To be honest, he was just guessing...it is how he does most of his troubleshooting. I will check it with my DMM as soon as I can, but it may be a bit as the car is about a hundred miles away from me.
Let me give you some background on the situation. My father is an old school mechanic (did a stint as an aircraft mechanic in the marines in the around '58) and does not understand much about the electronics in newer cars. By replacement alone, I think he has ruled out any mechanical failure in the fuel system.
I on the other hand do computer support for a living and tinker with electronics as a hobby, and have done a few brake jobs and such with his guidance. He is living on a limited retirement budget, and is way too proud to accept a gift from his son like paying to have it fixed (or a new car.) Now some help, I am sure he would love.
Would an obd-2 scanner be any help in diagnosing a start failure? I have been considering buying one anyway to keep tabs on my own car. If so, what is a good package to buy? The hardware interface looks very simple, and I do not mind paying for a good software that would handle the extended codes on import cars (specifically VW and Honda,) preferable CE based as I am planning on purhcasing a pocket PC to use for for GPS navigation. I would also not be averse to picking up a separate scope (maybe an older tektronix off ebay?) to view any waveforms necesary.
I wouldn't mind purchasing the electronics because I think they would both have a lasting value to me. I know I am probably jumping ahead of myself with the scope there but how should one go about diagnosing this situation?