Service Engine Soon?

Ok, I've had my escort for about a month. A 97 LX Sedan

I bought it from my father who had it since 97. 2 weeks after he bought it the Service engine soon light came on. We took it to a mechanic and they said that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the engine, it was just signaling for a tune up from the Ford dealership where he bought the car. "The only ones who can turn that light off is ford" The Mechanic said to us. Now seven years down the road we still didnt bother with it. I have to inspect it now and i guess the laws have changed because the man who usually inspected it said he could no longer. I called ford and they said it would cost me $425 to fix the problem. Is there a way around this?

Buy a OBd2 scanner and clear the code, after checking the code to find out why it's there.

Jeff is right. Find out what the code(s) is/are.

You can get the code(s) READ for free at Autozone. They may or may not clear them - they used to, but there's a new rule, probably liability related.

I don't understand $425 to clear codes...or is that to fix something broken....but we don't know what's broken?