One item that has not been discussed fully so that a general consensus is reached, that being, which OBD-II product is better? Alex Peper's or Harrison's. Readers who have experience with either one can chime in as to their opinions as a user. Furthermore, I believe that this board would be highly interested in a reader who has experience or has used both of the products. Thanks to all for your response, as maybe we can delineate the differences for all to read.

I have been using the OBD-2 from Alex Peper for sometimes now. I do not know how it compare to the other softwares.

However here what I like from he software from Alex:
Relatively cheap
Reset Service light
Works also for my other car (BMW 528i 1998)
Free update and addition to the software
Extended code for BMW

What I do not like:
Poor documentation
Do not have the code extension for Volvo specific codes

I too have been satified with Alex Peper's OBD-2 interface however I have NOT been able to get it to reset the service indicator. I did e-mail Alex and he did reply with a precedure on how to do it but it did not work for me. Perhaps it will not work with a '98. Can you tell me how to use the software to reset the service light???

Thanks
esch

Here is what I wrote for someone.

To communicate with the engine ECU and reset the "ENGINE" light, you need to
have you need to have the "Options" set properly. Here is what is working
for me.

Under "Options" click on "Gateway". In the protocol selection you need to
have selected the following options:
ISO-9141-2
Speed=60, byte=10, multi=20
timeouts=5
auto reconnect
clear cache on connection
Under "Options" click on "filter". In the protocol selection you need to
have selected the following options:
Address Accept Filter=17


To communicate with the instrument cluster and to reset the Service Light,
you need to change the following option:
Address Accept Filter=All
Then close the program and restart it. You should not attempt to connect to
the engine ECU (once connected to the engine ECU you will not be able to
reset the service light). To reset the SERVICE light you select first the
"STATUS" tab and then click on "Enhanced" on the top menu.

I feel so dumb...that all should have been obvious to me.

Seriously, thanks for the tip. I'll give that a try. It sounds a little different from what Alex told me to do so I'm cautiously optimistic that it will work.
Esch

This procedure seems to work for 850 from 1996 to 1997 and for S70 1998. I do not know if it will work for your XC 1998.

BTW, the software will not give you a positive indication that the command "Reset Service light" has been done. After issuing a reset, turn off ignition and start the engine to see if the light is now OFF. The sotware send a series of unidirectional command to the instrument cluster ECU. It does not listen for a reply (I do not know if there is a reply send on the OBD2 bus anyway).

Let us know if it is working for you.

Leo

Hi, I have the OBDII by Alex and purchased it primarily to do the reset of Serv. Light. Seems just OK, but he does answer all my ?.... Also recently got the code the O2 sensor is giving a delayed signal :( with 50K I'm not happy to look forward to the costs for changing the two O2 sensors & will probably have to do myself, had previous a bad t-stat which may have failed it! I found that Volvo's (our 1st & will never buy again) give little OBD info to us compared to the big three as far as support or simple read of all outputs. I'm an engineer and have some program skills which makes looking @ codes a little easier, some may have difficulty. I'd be curious to see what comments others have. D~