What is EOBD?
EOBD or OBDII (OBD-2)?
What is EOBD2?
What
is EOBD?
EOBD is
an abbreviation of European On-Board Diagnostics.
All
petrol cars sold within Europe since 1 Jan 2001, and diesel cars manufactured
from 2003, must have on-board diagnostic systems to monitor engine emissions.
These systems
were introduced in line with European Directive 98/69/EC to monitor
and reduce emissions from cars.
All such
cars must also have a standard EOBD diagnostic socket that provides access
to this system (as shown below).
For information
on the pins used within the port, please click
here.
Only the
latest scan tools and code readers can be relied upon to read the diagnostic
information through the EOBD socket.
'Check
Engine' light
The 'Check
Engine' warning light on the dashboard is often the first an owner knows
about a problem with their car.
This provides
very little information to the owner, or to the garage asked to investigate
the problem.
Problem
diagnosis
With the
modern tools, skilled technicians should be able to diagnose and solve
many of the problems, which prior to this, required the sophisticated
console tools of main dealers.
New technology
The introduction
of European on-board diagnostics standards has opened up new opportunities
for car garages and owners.
A range
of low-cost tools are now available to read and clear error codes, to
view live/stored readings from sensors within the car, and to switch off
the 'Check Engine' light.
What
information is available?
EOBD systems
monitor and store information from sensors throughout the car, e.g. air
flow sensors and oxygen sensors.
Sensor values
outside an acceptable range, trigger a Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC).
New diagnostic tools can help you read and interpret these codes, and
view the live sensor output.
EOBD
or OBD II?
On-Board
Diagnostics, or OBD, was the name given to the early emission control
and engine-management systems introduced in cars. There is no single OBD
standard - each manufacturer often using quite different systems (even
between individual car models).
OBD systems
have been developed and enhanced, in line with United States government
requirements, into the current OBD II standard.
The OBD
II Federal requirements apply to cars sold in the United States from 1996.
EOBD is
the European equivalent of the American OBD II standard, which applies
to petrol cars sold in Europe from 2001 (and diesel cars 3 years later).
For more
information on why OBDII tools will only work with 2001 and newer petrol
cars in Europe, and not with all UK and European cars from 1996 onwards,
please click here.
What
is EOBD2?
EOBD2 is
not a new version of EOBD.
Where EOBD
stands for 'European On-Board Diagnostics', EOBD2 actually stands for
'Enhanced On-Board Diagnostics, Second Generation'.
EOBD2 tends
to refer to manufacturer-specific features available on some OBDII/EOBD
tools to access additional parameters/information from a car, over and
above the normal parameters and information available within the EOBD/OBDII
standard.
EOBD2 features
are normally highly manufacturer-specific, and will usually only be available
for a certain car manufacturer, e.g. Ford.
There are,
as such, no 'EOBD2 cars', i.e. cars that require an EOBD2 tool to access
their diagnostics information. EOBD2 functonality might however allow
more information to be extracted from an EOBD/OBDII compliant car.
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