Since I have one for the BMW it never thows any codes to read. Since I don't have one for the Subaru it threw me a check engine light on the way back from buying a 65 GTO. It may be that the Subaru feels that I am being disloyal and did this to get me back, rather like your cat peeing in your shoe.

Regardless of this what is the preferred code reader and why.

Since I have one for the BMW it never thows any codes to read. Since I don't have one for the Subaru it threw me a check engine light on the way back from buying a 65 GTO. It may be that the Subaru feels that I am being disloyal and did this to get me back, rather like your cat peeing in your shoe.

Regardless of this what is the preferred code reader and why.

Your 99 Forester is a standard OBD II connection. Autozone will read the codes for free (as we have been told many times).

Mine is the Palm version of Harrison's OBDScan software. Dont know if it's the best but it's not very pricey if you already own a laptop or a palm. It not only gives codes but real time output from all the sensors.

http://www.ghg.net/dharrison/obdscan.html

I bought an Actron PocketScan. It says I have PO420 which seems to be catalyst below threshold bank 1. My guess at the moment is that means an ox sensor problem, but I will do a bit of research before I change anything. It was pouring rain when I got it which made me think a misfire.

Thanks Frag and Gnu for your replies.

www.scantool.net

 

For $100 you can get a little black box with two connectors (one for dash OBD II cable, one for RS-232)

 

Black box (no display) puts out an RS-232 serial message that your PC or Palm can read (free software)

I bought an Actron PocketScan. It says I have PO420 which seems to be catalyst below threshold bank 1. My guess at the moment is that means an ox sensor problem, but I will do a bit of research before I change anything. It was pouring rain when I got it which made me think a misfire.

Thanks Frag and Gnu for your replies.

Ater I got a CEL I went to Autozone for the free reading and also got the P0420 code. I then went to my regular mechanic who had a reader that showed the sensor's performances and he told me that they looked OK (if your CAT is bad evidently there is no difference between the two O2 sensors). He reset the the ECU and the cose has not come back for almost three months. Seems that soem of the older OBDII Subies had a threshold level which was to low and thus would cause the unit to send the CEL aslo I drove through some high water a few miles before the CEL came on.

I was going through so much water that my converter cooled below its threshold. Just for proper maintence I have ordered new sensors from Jamie but my code has not returned.

Thanks for the replies folks.

I was just surfing some old post and came accross this one. If you still need, I have a little OBD2 reader that hooks up to my laptop. It is pretty neat because it gives me realtime data. Considering you live so close, it would be no big deal for you to pick it up or me to drop it off.

 

I was going through so much water that my converter cooled below its threshold. Just for proper maintence I have ordered new sensors from Jamie but my code has not returned.

Thanks for the replies folks.

i went out and bought a small reader right after the problem. I cleared the codes and it has never returned. I've been waiting to install the sensors to see what happens.

www.scantool.net

 

For $100 you can get a little black box with two connectors (one for dash OBD II cable, one for RS-232)

 

Black box (no display) puts out an RS-232 serial message that your PC or Palm can read (free software)

 

Not a bad deal, but this one for $100 only reads one of the 3 types (ISO, PWM, VPW). The other one lised by Frag for $147 will do all 3. For those of us with several different cars I think that would be a better deal. I bought the cheapo OBDII code reader from Harbor Freight and it's a waste of $40. For my money I think the Harrison is the one I'll buy next.

Dont give up on the harbor freight scanner it won't work on my Subaru, but it works great on our Saturn. Someone else here bought one and said it would not work on their Subaru but it worked good on their other car also.