[rescue] LCD monitor diagnosis

[Mike Hebel]

A tiny bit of space got folded, Don Y was looking queer, I opened up the
spout and then poured out the comment posted here:

> wa2egp at att.net wrote:
>>>    Woah, you *paid* for one? I took my sick car to the local Auto Zone
>>> store the other night. The goatee'd teen behind the counter ran out to
>>> the parking lot and read off the code (and full text!) from a
>>> Fluke-looking handheld. He read it twice more when he saw me
>>> frantically
>>> scribbling it down on my hand, too. :7)
>>>
>>>     I found the explanation on the net, tried the gas-cap trick despite
>>> their advice, and the light went off the next day.
>>>
>>>    Now, to find a dealer who wants to give too much for it in
>>> trade-in...
>>
>> There's a cheaper one that just gives the codes but not for the whole
>> system.
>
> Aren't these just some variant of serial ports?  Surely (?)
> there has to be some documentation available to hack together
> a hardware interface that would let it talk to a laptop...  (?)

There are a number of sources though until recently I didn't own a vehicle
new enough to do this.  Here's just one source:

http://www.thinkythings.org/obdii/

Google sources abound:

http://shorterlink.org/706


>> The local garages charge for the analysis and since my wife's car has
>> been
>> a PITA, it has already paid for itself.  It also mkes repair jobs
>> cheaper
>> when you tell them what's wrong rather than them checking (and possibly
>> adding non-existant problems to the repair bill).  And if you have a car
>> with a failed sensor, you can clear the code before inspection (ha! ha!)
>
> In my case, "counting blinks" with a shop manual handy has
> helped me keep my car *out* of the shop.
>
> "Hmmm...  code 23... 'Shorted coolant sensor'... Ah, OK.
> A bit of shrink wrap tubing on the connector pins to compensate
> for the deteriorated plastic in the connector shell..."

Sometimes though the numbers are not in the book...

Mike Hebel
----
"It sticks to your mouth like library paste, has a stronger kick than
toxic waste, there's nothing that you'll ever taste like 307 Ale!" - Tom
Smith - 307 Ale