Had to pick between a new scan tool or a lift for my home shop

My old scan tool died on a 2018 Ford F-150 with a weird electrical gremlin, and my two-post lift was getting shaky. Could only afford one big thing this quarter. I went with the Autel MaxiSys MS906BT because I figured I could still crawl under cars but couldn't diagnose new stuff blind. It cost me about $2,800. Honestly, it's been a game changer for the computer work, but I'm still using jack stands like a caveman. Anyone else had to make a call like this? What did you lean towards first?

3 comments

3 Comments

avery9212mo ago

Tough call, but you made the right move. A fancy lift is useless if you can't figure out what's wrong with the car first. I'd take a good scan tool and some sore knees over guessing on a modern computer system any day.

henry1012mo ago

My old boss spent 5 grand on a lift before buying a decent code reader. Guess which one gathered dust?

karenm491mo ago

That boss probably had a lift so he could get a better look at the dust on the code reader. I can picture it now, a car up in the air with the hood open and him just staring at the engine, completely lost. He'd be up there scratching his head while the real problem was a fifty cent sensor he couldn't find. The lift just made his cluelessness more obvious to everyone in the shop.