Show HN: Crew Chief – OBD2 diagnostics via cheap Bluetooth scanner (opens in new tab)

(crewchief.cc)

2 pointsmeandave8d ago3 comments

I have too many vehicles. Cars, motorcycles, tractors -- they pile up when you can't say no to a project. Keeping track of everything across all of them was the problem: which parts I ordered for which thing, what codes I pulled last month, when I last changed the oil on the tractor.

It started because I got tired of typing my year/make/model into RockAuto and AutoZone every time I needed a part. So I built a browser extension that auto-fills vehicle info from a saved garage. That lasted about a week before I started bolting on more features.

The diagnostic pipeline is where I've spent the most time. The mobile app pulls OBD2 codes from those $15 Bluetooth ELM327 scanners, then sends them to an LLM with vehicle specs, known TSBs, and common failure patterns for that specific make/model/year. ranked probable causes, DIY vs shop cost estimates, severity rating, and linked a ChrisFix video for the repair. I've been tweaking the prompts and context window for months. The whole point is closing the loop: check engine light comes on, pull codes from your phone, get a report telling you what's wrong, how bad it is, and how to fix it.

Other stuff:

- 50 state selling wizard - generates the correct bill of sale, title transfer docs, and disclosure forms for any US state. - 16 vehicle types with type-specific fields (PTO type for tractors, hull material for boats, engine CC for motorcycles, etc.) - Task boards per vehicle - kanban for garage projects with parts-ordered/received/installed tracking.

TypeScript throughout. The extension, web app, and mobile app share a backend.

Free tier is 1 vehicle with full features, no credit card.

Been heads-down for a while and just now coming up for air.

Happy to answer questions about the OBD2 integration, the LLM diagnostic stuff, or the 50-state document generation.

3 comments

contrahax8d ago

I set up like 90% of my vehicles in here - struggled a bit with old VINs for mopeds that basically have no VINs but this is awesome. Cures my ADHD around managing lots of things that need maintenance, parts, docs.

meandaveOP8d ago

I'm in talks with some factories that manufacture the scanners, I'd like to produce branded versions and ship them out automatically to users who signup for the paid plan, but I need to get some initial users first to verify the idea. Eager to move onto the next steps and build all of that out

gooseniblet7d ago

This is sick been waiting for a tool like this

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