Hi everyone - interested on your input here - I'm thinking about getting a BlueDriver scanner. I recently bought a 2009 with 137k on the odo, 2 owners - 2nd one being my friend who did nothing to it but oil changes and a new battery (for about 15k miles). Before that, it was immaculately taken care of at the dealership for the first 75k, and between 75-120k (2015-2020) I really don't know. I'm a bit anxious about the state of the spark plugs hearing about all of these loosenings or ejections, but I don't have the tools or space to do them by myself at the moment. I think a BlueDriver (or similar scanner) could be helpful because I could see if there are more misfires in any given cylinder just not passing the threshold for a code yet, see how helpful a valve adjustment might be, etc. I live in a city and really only use the car to get out of town, so I don't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere. (And at least, if I did have any scanner, I could find out if the code means "stop driving right now" or "you can limp it home". I love this car so far and I don't want to have any problems! Thoughts?

(More data - I got a quote for a shop to do the plugs for $275, valve adjustment for $390, or both at once for $520. I can replace the plugs myself at a friend's house next weekend if needed, and someone can help me do the valve adjustment in a few months, but not right now).

 

I have a Blue Driver and I think it's great. I don't think that it will detect a loose plug via misfire but I could be wrong about that. Plugs are really difficult to get at. I do my own servicing but I only got the plugs done by the dealer for my 100k mile service which I paid to have done.

 

I don't own a blue driver but I do own a bi-directional scanner, and what I can tell you is this. You can have misfires going on and not throw a code for it. Codes have to meet certain parameters and if you have 40-60 misfires over an 50 mile drive, unless they're all at the same time, it probably won't throw. Your best bet long term (I know most people don't think this way but it'll help, trust me) is to get a proper scanner. I use an Autel MS906 TS Pro and I can actually see cylinder crank torque values per cylinder. Before I adjusted my valves, output would be in the negatives at times, but no codes would get thrown, cylinder 2 being the worst. The crank values were around 8-20 and sometimes -2 to -4. Now that they're adjusted properly I'm right up in the high 20s to low 30s mark, which is right on spec IIRC. It's your call really but you are extremely limited with even a $300 scanner unless it can do direct communication with the module itself. All depends on how deep you want to go really. Good luck and don't forget to torque to spec!