OBD2 FAULTFINDER

See what your car is actually doing.

A Windows diagnostic program for OBD2 vehicles. Live sensors, trouble codes in plain language, recorded drives you can play back, and before-and-after comparison of a repair.

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Windows 10 or 11 · version 1.1.0 · $9.99 to unlock, once

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It shows you data. It never guesses the cause.

Most code readers tell you to replace a part. This one does not. It shows what the sensors are doing and describes the shape of it — because a guess that costs you sixty dollars in the wrong part is worse than an honest "here is what the engine is reporting".

What it does

Live sensors

30 readings straight off the engine — fuel trims, airflow, timing, temperatures — as gauges or graphs.

Trouble codes, explained

Stored, pending and permanent codes with plain-language descriptions in English and Spanish, plus the freeze frame that recorded conditions at the moment of the fault.

Record a drive, play it back

Press record, drive, and the whole run is a file. Play it back later through the same gauges, scrub through it, and look at the moment the fault happened again.

Did the repair work?

Compare two recorded drives side by side. The idle fuel correction before, after, and the change between them — with a warning if the two drives came from different cars.

Fuel map and trip figures

Where the engine has actually been running, with untouched cells left visibly empty rather than filled in with guesses.

A report you can hand over

Save or print a self-contained report for a mechanic, a buyer, or your own records.

Completely bilingual

Every screen, every trouble-code description, and the printed report are in English and Spanish. One button switches the whole program. Most diagnostic software is English only.

Look up a trouble code → Free, no download needed

Trouble codes

What you need

Windows 10 or 11, and any ELM327-style OBD2 adapter — the common $15 kind is fine. Every car sold in the US since 1996 has the socket, usually under the dashboard on the driver’s side.

USB cable — tested against a real vehicle. Also covers Bluetooth adapters already paired in Windows, which appear as a COM port.

What it does

Will your adapter work?

ConnectionWhat it isTested
USB cable The common $15 ELM327 cable. Plugs into the car and into your computer. On a real car
Bluetooth (paired in Windows) An older Bluetooth dongle you pair in Windows first. It appears as a COM port, so the program reaches it through the USB list — not the Bluetooth one. Same path, untried
Wi-Fi A dongle that makes its own Wi-Fi network. You join it, then connect to 192.168.0.10 port 35000. Beta
Bluetooth LE A newer low-energy dongle, the kind sold for iPhones. Four vendor profiles are tried in turn: FFF0, 18F0 (Vgate), Nordic UART and FFE0. Beta

Proven means exactly that: whole drives recorded through a $15 ELM327 clone reporting v1.5, on a 2015 Kia Forte. Beta means the connection is built and exercised in software but has never met a vehicle — it is marked BETA inside the program too, and the seven-day trial is there so you find out before you pay.

Everything works for 7 days. Then it keeps working.

Install it and the whole program runs for 7 days with nothing held back. After that it does not expire and it does not nag — it settles into being a free code reader, and a key unlocks the rest whenever you want it.

What a key unlocks

Free forever

  • Live sensors — 30 readings, as numbers, bars or traces
  • Trouble codes: read them, see the freeze frame
  • Look up any of 545 codes, English or Spanish
  • Full scan and emissions readiness
  • Dark and light themes

One payment. No subscription.

One person

$9.99

1 computer

One computer. Moving to a new one takes a moment — retire the old one and the place frees up.

Buy a key — $9.99 Keys on sale shortly

Each purchase gives you one key. It can be active on the number of computers shown, at the same time — retire one from inside the program, or from your account page, and the place frees up for the next machine. Keys do not expire.

OBD2 FaultFinder 1.1.0

Download free Buy a key — $9.99 Keys on sale shortly

Windows: Installer · Portable (no install) · Windows 10 or 11 · version 1.1.0 · $9.99 to unlock, once

Windows will warn you the first time

The download is not yet signed with a certificate, so Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”. Click More info, then Run anyway. If you would rather not, wait for the Microsoft Store listing.

Linux

Linux (64-bit, tar.gz)

Extract it anywhere and run ./obd-faultfinder. No install, nothing added to your system.

One thing Linux needs that Windows does not: permission to read the USB adapter. If the program finds no adapter, add yourself to the serial group — sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER on most distributions, uucp on Arch — then log out and back in.

The Linux build is new and has not yet been tested against a real vehicle.