I was working on my garage the other night when my girlfriend called me.
She was at her friends house and her friend's car wouldn't start. With
hope in my breath, I asked the all concerning question...
"What year car does she have?"
To my surprise and excitement, the answer was "1996!"
Cool, my first chance to use my near $300 code reader! I grabbed my laptop
and code reader and headed out the door.
The car wouldn't idle and the "check engine light" was on.
I plugged in the code reader and went to work. I was trilled with the
amount of data the code reader provided. In fact, it was way more than I
knew what to do with. I found a bunch of fault codes (clearly spelled out
as to what they were) in the log.
I saved the codes to a local computer profile for the car, then cleared
them, (this way I could see what was old codes and what was current). The
Check Engine light went off right away.
I was able to find the problem and have the car running within no time (and
I only needed a screw driver.)
While the fix was simple (and would have been one of the first things I
would have tried if I DIDN'T have the code reader,) It was cool to have
the device. After the fix, I was able to run a computer dianogsic on the
car (a feature of the software that comes with the code reader.)
It gave me a bunch of really cool feedback.
Again, I don't make any money if anyone buys one of these, but I think it's
cool if you have to work on a newer car.
I never thought I would see the day when I grab a laptop to troubleshoot a
car!
Now, to be a true geek, I'm looking for a laptop that I can dedicate to the
scanner. And have WiFi and a built in cell modem for real time internet
access and...
Well, I'm getting ahead of myself!
Inch
http://megageek.com
"Did you exchange, a walk-on part in the war,
for a lead role in a cage?" R Waters.
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