I have an Actron OBDII Diagnostic Tester. How much will this reveal to me? This area is relatively new to me. Will it only show codes? If so how do I take it to the next step so I can check the various settings? Will I ever be able to reprogram any of the info???

 

If it is limited to "OBD-II" it won't help you at all.... your 94 is OBD-I.

You can not "program" with a scanner.

 

yea, man, you bought the wrong scanner......

 

It's one I had in my garage for a couple of years and used it on a Chrysler LHS I had. So. . . . what kind do I need and what is the next step as far as getting more of a read out than just codes. What is required to be able to reprogram?

 

Most scanners will give you more than codes.... they will generally allow you to access the PCM for all the critical sensors, and the calculated parameters like injector pulse width, spark timing, etc.

There are both hardware, and "software" scanners. Hardware for the OBD-I cars includes AutoXray, ScanMaster and a few others..... Software that runs on a laptop and allows you to log the engines performance over an extend period of time would include TTS DataMaster, FreeScan (the price is right) and the antiquated Diacom.

If you move up to the Tech 1 scanner that the GM techs use, you can established 2-way communications with the PCM, allowing you to set values to test diagnostics and system response, but you can't really do much in the way of prgramming, other than load an updated factory program, or change things like the rear axle ratio.

To actually get into the PCM and start playing with the tuning, you would need somehting like LT1_Edit, or TunerCat.

I have some info on scanners in an online writeup, but a lot of the links are outdated.... but it might get you started on searching for what you want/need:

Scanner guide

Scanner data interpretation

 

Thanks. It's a great help. Is it just me or was it a whole lot easier when I grew up building and tuning cars in the late sixties and early seventies?