We have a '99 Discovery II and almost peroidically we get the Service Engine Soon light. When we get around to have time to send it into the shop, it disappears. Then it reappeares and disappears. I talked to a mechanic and he says if it goes off automatically it's considered a "soft" fault, and if it stays on for a while then it's considered a "hard" fault.

It's annoying to say the least, but we love our car so I don't want to hurt it.

The problem is, for the shop to even CHECK the problem it costs $40. I checked eBay and OBD-2 scanners go for about the same price. Should I just buy one and see what the problem is, to save ourselves $40 every time we bring it into the shop to get it looked at?

I dunno which OBD-2 scanners to trust though, there are some that go for $20 and some that go for $100.... hum.

 

You can always go to an auto parts store , most of them will scan the truck for free.
As for buying one, the last thing you want to do is buy a cheap scanner, which may or may not to read all Rover codes and probably won't be able to clear the stored faults.
The best thing i can suggest is as soon as the light comes on again, go staright to the parts store and have them write down the fault code numbers, them get back to us so we can help you.
Also, It is not at all common to have the light come on as you describe. My 99 D2 has come on twice in 5 years.
Mike

 

I got one from Pepboys.
So far it has worked on my Disco and my VW diesel.

The one I have is # CP9135 Actron, you can get them on sale
for about $90.
You don't need one that can read CAN data.

 

Will it clear codes also?
Mike