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This Bluetooth dongle will diagnose your car’s ‘check engine’ light, and you can get it for $100 now

Car troubles are never fun.

But information is power and can mean the difference between your car being off the road for several days while you wait for repairs or potentially being able to do a quick fix yourself and get back on the road fast.

Modern cars are good at knowing when something is wrong and will usually switch on the dreaded check engine light to warn you.

But what causes this light to be illuminated?

Now, you can find out before you even go to the mechanic. With the right tool, your smartphone can talk to your car and tell you.

Enter the BlueDriver Pro. It is perfect for those who want to diagnose what’s up with their car, and today it is currently 17% off at Amazon for $100.

Hand holding the unplugged BlueDriver dongle — Remember to unplug your BlueDriver dongle when done!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Note: I’ve had my BlueDriver dongle for a few years, and the newer versions look a little different, but functionally they are the same.

This is tiny Bluetooth dongle by Lemur Vehicle Monitors is an OBD2 diagnostic scan tool and code reader that connects to the car’s On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) port and can be used to read trouble codes and also view live data about your car’s engine, transmission, and other systems.

The process is really simple.

You buy the BlueDriver<!–> dongle, download the app for iOS or Android, pair it with your smartphone, and then plug it into your car’s OBD port and start reading data.

The first hurdle that many people have is finding their car’s OBD port. It’s usually under the dashboard or glovebox.

If you can’t find it, you can check your owner’s manual, or Google for the answer.

Here I’m connecting the BlueDriver to a 2021 Kia Stonic. This car doesn’t have any problems (at present!) but I’ll use it as an example for this review.

First I play “Hunt the OBD port.”