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Cat 3126B Diagnostic Tool Inquiry

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Jack W Hannah:
Any recommendations for a diagnostic tool for a Cat 3126 B?

Thank you.

Eric Maclean:
Jack
I see no one stepped up to this post so I'll give you what I can
There are some aftermarket scan tools that will give you limited access to Cat ECM which for most situations will give you access to stored codes and most of the serial stream data allowing you to view inputs and out put data but most aftermarket tools have no capability to do bidirectional communication which means that any of the active tests such as cylinder cut off or ( cylinder balance ) test and others such as fuel pressure control tests as well as programing can't be performed.

The only system that can perform all of the above functions is the CAT ET (electronic service technician) software but even then without a dealer password or login programming is out of reach the CAT ET is an excellent system but very pricey and it requires a yearly subscription however there are Chinese knockoff available but the quality of those could be suspect ( you don't want something that might kill your ECM or programming)

For the most part if all your looking for is to read codes and verify sensor readings an aftermarket tool may be fine .
The real problem is that there aren't many choices for the CAT produces as these tools are targeted to truck shops and CAT stopped producing over the road engines several years ago meaning that the scan tool producers don't concentrate on their software any more.
I used to work in a government shop where we used a J PRO scan tool that would give us CAT limited CAT capabilities and it worked well enough
But at the end of the day it all comes down to your training a nd understanding of the engine and systems your working on without that knowledge the scan tool is a very expensive boat anchor.

Hope this helps
Eric

Jack W Hannah:
Eric,

Thank you very much for this detailed response.
Very much appreciated.

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