Been trying to figure out what I need, and the waters are a bit muddy. Here's my situation.

Was driving my 2000 M5 (S62 engine, E39 chassis, manufactured June of 2000) a couple years ago, and the engine suddenly started acting like it was running on only about 6 of its 8 cylinders. It did that for about a quarter of a mile, then stopped. I went on vacation, and while on vacation my son decided it'd be a great idea to drag race his buddies. So, he's dropping the clutch and ends up snapping the anti rotation tabs on the rear sub frame. Nice. :-/ Anyway, the car sat for a bit, then when I tried to move it in my garage, it wouldn't start. It wouldn't even hint at firing. It's a toy, so it sat again (inside) until I now have enough time to address the problem.
After doing a bit of research, it sounded like my VANOS might be having an issue. So, since removing and looking at the VANOS solenoids seemed simple, I took them off, cleaned them, powered them, and they seem to be fine. Problem possibly elsewhere....but while I have these things off, I'll solder that jumper to them, in case it's an intermittent power problem only when there's engine vibration.
So, now I want to hook a diagnostic tool to the car and see if it'll point me in the right direction. I tried doing this before with one I bought from a local auto shop, but it wouldn't recognize my car.

The question: Given that I'll have to reinstall VANOS solenoids that have been removed and cleaned out, and given that I have a car that won't start, what diagnostic system should I be looking at? Will something like the board-popular Peake tool be enough? Is there something newer? Or, should I try to install the DIS software on my laptop and get an adapter cable. Will that DIS software also reset codes, or is it for other functions?



BTW, I've drained the fuel in the tank and will put fresh fuel in the vehicle.