On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:48:40 -0800, Bruce L. Bergman
wrote:


The "short the T and E1 terminals and watch the blinkenlight" method
only works on OBD-I systems from the eighties and nineties. When they
switched to OBD-II fully computerized, that function went away.

A problem that it notices, then goes away, it still saves, for a
while. If the problem is solid, the light stays on. if it gets better,
it goes out, but remembbers the code(s).
I had very good luck, it told me exactly What was wrong.. Changing
that.. Fixed it. Neat system.

Exactly - you need a scanner handy and watch the data as the misfire
is happening, because the temporary codes go away after one or two
restarts. It may be picking up the fault and setting a temporary
code, but below the severity threshhold where the ECU sets a permanent
code and turns on the Check Engine Light.

You can get a decent OBD-II scanner for between $60 and $100 if all
you need is to keep the engine running right.


auto zone and others will loan you a reader. Generally need a credit
card and they will often bill you for the cost of the reader, then
credit it back to you when you bring it back in good condition.

Dont..dont use a debit card unless you have enough money in the bank to
cover the cost of the reader. They pullt the money immediately..it may
take several days to put the money back into youraccount.

It cost me$30 in fees to "borrow" a reader last year.
I could have bought one from Harbor Freight for not much more money.

Gunner

"Lenin called them "useful idiots," those people living in
liberal democracies who by giving moral and material support
to a totalitarian ideology in effect were braiding the rope that
would hang them. Why people who enjoyed freedom and prosperity worked
passionately to destroy both is a fascinating question, one still with us
today. Now the useful idiots can be found in the chorus of appeasement,
reflexive anti-Americanism, and sentimental idealism trying to inhibit
the necessary responses to another freedom-hating ideology, radical Islam"

Bruce C. Thornton, a professor of Classics at American University of Cal State Fresno