Can't hook scanner up to car

I have a 04 taurus with a 3.0 in it and have been having problems with it, the service engine soon light comes on and off every now and then. I had the car hooked up to one of the cheaper scanners at autozone and they couldn't connect. Then we tried one the more expensive ones from matco, that one wouldn't work either. Does anyone know what i would need to do to get the computers to work with my car. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Your '04 probably has the CAN OBD-II protocol. You will need to use a CAN-compatible scan tool.

You did have your key in the "Run" position, right?

-Rod

Yea, the car was in run and started both ways didn't work. So what kind of scanners would work then? I didn't know that there were different ones. The dealer has reprogrammed the pcm a few times. I have had it work before at autozone with one of the $100 scanners but that was before the last time it was reprogrammed.

A couple of sites that I checked agree, your 2004 Taurus should use the CAN protocol (http://www.aa1car.com/library/can_systems.htm).

You should be able to find some newer, less expensive scan tools that are CAN-compliant. Most of the current scan tools will advertise on the packaging if they are CAN-compliant.

-Rod

Also make sure the fuse is not blown. I think it's the same fuse as the cigar lighter.