TECH II SCAN TOOL

I see that you can buy a brand new Tech 2 scan tool with GM cards on Alibabba. Has anyone done this ?

The Tech 2 is the epitome GM scan tools of the 90s and early 2000s before the Win Tech .
I am intrigued with this . ( this pic is of the GM subs but there are other daya cards for the domestic GM stuff as well available)

Years ago, i determined that a Vetronix Tech II was necessary to keep the 8th gen Riviera
running.  In 2008, a number of GM dealerships closed down; among them plenty of Chevrolet
shops which sold off their Tech II's in the $500-$1000 range.  I got my Tech II from Tom Jumper
Chevrolet, one of the largest Chev dealers in Georgia.  Mine came with plug-in cartridges for
engine/drivetrain, body and brakes.  The interface cable that connects my Tech II to the OBD2
plug was bad.  The cable is unique to the Vetronix device so it was necessary to buy one from
Vetronix in California at a cost of $100.

the Tech II is more than a code reader. it can actuate systems on our Rivieras.  for instance,
the Tech II can exercise the pistons in the ABS brake pump to purge the old brake fluid when
a brake job is done.  it can open and close the purge solenoid for the vapor in the fuel tank.

Vetronix was bought by Bosch in 2003 and support for the Tech II's continued until maybe 5
years ago but that is all over now.

The screen on my Tech II has developed a few dark spots.  When last i looked, there is someone
on the internet who can repair Vetronix Tech II's and Vetronix Mastertech's.

Until recently, there were many cartridges and modules for sale on eBay, but that seems to
be drying up.

Further, Snap-On Tools sold the Vetronix Mastertech which is essentially the same as the devices
employed in the GM dealerships.

When i was researching the purchase of a Tech II, the reasonably priced Chinese "Tech2's"
came up and they looked good.  digging in the internet revealed these scan-tools are reverse-
engineered copies of the Vetronix product.  their development was in no way supported by
Vetronix and so they must be considered counterfeit.  it is said they are produced by several
sources and these devices may or may not be fully functional or accurate.

My understanding is that Alibaba is an enormous web sales operation based in
Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China and that its marketing subsidiary Taobao was added back onto
a list of notorious counterfeit platforms in 2016 by the Office of the United States Trade
Representatives.

Thanks for the info.
I know Alibabba well. The revenue generated by their platform was over 72billion USD in 2020. There founder, Jack Ma is so wealthy he started his own banking service and become super rich. The Chinese Communist Party made himstep down from CEO and sign over shares of his company to unknown shareholders in 2019 , and just as of November of 2020, he's disappeared somehow; but I'm thinking the Chinese government had something to do with disappearing him ... anyhow I have purchased about 10000+ dollars of industrial LED lightning through this site from a few manufacturers last year, and still use it today . This site is just a venue like amazon, sort of, if amazon only dealt with manufacturers and acted as a platform for information exchange and purchases that have a level or two of security for the buyer. They basically act as a liaison between the wholesaler or end-user and the manufacturer. I recently bought some control arms for my 2006 CRV on Amazon where I thought it was a good deal for about 85 bucks however I see that you can buy them directly from a manufacturer in China for about $10 us a piece so I can see how these things are profitable on websites like eBay and Amazon . There's nothing like this in the world i can find that's comparable.Ali will arbitrate claims of damage or shipping as well as act on the buyers behalf in a dispute of a product or shipping issue. Ali Express is great as well as you can order small quantities of goods...its more a Amazon really of China (lower minimum order quantity) where as on Alibabba sometimes need to order 1000 cases or liters or 1 or more containers and so on. I am inquiring right now on alibaba's website on the purchase of waterless coolant which is manufactured in China very very inexpensively compare to Evans coolant...My question was just if anybody's use this chinese device. I worked for a GM dealer for a number of years, so I am pretty familiar with the tech 2 and I have the service manuals for the car and they specifically talk about different test and program procedures that be run so it's a pretty handy tool for guys like us that run these old beasts. I may just take the stab and buy one of these little copies. Seemed weird to me that these would even be around today.

Ok i found something even better. This toll will emulate the Tech2 Win and do all of the functions of the tech 2 and the midi. It also allso download of all gm software from the tiss2 wedsite as well a sps sofware. Very cool . For a few dollars more you can get a 7 in one so basically get allot other manufactures in the mix. I watched a youtube about this product and did some research and its the answer to a scan tool. Everything is run from your laptop. Amazon sells ot but its also of cputse available on Alibabba. There's different versions and a super deluxe 2020 version. Ill pick out of these up for doing multiple brands of cars. It will do all of the factory tool stuff . Very cool

regarding the device you found which is "something even better" [VXDIAG & a Laptop],
question: can the VXDIAG communicate 2-ways with our Rivieras like the Tech II does,
i.e. can it send commands to the engine-control-module and to the brakes & body-module?

thank you for your comments regarding alibabba; interesting and enlightening.
perhaps Alibabba can help us keep these 8th gen Rivs on the road.

an aside, the lower control arms for the 1997 Rivs are the subject of many posts
regarding the fact that they are unique to that year only, and most difficult or impossible to buy.
[they are aluminum and the forward rubber bushings are horizontal]
it would be a great service to me and our fellow forum members if you can discover a Alibabba source
for decent 1997 lower control arms at a reasonable price.

There only 59.00 canadian on rock auto but you can bet the are from China as well

These control arms were not just unique to the Riviera. The Aurora and other models use them same goes for the rear suspension. The rear cradle and the anti dive geometry was use going forward on a lot of Cadillacs and other GM luxury cars including Buick and Pontiac. One thing to remember is this whole body was designed in-house by Cadillac for Buick. If you've ever taken trim panels off some trim panels you'll actually see are stamped Cadillac and not Buick. I watched a really interesting YouTube video that was a GM in-house done video explaining the design of the 1995 Riviera and how they did it.

What pisses ME off, is that Buick seemed to try a different suspension each year!

Oh, let's do steel/parallel this year; Now let's try steel/right-angle this year; NOW let's try aluminum parallel and then perpendicular aluminum... ARGGGGG!!!!

Theres only 3 design variations or GM part numbers for each side ...this is the example with rh side used to show part numbers .
1995 rh 22112892
1996 rh 22112892
1997 rh 25660352
1998 rh 25766511
1999 rh 25766511
I haven't had to change any so i don't know the differences. Usually the part numbers change for modifications to the original design like a ball joint change or bushing upgrade etc. I just have a hard time understanding that the control arm shape would change much when nothing really changed in the car other than engine upgrade in 1996 Incidentally these are the same parts that are used in Seville's, Bonnevilles, Le Sabres, Auroras so used parts should be easy to get if needed.
My rear suspension support is getting rusty so i will be replacing it with a used one in the future. I should start looking soon. Hopefully there's a Caddi in the sunbelt somewhere i can find rust free.

I really want to try out that vxdiag thing. I saw people with newer w-body cars using it but the website shows that it works for 2000+ gm's so it's uncertain

I paid for the thing I'm just waiting for Mr Felix to get the damn thing sent. He screwed up my order to begin with, then asked for another $20 bucks ( I told him I would cancel the order rather than deal with somebody that's trying to squeeze me for $20), and then it sounds like he added an extra manufacturer to it that I never asked for so bonus for me. As long as I get it. I've been harassing him to ship it. What I learned about with dealing with Alibaba people is that you must stay on the messenger and you must get them to type all the responses clearly after requesting them to do so so that if there's ever any issues you're protected by alibaba's terms of service. Often on this format you make a request and they will ask for your WhatsApp for your email or send you their email so that they can communicate with you off the platform. The platform Alibaba runs will actually recognize this and send you a message telling you to keep your Communications on the application for monitoring. This is for the customers benefit mostly. Anyhow when I get hold of this thing in the future here I will see what it doesn't let everybody know. I'm quite hopeful

Scan tool is bouncing around Schenzen ....waiting

dbriviera wrote:

I paid for the thing I'm just waiting for Mr Felix to get the damn thing sent. He screwed up my order to begin with, then asked for another $20 bucks ( I told him I would cancel the order rather than deal with somebody that's trying to squeeze me for $20), and then it sounds like he added an extra manufacturer to it that I never asked for so bonus for me. As long as I get it. I've been harassing him to ship it. What I learned about with dealing with Alibaba people is that you must stay on the messenger and you must get them to type all the responses clearly after requesting them to do so so that if there's ever any issues you're protected by alibaba's terms of service. Often on this format you make a request and they will ask for your WhatsApp for your email or send you their email so that they can communicate with you off the platform. The platform Alibaba runs will actually recognize this and send you a message telling you to keep your Communications on the application for monitoring. This is for the customers benefit mostly. Anyhow when I get hold of this thing in the future here I will see what it doesn't let everybody know. I'm quite hopeful

I deal with Alibaba people, but not buying grey-market, and never have had those hassles.

This is not grey market. This is a china only manufactured device that nobody sells that I can find. Its basically not the tool that is making them money its the software. There are up to 7 in 1 machines available for about 550 cdn.
I see allot of hand held scan tools on Amazon and they are from china as are all on Alibaba cheaper. Same deal there, you buy software
But most of those ones are you get multiple manufacturers but you don't get all the two-way communication. And then you pay extra for things like adding ABS brake bleed or getting deeper dives.

To seem like that I'm buying will literally be the tech to win and it will communicate with the GM computers flawlessly and allow full two-way Communications with same acsess to BCM as the Tech 2. It's getting shipped now and it's on its way. I'll post videos

This isn't much hassel. Its usually just slow for them . And its usually a language issue. I have bought allot of product and its usually a bit back and fourth. Its taken 4 days to get it shipped its not that bad at all. He just misunderstood the order.

dbriviera wrote:

This is not grey market. This  is a china only manufactured device that nobody sells that I can find. Its basically not the tool that is making them money its the software.  There are up to 7 in 1 machines available for about 550 cdn.
I see allot of hand held scan tools on Amazon and they are from china as are all on Alibaba cheaper. Same deal there, you buy software
But most of those ones are you get multiple manufacturers but you don't get all the two-way communication. And then you pay extra for things like adding ABS brake bleed or getting deeper dives.

To seem like that I'm buying will literally be the tech to win and it will communicate with the GM computers flawlessly and allow full two-way Communications with same acsess to BCM as the Tech 2. It's getting shipped now and it's on its way. I'll post videos

This isn't much hassel. Its usually just slow for them . And its usually a language issue. I have bought allot of product and its usually a bit back and fourth. Its taken 4 days to get it shipped its not that bad at all. He just misunderstood the order.

The original is here - although the web site seems to be having problems:

https://www.vetronix.com/products/vetronix-tech-ii

While the site is loading you can hit the X in the top bar to stop the load, so that whatever is blanking the page does not activate.

Yeah I'm actually not buying that Tech II copy. The thing I am actually buying is basically a Bluetooth dongle that plugs into the OBD2 port and it runs off of a laptop so it'll have The tech 2 emulator like the tech 2 win. As well as this I'll have other manufacturers such as Honda, Ford Mazda, and Volkswagen available. I won't have to pay to add features or functions as the software will come fully operation just like the OEM's

Heres a review.....https://youtu.be/bupjZEoFn6s

https://youtu.be/Q9C5d_oEQEU

Interesting.

Dave Derhak / AlbertJ,
Has this issue come to fruition? Sure, it's almost 2 years later, but this thread surely has been continued elsewhere?
I'm interested in accessing tunable features of my '98 Riv, also. One of them is the reset of my tilting passenger mirror, but larger applications intrigue me.
I have also dealt with Alibaba in the past and would very much like to know the outcome of the offers for a tuning scanner and it's price and capabilities.
Can someone direct me to more info and a satisfactory result?
Thanks in advance,
Sean