I am in the market for a scanner to pull the codes from my 97. What is a good brand? Are these cheaper <50$ tools worth getting? Least expensive route to figure out why my SES light is always on, and fix the problem.

Thanks,

 

i use FreeScan. its Free...you just need cables and a laptop. google it and i'm sure you can find a download.

 

Is there any risk of damaging the pcm? When scanning with cable and laptop?

Also My search on freescan I found that:
"Please Note: FreeScan is not OBD-II compliant. It will only work on the vehicles listed below."

 

If you only want an OBDII code puller, the cheapest one I've seen is sold by Harbor Freight Tools. It's under $50. It is not a scan tool, only a code retreiver.

 

If you just want to pull a couple of codes, i think AutoZone still pulls codes for free. Dwayne

 

There's no risk when scanning. AFAIK the only risk you have to worry about is when you're reflashing the pcm.

yup.

 

Last time I checked the freescan website, they still hadn't released the OBD-II version. Is it available now?