Seeing your vehicle's check-engine light come on can throw a wrench in your travel plans. It can also feel a little scary: Does it mean your ride is headed for the scrapyard? Or is there a simple fix?

Before I figured out how to work on cars, onboard computer systems scared me. I’ve had no formal training, after all, so the idea of a car’s complex electricals and countless sensors made DIY work ...

The world of car diagnostics has changed a lot over the last 50 years. Back in the '70s and earlier, a mechanic's most valuable diagnostic tools were usually their eyes and ears. You could figure out ...

Diagnosing automotive problems used to be much more challenging. A mechanic had to use all of their skills to pinpoint mechanical or electrical issues. Nowadays, you can diagnose many problems ...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. If you're a fan of diesel-powered trucks, chances are you've heard of Cummins engines. Although Cummins engines can be found in everything ...

A basic OBD scanner can help check a used car, but it cannot reliably prove that the odometer reading is genuine.

That 16-pin connector tucked beneath the dashboard of every car built after 1996 is one of the most underused tools available to everyday drivers. Most people encounter the OBD-II port only when a ...

From the late '80s onward, cars were becoming more and more technically advanced, and an old-school toolkit could only do so much. So, following some development (and the limited OBD-I design), the ...