Hey all. This whole subject is new to me and I don't really know how it works, but what does every one think of the cheaper hand held scanners and check engine light code readers?

My rig is a 87 4runner. 22re. OBDI I believe? My work sells one I was checking out today and I can get it for 18 bucks. Equus brand I think. Basically I plug it in and it blinks a certain amount of times and then I can go look that up in a FSM(which I downloaded here) to get the code and tell me whats going on?

I've been getting a CEL with no symptoms and the engine running good. Only thing I can think of is I screwed something else up when I got stuck in some deep mud and burned out my clutch. Just replaced it along with rear main seal and pilot and throw out bearing and such. I am also having issues with my starter.

Thoughts? Are they something handy to have around your garage? Pretty straight forward to help a weekend mechanic out?

Thanks!

 

Go for it, what have you got to lose besides $18? I have a quality OBDII reader as well as a program on my computer that reads and interprets OBDII codes. I find that it comes in handy a lot, (not on my vehicles they are all OBDI) but when i had OBDII vehicles I used it a lot and i use it to help out friends as well. They are good useful tools to have around.

 

For your OBDI Yota just get a paper clip and use it to jump your diagnostic pins. Clear the codes by pulling the 15 Amp fuse for the unit.

I do have one of those inexpensive scanners for my newer vehicles and it works fine.

 

X2, you can buy a whole box of code readers for under $3:
- http://www.officemax.com/office-supp...oduct-ARS24646
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...CheckConnector