matter how hard he tries. Haha.

 

I won't retype what I typed earlier as it was quite informational but I hit the wrong key and wiped all of it away. I will however say your observation of ScannerDanner is very flawed and suggest you hang around on their forums, learn a little bit about him at scannerdanner.com , if you're serious about diagnostics buy his $99 book @ aeswave.com , read it cover to cover, take the FREE 2 week trial to ScannerDanner Premium Channel (Better than the free content and much more videos available) then in about a month or two post your response here of what you thin k of him then. He has and will make more money off his website alone than you and I without a doubt and that don't include his instructor job he's been at with the votech for 12-17 yrs is my guess if I recollect properly. You don't need the tools to get the knowledge he's teaching. A decent testlight and multimeter will work great. Hang around their forums for awhile and you'll realize you'll pickup stuff over time.

 

The real answer: most "shadetree mechanics" lack the skills to properly diagnose most issues, and throw parts at the problem hoping things will get fixed.

You can get some China USB scopes these days for under $100, but then you need to learn how to use the damn thing, and that's no small feat.

Finally, Gen3/4 Camrys are pretty "dumb" as far as the electronics go, most things are analog voltage, so you can get away with a multi-meter. Would a scope make it easier? Sure, but by the time you set it up, hook up the laptop, arrange all the settings, you would have been done with the job just by using a multi-meter a lot of the times.

On a side note: I never quite appreciated how easy and CHEAP these Camry's are to work on until I got myself a modern German luxury car. Everything has it's own computer - I mean, EACH headlight has it's own computer with CAN communication. There's a sensor for everything you can imagine and then some. Each motor (blower motors, fan, sunroof, etc) is PWM based and reports into CAN. And, most things require programming to have the car recognize a replacement component. Requires a totally different approach to work on it. For example, some moisture got into the headlight and killed the computer within. I replaced the computer (not programmed, yet), and somehow that brought down the CAN line to the stereo. So I lost navigation AND my windshield wipers stopped working b/c CAN line to wipers goes through the stereo. Like, WTF??? Had to replace BOTH headlight computers (they won't "talk" unless they're same PN and revision) to fix my windshield wipers and Navigation. Go figure.
/rant

 

The Germans never use 5 parts when 15 will do.

 

i got a chinese scope and played with it but it's not for serious stuff imho. i also got a mt2400 like scannerdanner used to use lots and it seems more useful. it's a graphing voltmeter so does voltmeter and scope stuff at low frequencies. he is a teacher at a tech school for engine driveability problems btw and the stuff he teaches is over my head at times too but i do love to watch him diagnosing problems as he always figures out the stuff the shops give up on.
tony

 

obd2 has passive relative compression test. no cylinder disabling necessary. sensor counts flywheel teeth at 105 per revolution and cpu analyzes rate of acceleration-deceleration and gives you a percentage of amount comparing cylinders individually.

we had a Maxima with a dead injector in my shop, damn thin ran on 6 cylinders, just jacked the flow up on the other 5 injectors.

for old tech, non obd cars, sure, i would use a scanner, but if obd2 1995+, the diagnostic capabilities are far better. started working on cars 4/1969.

 

+1 on dtnel78 re: scannerdanner. except i'd add that even his free youtube stuff is great! i've watched all of them and he posts new ones every week or so. and some of his premium stuff is also posted on the free site. i'm pretty sure he's a source of much information on the interwebs when it comes to engine driveability diagnosis.
tony

 

Hi guys take it easy on the scannerdanner part. I was kind of joking. Here is a great video on this topic.

In my view, true level of knowledge aside, the ability to present and articulate of this guy is much better.

I looked online. A pico scope with no screen can be bought for less than 200. A snap on vantage pro is about 400 on eBay. I shall keep watching these videos. Hopefully, I can come across a scenario where purchasing of a scope is justified. Have fun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hi guys take it easy on the scannerdanner part. I was kind of joking. Here is a great video on this topic.

https://youtu.be/qPz_PPd4YD8

In my view, true level of knowledge aside, the ability to present and articulate of this guy is much better.

I looked online. A pico scope with no screen can be bought for less than 200. A snap on vantage pro is about 400 on eBay. I shall keep watching these videos. Hopefully, I can come across a scenario where purchasing of a scope is justified. Have fun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

IF you watch eBay you can find some decent ones fairly priced. Watch long enough and every once in awhile a gem of a deal rolls through eBay.

I had the Solus Edge, Modis Edge and have switched to the Zeus. Yes it's really expensive especially being I'm not a shop owner. I do mobile diagnostics but I can say with the Zeus the diagnosis time has been reduced because it pulls all code related data pertaining to the code only including troubleshooting, out of parameter data, known fixes, known quick fixes and known component testing methods thus reducing time.

IF you do multiple scans a day and get the work from those then you'd be well enough for buying one as it would pay for itself. Yes it has a 3 yr warranty/subscription contract but with the work it's worth it. I'm slowly building myself and eventually want to go full on mobile or a 3-5 bay/vehicle capable shop as some may wait for parts so the spare space could keep one working especially in the winter when you can't pull a customers vehicle outside always.

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expensive

 

yes