Hi, my "service engine soon" light came on a few days ago. The car runs & drives perfectly so I can't figure out whay it came on but i'd like to know what trouble code has been stored. I borrowed a handheld scanner off a friend which is supposed to work with all vehicles from 1996 onwards but I cannot get it to work. When I plug it into the 16 pin connector, the scanner powers up but after 30 seconds or so I get a message saying "linking error". I have tried numerous times without success, each time turning the ignition off then on again. Have even tried with the engine running. The scanner is a Maxscan GS500 - don't know if anyone on the forum is familiar with that one? It's a reasonably cheap "made in China" affair but it always worked on my friends Volvo + a couple of other cars with OBD2. Any suggestions would be appreciated, that SES light is getting on my nerves now

 

I would try another scan tool. Take it to you nearest Autozone and see if they can read it.

 

x2 autozone can also give you a printout of the codes and possible causes

 

Hi, thanks guys but unfortunately we don't have Autozone here in the UK or anyone else similar who reads the codes for free (as far as I know), I live in the middle of nowhere which doesn't help. I will have a word with a guy I know at my local repair shop & see if he'll hook up their scanner for me, might even do it for free if I get him a couple beers! Like I said previously, the vehicle drives perfectly so I can't imagine it can be anything too serious, hope not anyway. Fuel consumption is pretty normal too. Maybe I could try disconnecting the battery for a while to see if that clears things? Or maybe pull the relevant fuse for a while?

 

might be of some help if you get the volvo reader hooked up again:
This is a clickable link

 

The Haynes manual suggests disconnecting the battery for a minute to clear the service engine light, I tried this but it still stays on so I guess there is a fault somewhere? Wondered if I should have left it disconnected for longer? As I said before the truck runs & drives perfectly so I can't imagine it's anything serious. I have read somwehere else on this forum that sometimes something intermittent occurs to trip the light then the fault can clear itself, but the light remains until reset - is this true or can the light turn itself off automatically? Must admit, this is the 1st vehicle i've had with OBD so i'm still finding my way around things.
ABN31B - I have looked at the link you posted, looks useful so will try that when I get time, and can borrow my friends scanner again - thanks for that.

 

If the fault happens once and then everything goes back to normal, the light should reset itself. There are a few codes which will hard set the light until the PCM is cleared, but disconnecting the battery for 15-20 minutes should clear the PCM.

 

Thanks for that - will disconnect it for longer tomorrow & see what happens. If i've still got a light then I know I have a problem.
This a great forum, I am relatively new to Blazer ownership so I am finding this so damn useful especially since Blazers are so rare here in the UK so information is pretty scarce. I get a lot of people stopping & asking me what it is because they've never seen one before! Can't understand why GM didn't sell more of them here, there are plenty of Cherokees around so there's clearly a demand for such vehicles.