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What's the distributor driven by?

What distributor? With multi-coil systems, it's not needed.

There are devices that capture time based data and DTC code numbers and they only costs hundreds of dollars. http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8426/ for instance and http://www.autotap.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId =260&Trail=36&TrailType=Top . The point I was making is that I don't want to leave it up to my auto manufacturer to tell me what data I am interested in. My computer spits out the data required to calculate mpg on the fly yet by dashboard has no readout for that. My computer can tell me the condition of my engine sensors beyond just errors and my dashboard cannot. Even worse, my dashboard only tells me if the oil pressure is below a critical threshold but I would like to know if the oil pressure is low before that light comes on.

So don't try to tell me that most customers would not care about such a feature. I just want it to be included and I mentioned it because this is an article about Tricked-Out cars. Wouldn't it be cool if your Mercedes Dealer gave you a USB drive with a ODB-II port on it that could download all the history from the engine management and then bring it over to your PC for analysis if you wanted to? Then you could set a parameter to reset certain codes when it was re-inserted in the port, plug it back in your car and now your stupid engine check light is not on simply because you've gone more then 3000 miles on your 15,000 mile synthetic oil.

See Here for OBDII, and

Here or Here or Here

tm

There are a number of products that let you read the information on the port in real time. AutoTap is a popular one, but there are quite a number of others.

Having helped the mechanic (not dealer) troubleshoot my randomly overheating truck, I've seen that the code readers can be *very* comprehensive. Such as reading the increasing voltage output by the cyl head temp sensor as the heat rises. Or finding out that cyl 2 & 6 are misfiring, but only intermittently.
(and for a real informative, find out *how* the OBD knows a particular cyl is misfiring-it's not jut an absence of spark)

Reading the freeze frame (what turned the light on), can be very instructive, if only as a place to start.

Knowing the code that comes out of that freeze frame still requires a bit of basic mechanical troubleshooting skill.

Reagarding my truck (2000 F-150)...the mechanic blew off the misfire as 'we'll fix that after we get the overheating down'. $150 later, still overheats. I hooked up my friends OBD scanner to my laptop, drove for a while, and then analysed the resultant file.
Replace the plug wires, no more intermittent misfire, vastly lower percentage of overheating. It still does it some, but not nearly as bad. Next step is to replace the ignition coil pack.

The newer laptop OBD hookups and software DO snag all the standard codes, and if you get the specific manufacturer pack, all the specific ones as well. AutoTap sells the extended code sets for $99 each. Or all the majors (GM, FordBasically, you get a virtual dashboard for everything thats going on in the car. Replayable at home for analysis.
There are open source versions of the basic code set as well. As well as instructions for building your own serial port adapter.

Go buy one of the many, many aftermarket products that do exactly what is this. Interface with te cars serial port, and display in colorful graphics on your laptop or Palm, exactly what the particular code(s) means.

Anywhere in price from $80 to several thousand. AutoTap is probably the best midrange one, at $200-300.

Now...if you lack the skill to put a gas cap on correctly, these may not help you.

...or is there a whole other set of "SooperSekrit" codes that cannot be read by such tools as AutoTap and others?
No, AutoTap isn't free, but the base and enhanced code sets are available for Ford/GM/Chrysler.

And there are other, cheaper models around.

Or do these guys want the programming and the reader (cable) for free from the maufacturers?

I'm designing something similar for my truck.

Inexpensive Free software for Win or Mac. Inexpensive cable.
Expensive. Very pro display, and you can get all the extended codes sets.
Opensource(you still need to build/buy the cable)

There are others out there. Google for obdii

All you need do is hook this up to the serial port of whatever car PC you make, and run the s/w. Presto, virtual dashboard, with more readings than you will ever use.

Friend of mine at work has the cheaper one, and it works quite well. You can even record a drive, and play it back later. Output to OO.org or excel compatible csv for further analysis.

AutoTap

HERE is scanner and software for under 500 bucks that will scan a GM, Ford or Chrystler.

If you just want one for your particular model, it's only 300 bucks.

#2 really burns me. The computers in the shop are typically PCs housed in a big console with several cables coming out. The cables are simply a black box to the parallel port. There is no reason that this black box cannot be made available in you local Discount Auto.