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Here is a little background on OBD technology. The OBD-II system is the present culmination of the pollution control efforts of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The primary purpose of OBD is to electronically monitor your car's engine and fuel system to make sure that it's running as efficiently as possible. This, in effect, cuts down on harmful auto emissions. If anything monitored by OBD malfunctions, resulting in decreased efficiency, then the Check Engine light, or Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL), on your dashboard is illuminated. 

There are many engine components monitored by OBD, so your MIL could come on for many different reasons (some are merely temporary glitches, while others could render your car immobile). With an OBD scan tool, anyone (not just mechanics) can ascertain why the MIL has been turned on. Several companies have developed scan tools for this purpose. There are self-contained instruments that typically are expensive and others that interface to laptops or PDAs. OBD2LT and OBD2PDA support an OBD scan tool manufactured by Harrison R&D in Texas (shown here). We have found it to be very reliable, rugged, and cost effective. Click here (or on the image) for more information or to order one.

Is your vehicle OBD compatible?
If your car is a '96 or newer model, then you are fully OBD-II compliant, no worries. Just to make things complicated, there are a few cars and trucks that were made prior to 1996 that are also OBD-II compliant. Click here for a detailed list of pre-1996 cars that support OBD-II.

What is a CAN interface?
There also is a new interface protocol, called CAN (Controller Area Network) that will replace the current OBD-II in four or five years. There already are a few vehicles that use this new protocol. Auto Link supports this interface as well.

Where is the OBD Connector Located in My Vehicle?:
The exact location of the OBD connector varies from vehicle to vehicle, but it will be within a few feet of the driver and it will have easy access.  Most often you can find your OBD connector somewhere below the steering column, either above the pedals or perhaps inside a fuse box by the driver's knee. Your OBD connector will probably be in plain view (provided you have your head where your legs would normally be while driving), but some connectors are covered.

If you have trouble finding the connector in your car, check this link (click here). This document has detailed information on OBD connector locations.

How Does Auto Link Use the OBD-II Interface?
One of the many parameters that you can monitor with an OBD interface is the speed of the vehicle. This is done by sending a command to request the current speed of the vehicle. This request and answer only takes a small part of a second. Auto Link sends the command for the current speed several times each second while the software is operating. The software then takes the speed reading to find the distance the vehicle has traveled. This distance is converted to pulses which are output from the Auto Link to the DMI..

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