The Shade Tree Mechanic is Back
by Gary Woods

It used to be that under every shade tree there was a mechanic working on their car. Today computers mainly run cars so without expensive diagnostic equipment it's almost impossible to figure out what's going on with your automobile.

Every car built after 1996 has an On Board Diagnostics system, or ODB. This system monitors hundreds of parameters and includes a standard connector plug, thus allowing your vehicle to be analyzed by mechanics armed with pricey diagnostic computers or by you if you have a Palm handheld computer and AutoTap.

AutoTap is designed for professionals and Do It Yourselfers alike, and monitors not only generic parameters like engine load and fuel pressure, but also "enhanced" parameters for Chrysler, Ford and GM vehicles. (The company plans to add enhanced parameter monitoring for foreign cars in a future release) The parameters monitored include everything from the Air Conditioning compressor temperature to yaw rate value.

The good news is that while you do have to know something about cars to take advantage of the software you don't need a degree in computer-science to figure out how to run AutoTap. The software is very flexible allowing you to configure up to five separate data monitoring pages, each laid out any number of ways. Data can be presented in any combination of lists, graphs, gauges, or large-digit numbers.

AutoTap retails for $199..95

If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910