I guess this may seem pretty stupid, but I just read this and I want to make sure I'm understanding correctly. When the car is running I've got no SES light on. When I jump my ALDL I get a handful of codes, but these are only codes that have been present in the past 50 ignition starts? Not CURRENT codes?

I feel kind of silly if that's the case, I spent most of the afternoon putting together a plan to try to diagnose a few of them this weekend.

 

codes once they have been set in the past they remain on the computers mempoery until they are erased/rmeoved manually with the scanner/tester or by battery disconnection for a minute or two(OBD-1 computer software that your vehicle has since its a 1986)

if the light is not on the the current problem is not occuring at that moment howrvert he code for that problem will still be in the ecm memory

once you fix the problem that caused the code to set in the first place then the light should not illuminate again, regardless if a code is in the ecm memory or not

number of starts has nothing to do with this at all

 

Disconnect the battery for a minute,that will erase all stored codes,then start the car and take it for a ride and see if it codes on you,if it does,then all you have to do is diagnose the new codes.