I am looking to buy a code reader on a family man's budget. A few questions please. Is my 2006 Volvo XC90 2.5T an OBDII compliant vehicle? Where does it plug in? (sorry, I have only owned/maintained older cars my whole life) Can you recommend one that works at or under $40? Thanks for reading

 

Any car after 1996 is OBD II compliant. Mine plugs in underneath the dash on the drivers side. You might find one that gives you the code for somewhere around $40 but if you want one that tells you what the code means it will cost you more. I have an Actron and it was around $130.

 

There are aton of used tools for sale on EBay, CraigsList, etc. Bad economy causes folks to sell what they can to pay the Volvo payment. I am looking for a used code reader, (and there a bunch of them for sale on these sites) but there is a bewildering number of brands, model numbers, etc. In addition, sellers usually omit what the item they are selling DOES NOT DO leaving you in the dark. Can anyone recommend a specific reader based on their experience using it to buy, or better yet, maybe, NOT buy? A local CraigsList ad has a Craftsman item, used, (he says new cost $600+) for $150, but I have no idea if it is the one to buy for my 2000V70XC. I work on OLD cars and really, really old bikes, usually, so have not needed a code reader until now.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

you can get cheap ones for $25 on ebay. any auto parts store has decent ones for $60 or so. most will give you an alphanumeric code and you can look up what it means in an included booklet, cd, or online. some will also scroll what the code means (the real cheap ones may not do that). OBD2 ports are required to be close to the steering wheel, usually bottom part of driver side dash.

 

As dagumol has said, "a family mans budget". Looks like a code reader that can provide trans codes and abs codes, etc even if it costs more might be a better bet in the long run. price range goes from $20 or so clear up to $600-$800 or more. Can anyone recommend one in $75 to $150 range? if that is reasonable. I am having transmission issues with a 2000 V70XC I bought last month. I know I need a code reader, just not sure what i really need. Maybe the question is what DON"T I need?
Don't like buying crappy Chinese stuff from Harbor Freight; most of it is use it a couple of times and it's only good for the trash can, but they sell one for $150 and if anyone has used it and says it's OK, maybe it's worth buying.
Funny, Harbor Freight has killed off just about every other tool seller around here in Detroit except for a few widely scattered small independents. Even Sears stores have drastically shrunk their Craftsman tool departments. Sure, you can order stuff, but I like to hold it in my hands before I decide to buy it. Crasftsman, once a fairly decent brand/grade of tools for the home mechanic, are now just more third world sourced crap, too. Very sad.