A Decoder Ring for The Dashboard Light
A fast way to figure out what "check engine" really means
A dashboard light on Richard Steinfeld's Hyundai Sonata recently told him to "check engine," and he was left to wonder what it meant: "Is my engine about to blow up?" Rather than take a trip to his mechanic, the Richmond, Calif., musician used a hand-held device to read the car's electronic sensors and divine what made the auto gods flash their mysterious warning.
Once the expensive tool of pro mechanics, a number of basic "code readers," as these devices are called, can now be had for $150 and less. Steinfeld's gizmo identified a malfunctioning sensor that measures oxygen in the engine's exhaust--his car might flunk an emissions test if the glitch weren't fixed, but the auto certainly wouldn't explode.
Car computers have been used for tuneups for years, an option that became standardized in 1996 with the On-Board Diagnostic II system (or OBD II). The hand-held code readers--the size of a remote control with an LCD screen--hook to the car's computer. The more expensive scanners used by auto mechanics can detect problems that consumer-grade readers can't.
But these new consumer versions can pinpoint most common car troubles and hint at others. In a test by U.S. News , three basic readers accurately detected a cylinder misfire (code P0300) on a car where a spark plug wire was purposely pulled. The cheaper two--the Actron PocketScan CP9125 ( actron.com ) and the Equus 3030 ( iequus.com )--sell for $80 or less in stores. Once they give you the code for the problem, you have to look it up in the manual or on a CD-ROM to learn the actual problem. The pricier AutoXray Code Scout ($150) gives more details on its screen, including instructions and short descriptions of common and proprietary codes. The Code Scout can also be upgraded with a $90 link to PC s for analysis.
Other kits for using a notebook or hand-held PC as the code reader itself can be found online, starting at about $100. In addition, devices such as Davis Instruments' CarChip ($140 and up at carchip.com ) plug into the car's port, grabbing the data and later connecting to a PC for the readout. For the truly frugal, technicians at parts stores often plug in a diagnostic tool free (an example is AutoZone).
Or find a local enthusiast like Brian Running in Waukesha, Wis., who's checked the cars of family and friends after a happy experience with the Actron PocketScan. His Volkswagen dealer wanted $90 to decipher why Running's car wasn't, well, really running. The 45-year-old attorney's code reader fingered a bad sensor that measures the air coming into an engine, one that Volkswagen had warned might be a problem on his 2001 Jetta. He replaced the part himself for $80. It was, he says, a "best-case scenario" of a simple problem easily fixed, saving him money, though he muses: "I may pay a price in the end if friends start lining up in my driveway."
This story appears in the September 12, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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