Three Great Tools To Keep In Your Car

Thanks for joining me for this episode where I share some suggestions for great tools to keep in your car. Both for emergencies and for staying on top of your car's general condition.

In this episode I want to make sure everyone is aware of these great tools that may seem complicated to use but are really not so hard to learn to navigate!

My Amazon Affiliate Links to suggested products!

• Ancel OBDii Scanner for reading codes and other car data
• Teslong Borescope for seeing into hard to reach crevices of the engine and underneath the car
• Klein Auto-Ranging Multimeter for measuring voltage, resistance and amps
• Kaiweets Manual-ranging Multimeter

I receive a small commission for purchases made through the affiliate links. Using these links is a great way to get some fun tools and to support the podcast! 

Stay in touch, share your thoughts, recommend your trusted mechanic as a guest, get good tips and find out when episodes drop by subscribing! Email us at goodcarmapodcast@gmail.com and visit the website goodcarmapodcast.com

Transcript

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Please keep in mind this episode is for general information purposes and always be sure to do your own research and follow proper safety guidelines before using any tools or working in your engine bay. Hi, and welcome to Good Karma, where I'm not demisdefine cars one conversation at a time this week because I did not have a conversation this week. Some scheduling issues. Uh there wasn't a good time for me to sit down with anyone. So it's just going to be me. And I'm going to talk about something that is still along the lines of it bringing peace of mind instead of panic, which is some suggestions of things to keep in your car to be prepared for the unexpected. So there's a ton of items that I could be talking about, but I'm just going to talk about three today, three things that I think are great. And I would never go on a trip without them in my car. And they are an OBD2 scanner, a digital multimeter, and a boroscope. So some of these might sound like they're like too complicated, but I want to make the case that they're not, and that these are things I think anyone can learn how to use. And it's so beneficial for everyone to have at least a basic understanding of how these items work, you know, in case of the unexpected. So all three of these items that I'm going to recommend are around a $65 price point, just so you can gauge. You can definitely find cheaper ones than the ones I'll recommend. And you can just definitely go higher end. But I will have links through my Amazon affiliate program, which I'm so excited I figured out how to enroll in in the show notes for the brands that I like and have. And if you do happen to choose any of these and buy them through the links that I have, it would be just an amazing way to support the podcast because I would get a small commission from anything purchased through my links. And don't worry, that does not add any cost to your price. It's the regular price. Okay, so first of all, I have talked about this a lot that I think everyone should know how to use a basic scanner. So it's an OBD2 scanner. It already sounds complicated because of that, but that just means onboard diagnostics, OBD. And a scanner can be from the most basic small handheld device to a multi-thousand dollar scanner that the shops use. But either end of that spectrum, the scanner has the same port and the same plug. All cars, if your car is 1996 or newer, it will have the same port that any scanner can plug into. And you plug it in, the port is usually somewhere within arm's reach of the driver's side and it scans your car's data. You just have to navigate through a couple of screens to get the information that you want. But honestly, it's quite easy. And there's a few benefits of knowing how to use a scanner. One, it's a code reader. So if your engine light comes on, I think everyone can benefit from knowing for themselves what the code or codes is associated with what's going on. It doesn't mean the scanner is going to be diagnosing the problem for you. For sure, it's not doing that. But the code points you in a direction so you or your shop can start investigating. Secondly, I do recommend, I want to specify that if you do buy a scanner, you get one that shows live data, not just a code reader. So that would be giving you the ability to read some data points on your car as it's on and as it's running. So all kinds of data about your car, like the coolant temperature, sensor voltage in different situations, fuel trim, which is your computer deciding to add or hold back on fuel that it's putting into the engine, which is actually super important information on understanding how your car's running. So it might sound overly technical, but I really would compare it to, you know, taking your temperature or your pulse or knowing your blood pressure. Like those are things that obviously are important for ourselves. And if your car's having issues, it just feels great to know you have an idea how to check on those vitals for your car as well, which leads to the other great benefit of having a scanner is that this all would hopefully avoid any situations of shooting a parts cannon at your car. So with a code reader plus some basic live data, you can get a better picture of what's going on with your car without rushing to change parts unnecessarily. So what I keep saying is a code is not a cause. And so to repeat an example I've used in the past, there's codes, some engine lights will come on and it's a code for your catalytic converter. It mentions that in the code description or your oxygen sensors. So instead of just thinking, oh, that means I need to replace those, um, if you're able to interpret some very basic life data, you might find out that the oxygen sensor is actually doing its job, but it's reacting to something else upstream in the car, like maybe the car's running rich or or lean, or maybe you need to investigate uh a vacuum leak, or there could be all kinds of things, fuel issues. So learning a little bit about these basics, I think can can just help a lot in having peace of mind that you're going the right direction with your car's repairs. Okay, next I want to talk about a digital multimeter. I think this is a great tool that sounds complicated, but at its most basic level, it's just another small handheld device with two metal leads. And you can use it to, it can get very advanced in the kind of you know wiring and electrical diagnosis you could do with it. But at its very basic use, you can check your battery, your alternator, and it's a great easy way to check fuses if you think you might have blown a fuse without having to pull out every fuse. But definitely if you're checking fuses, make sure you look up the right way to do that. So a good battery will be right around 12.6 volts. And you can test the battery with a multimeter to get an idea, you know, how your battery's looking. A true test of a battery, you would need a load tester. So I would say it's kind of like the difference maybe between, you know, fueling or counting your pulse versus doing an actual stress test on like a bicycle where you're hooked up to things. But a multimeter will still give you a pretty good sense of what's going on with your battery. And it's a great way to test your alternator because when your car's on, the voltage should jump from the resting voltage of 12.6. It's when the car's running, it should go up to maybe 13.7 or 14.7 volts. So if you see some discrepancy there that it's lower than that or higher than that, both of which could cause issues that you definitely want to look into. Um, for a full bill of health, you'd again need a load tester. Oh, and one heads up, if you are thinking about buying one, everything's easier if you get one that has an auto-ranging feature so that you don't have to figure out the range of values to set the multimeter to. But without auto range, they tend to run a little cheaper. So if you do want to go with that option, it's perfectly fine. Just there's one extra step when you're doing measurements. Okay, and the third thing that makes me feel good to have in my car is a boroscope. This tool, I was so excited when I found out it it exists, like for regular people. I don't know why I didn't realize it. So it's a handheld device with uh with a screen and then a camera on a long bendy, it's it's like a it's like an endoscope for your car. It's a a handheld, it's a handheld device with a screen and a tiny camera on a long bendy snake-like cable. And you can use it for obvious things of searching inside your engine if you're trying to figure out if something's disconnected, looking for leaks or broken wires or hoses, um, for looking underneath your engine behind a wheel. If you get into doing heavier duty work on your car, you can use it for looking at piston heads, cylinder walls, and you can use it. And the great thing is you can use it in case you drop something into the engine and need to find it, which is my primary use for how I've been using mine. So the one I'm posting a link to, I think is awesome. Um, it can toggle between two, two different tiny cameras. So you have a choice of two different angles, and there's a light you can turn on as well, and it's rechargeable and has a little port for a micro SD card in case you need to record what's going on to show when you bring your car in or, you know, just for your for your records. Oh, and then I would say that boroscope pairs wonderfully with a retractable or telescoping magnetic tool, which is fantastic to keep in your car. And you can grab that at any auto parts store at the counter for like under $5. So that's it for today. I just wanted to bring you a quick episode on a topic that is truly dear to my heart. I'll post some videos showing these tools and post more videos with other tools. Uh, please email me if there's some tools that you can't live without. I would love to uh feature them. And uh again, it would be so bonkers amazing if you are interested in buying any of those and can buy it through my Amazon affiliate links. It would be a great way to support the podcast. So thanks for listening. I look forward to connecting again next week with a conversation I can bring you. And in the meantime, of course, keep up with your oil changes, and I'll see you down the road.