And from 1996 on up, diagnostics is a lot less of a "black art".

Not so! Especially with some mfg's.

Here's an excellent example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-MTko-otio&feature=em

Yes, I know it's long... runs just over 40 minutes... make some popcorn
& kick back.

We see stuff like this more often than you'd think... scan tools really
have to be taken with a grain of salt. You really have to be careful, or
you can end up eating very expensive parts, and/or blowing more time
than you could ever bill for.

This is why I say buy 'real' car's & trucks.

Erik

PS, Incidentally, this 'ScannerDanner' guy has many superb automotive
computer related troubleshooting video's up on YouTube.