What can you tell me about consumer ODB-II readers? I see they have a lot of spread in their price range. Will a cheapie (generally) provide a reason for an event happening? Let’s say that my car started stalling this morning at idle after being warmed up. There’s no check engine light, other than momentarily during the stall. Or… are these things generally only useful if there’s a persistent check engine light?
I don’t mind spending about $100 (and if justified, a little more), but there’s a lot of appeal to only spending $40 or so, and I see them at close to $300. Of course, I could just take it to my mechanic (who I trust and have a good relationship with), but there’s also a lot of appeal to having a new, neat, toy, especially now that I’ve decided to try to keep the car for a million miles (really. I’m 10% of the way there), and things are bound to happen.
Any ideas/recommendations? (I think once the GQ has been answered, this latter question begs a move out of GQ).
(For what it’s worth, I’m convinced it’s a PCV-related problem, as I just had it replaced).