PP13

Hello all,
I am new on this forum and also a proud owner of a 2013 911 Carrera C4.
I've been reading over the various topics on this forum and I appreciate the fact that everyone here share their experiences with regard to various do it yourself service's and upgrades and etc...
With that said, I am in the market on purchasing a OBD reader so I can use it to reset the various codes and service light, also possibly some coding in the future planning to install an Aero kit wing and remove the automated wing that came with the vehicle. I know from reading the forum everyone shared various model's of Diagnostic tools and on top of the list it's the Durometric basic, and the Pro. also, Porsche PIWIS? I know these are pricey but they are specialist for the Porsche models which is more in-depth information vs. other's in the market. Anyone can share some light on this.

Catharpin

iCarsoft Auto Diagnostic Scanner POR V2.0 will do resets and normal maintenance, won't do coding, but it's only $150,

Wolpertinger

Welcome to the forum! I have both the iCarSoft POR V2.0 and Durametric Enthusiast version. The Durametric is nice because you have a large display (your computer) an an easy to use interface (mouse). The Durametric was able to read and clear a cooling system code on my 991.1 that the iCarSoft didn't even register. The iCarSoft is nice because it's small and easy to carry around. I think for coding, even the Durametric Professional won't do much on a 991. I have never used PIWIS, but from what I've read the learning curve is steep, and it is very expensive. Hope this helps!

asellus

The POR2.0 will do your basic resets, like an ELM327 on a normal car circa 2005. No coding.

OBDEleven hasn't added support for 911s yet, and probably won't.

Autel's range will go from the same capabilities as the POR2.0 (basic resets) all the way through PIWIS-level coding (the tablet style ones, like the MS906). Similar chinesium tablet style diagnostic tools will all pretty much do the same thing, the Launch X431 was re-launched that'll do it all, as well as the wildly expensive Snapon/Matco "real" versions of these things.

The PIWIS II is the cheapest official Porsche dealer tool that will work with your car and will be able to do everything the dealer can do, and will only be a one-time fee. No need to keep a subscription on.

The Durametric Pro setup should do almost everything a PIWIS will do -- not well-versed on this because they don't officially support the .2 yet.

LSR

I bought an iCarSoft for my 991.1 when I replaced my car's battery, and ultimately returned the iCarSoft because I found it fairly useless for the price. It can read battery and various other codes, and it can reset the service reminder and also code a new battery into the car. But it could not do much more. When I replaced the battery my car threw all sorts of codes, and the driver's side memory seat controls stopped working. The iCarSoft was useless in diagnosing what had happened. So I returned it, and then brought the car to my dealer. The memory seats were fixed in 5 minutes by the dealer's PIWIS, which cleared and reset a bunch of codes that the iCarSoft had no clue about. That one experience taught me that if I were to consider working on their own car, I'd need to get something far more sophisticated than the iCarSoft. It's a $150 toy, IMO.

Wolpertinger

The iCarSoft is supposed to be able to reset the electric parking brake shoe gap, too. It's never worked on my car. I always get an error message.

asellus

Are you on the v2.0 on the latest firmware? They've fixed a lot of stuff on that apparently over the last year. Worth shooting them an email over either way.

PP13

Thank you everyone for responding to my question regarding OBD purchase.