Turtle shows us he's sick, with a flashing red engine light. Now, Fred plugs-in the CarMD to run the test.
"Turning to ignition on. It should read the computer data out of the car and give four beeps,” Fred said.
Less than 60 seconds later, it beeps four times. The CarMD signals it has a diagnosis.
"What it's giving me is a P0301--which I know from memory is a cylinder misfire, cylinder one,” Fred said. “So far, it's working.”
Next, the computer. CarMD comes with some software to download. It also requires you set-up an account on its website before it will tell you what's wrong with your car.
CarMD finds turtle's troubles quickly.
And just to make sure the CarMD's reading was accurate, we test turtle with a diagnostic scanner, to make sure it comes up with the same code.
"It gives me the P0301... the exact same code the CarMD gave us,” Fred said.
Fred's only issue with the CarMD... Is with its online report. Fred says the estimated price to fix turtle shouldn't be that much. But he's okay with what the doctor ordered.
"It may only be one spark plug, or one spark plug wire, but when you go into the repair, if I were to call you up as my customer, and say okay, this is what's wrong with your car, you got a bad spark plug. I recommend a set of plugs and a set of wires. So, that would be my recommendation there,” Fred said. “This does work."
But, would it save you money?
"What this does can be done with a typical handheld scanner. There are auto parts stores that will do this service for free,” Fred said.
Here's another tip when using the CarMD... your car must be a '96 or newer. It can be foreign or domestic.
CarMD: Does it Work?
