Does Auto Zone Do Dianostic Checks?

Yes, they do the checks for free. We just had my son's Oldsmobile in our local store last week for a diagnostic check.

It turned out that he just needed a new gas cap. The old one was fitting well anymore.

would a lose fitting gas cap make the message center go off with it's favorite saying=""SERVICE VEHICLE""?.

Yeah, I didn't believe it either. I knew that a missing gas cap would do it, but the cap didn't feel loose to us. We bought the gas cap and the light hasn't come back on again.

Well i went to an Auto Zone & guess what?,no reading!,does the message have to be present when taking a reading?.

If the Service Engine light/message isn't on, the code reader won't be able to tell you anything.

Not true at all. The service engine light only comes on when a fault is being set ot currently being detected. The light resets on startup but the fault stays in memory for about 50 or more start/run cycles. There can be intermittant faults stored in memory with light off. The SnoMan

Not to distract from your question but does anyone know of a chain that does a similar service free in Canada? Everywhere I've been wants at least $40 just to read the codes. Don't say Canadian Tire. They charged me $40 a couple years ago and all they said was that it was exhaust related and I would either have to pay for furthur investigation or take it to Saturn so they could more accurately read the code. Since then I have stopped using Canadian Tire for anything more than tires or an oil change if I don't feel like crawling under there. Even then they try to sell me a new battery every time I'm in there. It's been over two years since they tried to sell me a new battery because at -20C it was only throwing out 500CCA, and my car still starts on the first try no matter how cold it is. GRRR. That was my rant for the day. Thank you for listening. :-)

I acquired a 97 SL1 a few months back. Since I do all my own repair work, I bought an ODB II scanner for about $65. Well worth it.

-David

I've thought about that but the ones I've seen are priced at ~ $200. Where did you get yours?

Roy

I bought an Actron CP9125 PocketScan at VIP Autoparts in Watertown MA. I've also seen a number of different ones on eBay.

-David

Code Readers and Scantools aren't the same thing. Though Scantools in the 200 dollar range dont do much more than code readers.