What is OBD-II?
OBD-II stands for On-Board Diagnostics, II generation. It
is a set of documents issued by SAE and ISO, which describe the
interchange of digital information between on-board emission-related
Electronic Control Units (ECUs) of road vehicles and an OBD-II scan
tool. OBD-II also commonly refers to the physical on-board diagnostic
system of a vehicle, which consists of an ECU (or multiple ECUs),
Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL), Diagnostic Link Connector (DLC), and
the wiring that connect the different elements.
Why do we need OBD-II?
Mainly, you now have a powerful tool to analyze your cars
On Board Diagnostic (OBD) data yourself, better even than the
specialized scanning tools only dealerships and big automotive repair
shops had in the distant past. This will save you money in repair costs
by knowing what is or isn't wrong with your car in many cases, and avoid
costly trips to the dealership or repair shop.
It resets the check engine lights, reads and clears all
generic ,and some manufacture specific ,DTC，displays the I/M readiness
status ,views OBD II freeze frame data, displays pending codes,
retrieves vehicle information (VIN), and determines the status of the
malfunction indicator (MIL) lamp.
How do we know whether my car is OBD-II compliant?
Our OBD2 scan tool will work on 1996 or newer OBD 2 /
EODB / JODB compliant cars and trucks, and is based on the ELM327 chip
which auto-detects all OBDII protocols: CAN, ISO, VPW, PWM, and KWP2000
There are several ways.
1. 1996 or newer model year vehicle sold in the United
States
United States legislation requires all cars and light
trucks model year (MY) 1996 and newer to be OBD-II compliant. More
information is available on the EPA's website.
2001 or newer model year gasoline vehicle sold in the European Union
2. 2004 or newer model year diesel vehicle sold in the
European Union
Note that here "European Union" means countries which
were members of the EU in 2003.
3. Other vehicles
If your vehicle does not fall into any of the above
categories, look under the hood and try to locate a label that
explicitly states that the vehicle was designed to comply with OBD-II
legislation.
In this case, OBD-II is used as a general term and can
mean any of the following:
OBD II (California ARB)
EOBD (European OBD)
JOBD (Japanese OBD)
You may also consult your vehicle's owner's manual and
perhaps contact your local dealer. However, be aware of the fact that
many dealers do not know the difference between OBD and OBD-II.
If the vehicle is not OBD-II compliant, you cannot use a
generic OBD-II scan tool to obtain diagnostic information from your
vehicle.
Vehicle Coverage
European Vehicles
If your petrol passenger vehicle was manufactured for
sale in Europe, with the model year of 2001 or newer (and in some cases
2000), you have the EOBD / OBDII interface. EOBD diesel vehicles start
with the 2004 model years. Some Asian models such as Subaru were OBD-II
before 2000.
US Vehicles
Generally these went OBD-II from around 1996. For
example:
GM/Vauxhall/Opel/Holden '96 - Now (OBD-II)
Ford '96 - Now (OBD-II)
Chrysler '96 - Now (OBD-II)
Toyota '96 - Now (OBD-II)
Honda '96 - Now (OBD-II)
NISSAN '96 - Now (OBD-II)
SUBARU Impreza
All other Asian
and European '96 - Now (OBD-II) i.e. Porsche, Opel, BMW, Mercedes,
Volvo, Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, Daewoo, Alfa Romeo, Hyudai, Daihatsu,
Lancia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Kia, Saab, Subaru, Smart etc
