I talked to a mechanic today about some trouble my 1969 Mustang Coupe is having - specifically, it won't start. He said that he could charge $20 to tow it and $40 to hook it up to a machine to see what was wrong with it. Was he B.S.-ing me? How can he hook it up to a machine if there is no computer in the car. Is that possible? What machine is he talking about?

 

What type of machine? Whats wrong with the car?

 

HAHAHAHA! Maybe vacum and alt output?

Just for kicks I'd go to the junkyard and cut the under dash OBDII hookup from some car and fasten it under my ponys dash just to mess with him

 

He could hook it up to an oscilloscope and see what the ignition pattern looks like.

 

Might be worth the money just to see him try and figure it out.... Or not.

 

Winner.

 

Ah O-scopes, hanging out in the background of horror movies since the times of black and white.

 

dang i hate o-scopes... them damn things are freakin difficult... i learnd them here at NAVAL SUBMARINE SCHOOL.

 

we used them constantly for patterns.
they were a _very_ good indication for compression problems as well. measure amps used during crank on each cylinder gives you a damn good idea

 

Yes, there were diagnostic tools prior to the computer. You can tell the younger members by their responses to questions like this.