diagnostic

My car has been a real pain recently: it has a recurring error code that the garage can't seem to fix (apparently, it's a fault in the air conditioning, but the car doesn't even have air con!). Taking the car to the garage to get the code cleared means I lose the car for a day, which is getting annoying. So, I decided to buy myself a USB connecter for the car's On Board Diagnostics (OBD) and see if I could get it working with Linux (specifically Kubuntu, but I doubt it matters). I was pleased to find that there was some decent Free Software available for Linux called Scantool that enabled me to read and clear the codes on my car. Here's how to install and use the software, and some screenshots...