Over the years, since cars started to gain electronic control, there has been a growing need for dealer diagnostics. To diagnose the many systems, a plethora of diagnostic devices have been made. With each new advancement in dealer tech, legacy tools become obsolete and often land into the hands of independent garages and hobbyists. In this article, we will take a very brief look at the Peugeot TEP92.
Actia TEP92
Peugeot/Citroen have had a long-standing acquaintance with Actia. Perhaps better known for their range of multiway electrical connector, Actia is a big player in the diagnostic market. Today I use Actia tools with both Citroen’s and Volkswagen group products.
The TEP92 is a compact (for the era) format diagnostic device with a huge scope for add-ons and expansions. From CD Drives to memory card readers, the options were almost endless. The TEP92 originally arrived in dealers during the late ’80s, despite the ’92’ in its name. The unit was aimed at primarily diagnosing engine faults.
Flash Cards
Remembering the age of the system, it’s probably not a surprise that it ran off ‘data cartridges’. Similar to those found in a games console of the same era, each cartridge contained a program for a specific vehicle.
While the technology was simple the tool was reportedly very capable, if a little heavy. Modern onboard diagnostics is often driven by a laptop with internet access with plenty of computing power and infinite updating capacity. It’s easy to forget the high quality of engineering and programming that had to go into these early devices. An example set of the EPROMS can be found below (I read them out 13 years ago, no guarantee of quality).
TEP92 Manuals
My experience with the TEP92 is limited as a result of only having used one once, and even then under supervision. However back in 2007, I bought a genuine Peugeot diagnostic cabinet which came with several of the TEP92 accessories still in it. Along with a few data cartridges and cables where several user manuals. These have been roughly scanned and are available for download.
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