Clone PP2000/Lexia-3 - Is It Worth It?

[McCool]

Ok, this has probably been asked many times before, so apologies but I've only just joined this site.

Basically, I have a 53 Plate 406 2.2 HDI SE and I'm in the market for an OBD-II Code Reader, to read and clear fault codes.

I've done a lot of searching/reading on the net and there is a lot of views out there that you'll be wasting your money unless you buy the Peugeot/Citroen system, namely Peugeot Planet 2000 / Lexia-3, as this is the only system that will correctly connect to the ECU and read the codes / diagnose / clear etc. Despite the legislation on OBD compliancy, Peugeot / Citroen have doen their own thing so that you can only use their kit.

Clearly, the cost of buying the real thing from Peugeot would be more than the value of my car but I have found numerous sites selling PP2000/Lexia-3 Clones (from China of all places!) and these retail around the £50-£100 mark but you need your own laptop running XP (which I do have).

My questions are simple, does anyone have one of these clones and do they work? Can I use any other OBD-II Reader? Do they work? If yes, which one is best to buy?

Many thanks in anticipation

[steve_earwig]

Hi there. I think you should be able to read and clear faults with pretty much any generic code reader but with PP you can read a lot of live data, resinch keys etc. etc. and get into the system to make many changes/improvements. I think this is the same for most cars, the one for VWs is called something like VAG-COM. It's up to you whether you think it's worth getting or not, it depends what you need it for, if you're just reading and clearing fault codes then you might just want to get a generic code reader, if you want to do anything else you need PP. You might also be able to find someone near you with PP

[jonsowman]

Here are some links for the CC forums for cheap PP2000s:

Seems they do several variants of the kit but here you go....

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product ... 49094.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product ... 20002.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product ... 71020.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product ... 85004.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product ... 52449.html

The third one seems to be the one to go for since it has the brown 30 pin connector for older (pre OBD) cars.

And here's a map of the UK showing people with PP:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid= ... 1b9c&msa=0

HTH

[leestudd30]

Sorry to hijack but would my 97 model have a diagnostic socket somewhere?

[jonsowman]

It will do, remove the driver's knee fusebox cover and it'll be behind that panel. Since it's the older one it will have the older diagnostic socket, which is brown/white and 30 pins.

[k_f]

There's a set of threads about this subject on the 406 Coupe forum which is well worth reading. I bought one of these from a Chinese supplier for ~£60 including postage to work with a 2000 GTX model. The software was a pirated version which in the end proved too much trouble to get working so I obtained some PP2000 software from somewhere else which did work eventually. The supplied hardware was basically a large cable with USB at one end and diagnostic socket at the other. It's good for reading and clearing fault codes. When a garage typically charges £30 to £50 to hook up a car to their machine and read or clear codes, being able to do it yourself at any time for the one-off cost of the cable is a reasonable deal. You still have to interpret the fault codes of course but it gives more piece of mind than relying on someone else.