Hi, My truck has always had the check engine light on. It's nothing serious(i'm pretty sure). It runs fine and i have never had any real trouble with it. But that light is starting to make me nervous. I am thinking about getting an OBDII tool. A cheap OBD tool (maybe the actron pocket scan) would be a good investment because it would probably pay for its self. My truck has 2 places to plug in to, the OBDII connector under the steering wheel and a EEC connector by the fuse box under the hood. The OBDII tool i want only can connect to an OBDII port. My truck is a 1997 ranger so i'm sure that it is OBDII and according to my shop manual my electronic engine control is an EEC-V. From what i have read the EEC has some sort of diagnostic feature. This may be a stupid question but this is kinda new to me. Does the OBDII give the same information as the EEC?

Thanks,
CAW

 

OBDII is a diagnostic system mandated by the government. The EEC PCM is a microprocessor that controls many engine, transmission and emission components. By far, the best deal I have seen for an OBDII code reader is $40 from Harbor Freight Tools. All OBDII readers plug into the Data Link Connector under the dash. If you unplug the PCM connector itself, the PCM will power down and all codes will be lost.

Be sure that you don't get an OBD or OBDI reader - it is not compatible with your truck.

 

I forgot about harbor freight. Thanks

 

When did they make the switch to II? I thought they made the switch in like 98...

I have a Mac scanner that gives me streaming data as well. Pretty cool, I don't use it on my truck too much, but it comes in handy when the friends have problems.

 

The major change was on 1996 vehicles but part of it was phased in on some models in 95. In the ensuing years, more features and monitors have been added.

 

I should mention that the $40 reader just extracts and resets trouble codes. If you need more capability than that, the price will be higher.

 

Where is the place to plug it in? I have a 1998 Ford ranger 4 cyl 2.5

 

Look under your steering column next to the hood release. There should be a plug that has like 20 holes, black in colour and is an odd shape. Like a rectangle with two corners cut off.

 

I got an OBD-II to laptop USB cable from Amazon for less than $10.... There's a lot of freeware available online to read and reset codes... I'm using "wOBD" on my laptop to read and reset codes... the software will also do a lot more...

 

They have a bluetooth adapter you plug into your odb2 port that transmits the data to your phone or tablet. Unfortunately it will not work with Apple products because apple want too much for the rights to their bluetooth stack codes.

Looks pretty cool though. Does all the stuff a reader does and gives you allot of performance data.

 

mine's the USB version of the same thing... the Windows 7 laptop I'm using doesn't have Bluetooth... A Mac (or Linux) user would need to comment on the availability/capability of OBD-II software for that platform.

 

There is definatly software for the Mac and for linux. With Linux you can make it run windows programs and the Mac should have a feature to do it

 

I did find a bluetooth option for the iphone/ipad. As always if it says Apple it's more expensive. By the time you buy the adapter and the app it will run you about $175.

Here are the links.

http://www.palmerperformance.com/pro...mand/index.php

 

I have that bluetooth version above, use it on my Samsung galaxy S2, and galaxy tab. it's awesome, you can check codes, erase codes, tons of detailed info. even live gauges as you drive.