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Which OBD device for Forscan?

Nathan Buffery
Nathan Buffery
in General Ford Related Discussions

Featured Replies

On 1/26/2022 at 11:32 AM, Nathan Buffery said:

Ok, before you all rush in and recommend Tunnelrat, I already have the ELM 327 device from them. I have used this in the past and even updated the firmware on my BCM and PCM with it. This I did blindly, and knowing what I know now, I would not attempt this again. 

However, I would like the ability to update the modules. Reading through the info on the Forscan forum they recommend either the Vlinker FS or the OBD Link Ex. They do not recommend using a ELM 327 device (oops). I can understand this because it took hours for me to do my updates and I guess if either the car battery or the laptop battery died, my car would of been bricked.

My question is, when I look on ebay for both these devices, they come up as ELM327. Is this just a link word to increase the hits on the device? 

Also, Forscan recommend not using the device through a 'com port'. I know my Tunnelrat adapter uses a com port and as both these adapters have a usb connection, I cannot see how they do not use a com port. 

It would be good to hear from people that use these specific adapters. 

Now you've got me worried, since I bought the Tunnelrat a few weeks ago - like you, to see how the car is set up/read DTC codes etc on my Focus and Mazda. But I get a warning that the adapter is not suitable for the car, - I still have a query open with Tunnelrat on this.

What problems were you having?

  • Quote


    The ELM327 lead from TunnelRats still works, just not as fast as the vLinker FS lead.

    Use a slightly older version of FORScan (2.3.42) and you won't get the error message. Eventually for new cars you will have to use the vLinker FS lead since you will need 18V programming.

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    9 hours ago, RMurphy195 said:

    Now you've got me worried, since I bought the Tunnelrat a few weeks ago - like you, to see how the car is set up/read DTC codes etc on my Focus and Mazda. But I get a warning that the adapter is not suitable for the car, - I still have a query open with Tunnelrat on this.

    What problems were you having?

    It's probably warning you that it's not suitable for performing updates, for everything else it's fine

  • Quote
    • Like 1

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