One of the greatest purchases I have ever made was of a cheap OBD II diagnostic computer at my local Pep Boys. Each time the light comes on Pacific Porsche wants to charge me $130 to diagnose what’s wrong and turn off the light. It is virtually always something minor. I paid $69 for the device, it typically takes about 60 seconds to figure out the problem and tun off the light. About every 6 months my car has a cylinder misfire, which is completely benign, but causes the check engine light to come on. I figure the little machine has saved me 4 trips in the past 2 years, and I haven’t spent a dime on the car aside from routine maintainance.
