Diagnosing issues with your car can be frustrating, especially when you’re not sure where to start. For Hyundai owners, the question of OBD2 compatibility and finding the right car diagnostic tool is a common one. Like many, I recently faced this challenge with a 1999 Hyundai Sonata GLS, and the journey to find a working OBD2 scanner was filled with unexpected twists and turns.
Initially, the assumption was straightforward: any standard OBD2 scanner should work, right? To test this, I visited a friend who had several OBD2 scanners, primarily used for Toyota vehicles. We tried three different scanners, hoping that at least one would generically detect the ECU (Engine Control Unit) if the car was indeed OBD2 compliant. Unfortunately, none of them worked. This led to the initial conclusion that the ’99 Sonata might not be OBD2 compatible at all.
However, just as we were about to give up, a breakthrough occurred. My friend discovered a free car scanner app on the Android Play Store. On a whim, he downloaded it, and to our surprise, it actually worked! By navigating through the app’s vehicle configuration and selecting the oldest available option, a ’99 Sonata 2.5l GLS, the app successfully read fault codes. It identified issues with the bank1 O2 sensor and the temperature sensor, which perfectly aligned with the car’s erratic engine behavior. The app even provided helpful links with images showing the location of these sensors in the engine bay.
This success, however, seemed to be specifically linked to one of his OBD2 readers: the OBDLinkMX+. He recalled purchasing it for around $45 (though he was unsure if that was USD or AUD). At that price point, the immediate functionality made it seem worthwhile, especially to have a tool confirmed to work with at least one scanner app.
He generously loaned me the OBDLinkMX+ so I could try the app on my own phone and explore its capabilities further before investing in my own scanner. Sadly, the initial success proved difficult to replicate. Just days later, the same app no longer listed the ’99 Sonata as a configuration option. Furthermore, finding the OBDLinkMX+ at the same low price he remembered has been challenging.
Despite this setback, the initial success offers a glimmer of hope. The search for compatible apps and potentially other car diagnostic tools for this older Hyundai continues. The experience highlights that while older vehicles like the 1999 Hyundai Sonata might technically be OBD2 compliant, finding a reliable and user-friendly car diagnostic tool requires careful selection and sometimes, a bit of luck with specific apps and scanners like the OBDLinkMX+.
The journey to diagnose your Hyundai might require some experimentation, but with the right approach and tools, even older models can be effectively diagnosed using modern car diagnostic tools.
