INTRODUCTION TO OBD II Ween: to OBD IL, While you may be familiar with the term OBD HI, you undoubtedly have questions about how it will affect you, what type of equipment you'll need before you can work on OBD Il-equipped vehicles, and how steep the learning curve will be as you attempt to master this major change in automotive techuology. Before we get to the heart of the matter, we want to take a moment to explain the approach we'll be using in this course. This won’ t take long, Watch video module #1 now. and it may improve the quality of your learning experience, so please bear with us, One of the most intimidating aspects of OBD II is the mountain of, printed matter that accompanies it. If you start trying to read through all the SAE papers and manufacturer-specific documentation before you understand what OBD IT is actually trying to accomplish, you'll get discouraged in a hurry. So rather than drag you through an entire history of on-board diagnostic development and reams of documentation only an attorney could love, we're going to start by giving you simplified answers to the most common questions associated with OBD H. Along the way, we'll mention the most critical OBD II regulations, but only as they apply to the subject matter. Small boxed side-bars will be sprinkled throughout the text, and some pages will contain mini-glossaries that define the terms used ona given page. That way you won't need to go back to the main glossary every time you can’t remember a definition, We don't want to imply that the reference material isn’t important, be- cause itis. The long charts and tables, a brief history of OBD II develop- ‘ment, and descriptions of the SAE papers that define OBD II will be placed in appendices at the end of the book. You won’t need to dig through them until you know what they mean or need to put them to use in an actual repair, ‘The last aside we want to offer is a word of encouragement. OBD IT carries the mystery of any new technology, but its purpose is straightfor- ward. This will take fresh thought, some study time, and the experience that comes with actual repairs of real vehicles, but we'll all master it. © 1998 NAPA Institute of Automotive TechnologyOBD II anp SECOND GENERATION Scan TooLs QUESTIONS In this section, we'll try to provide some simpli- fied answers to common questions about OBD I. The explanations provided here will be brief, and many will be discussed in greater detail later in the course book. For starters, however, we want to give you a general feel for the basic changes you'll see in OBD Il vehicles, compared to their predecessors. This will give you an overview to work with as we proceed. What is OBD II? OBD IT is an enhanced diagnostic monitor, built right into the vehicle's PCM. It’s designed to alert the driver when emission levels are greater than 1.5 times the emission levels for the car as it was originally certified by the EPA. The name On- Board Diagnostics is actually a very accurate description of the system. The // added to the OBD name tells us that itis the second genera- tion, the successor to the OBD I systems used on EPA-certified cars starting in 1988. Where does OBD II come from? The regulations that added OBD I controls to some new vehicles in 1994 and 1995 and all 1996 and later models sold in the United States, are based on environmental goals established in the Clean Air Act Amendments and regulations © written by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). There is a difference between the regula- tions originally proposed by the Federal EPA and those established by CARB. The EPA agreed to accept the CARB OBD II standards until 1998, Figure 1-1 shows the major differences between the EPA and CARB standards How is OBD Il different from OBD I? Unlike OBD I, OBD II is designed to detect electrical, chemical, and mechanical failures in the vehicle emission control system that might affect vehicle emission levels. Here’s an example On an OBD I vehicle, if everything in the emis- sion control system is functioning properly, but the catalytic converter stops working chemically, the vehicle owner won't know it. The car will run properly, and the dashboard Malfunction Indicator 10 Federal Versus CARB Federal CARB 1. Allows use of 1, Allows use of ‘CARB regulations fede Oee on vehicles, for 1994-98 vehicles ee 2, Monitors include 2, Monitors include Catalyst Catatyst en sensor Siaygen sensor mene Misire Carister Purge Flow Svst Coreen Secondary Air EOremes Gomponent 8 Any otheritemthat |} 3. Defines an results in any unacceptable ‘omission increase emission increase as emissions greater than 1.5 times FTP Fig. 1-1. As you can see, the original EPA and CARB standards were not identical. CARB requires more moni- toring, and defines the limits for any increase in emission lovels. Light (MIL) won't come on, (We used to call this the Check-Engine or Service-Engine-Soon light, but now it’s simply referred to as the MIL). In this example, all of the electrical inputs to the vehicle computer are correct. The vehicle com- puter (PCM) is making all the necessary adjust- ments, and the vehicle is running in closed loop, Electrically, the vehicle is perfect. And the engine is sound mechanically. So what’s the problem? The chemical cleaning of the exhaust by the catalytic converter has stopped. Maybe the veh thas a ton of miles on it and the converter has finally accumulated enough contaminants to keep it from working. Maybe it’s been doused in a gallon of antifreeze from a blown head gasket. ‘Whatever the cause, the catalyst is chemically dead, and the stuff coming from the exhaust manifold never gets scrubbed and cleaned before it leaves the tailpipe. OBD II won't accept this. OBD II takes the next logical step in emission control. It uses all of the diagnostic features we associate with previous diagnostic tests of the © 1998 NAPA Institute of Automotive TechnologyInrropuction To OBD IL electrical components, and adds @ monitor to test the chemical action of the catalyst. This is an indirect test that uses the normal pre-catalyst oxygen sensor, but adds another oxygen sensor to monitor the oxygen content at the catalyst outlet We'll discuss the particulars of catalyst monitor- ing a little later, but for now, it’s important to, remember the change in the purpose of on-board diagnostic tests. It is the major difference between OBD 1 and OBD II. OBD Talerted us to a failure that could cause « driveability problem. OBD lis ‘more concerned with catching an emission prob- Jem, An increase in emissions may certainly be caused by a problem in the fuel and ignition system that would result in a driveability com- plaint, And many of the failures we associated with a driveability problem in an OBD I vehicle, will still set a code in an OBD I vehicle. But unacceptable emissions—not driveability—is the ‘major concern of the OBD II monitoring system. Why did the government make this change? By now, you're pretty familiar with the uneven history of vehicle emission testing. Various tailpipe emission test programs have been started, stopped, redesigned, and generally hated by the motoring public. In addition to the inconvenience of waiting in a long test lane, nobody really Tikes the idea of digging into their personal beer and pizza fund to pay for a tailpipe test—just so they can pay out more for their license plates. On the political popularity list, emission testing is a half step behind a major tax increase, OBD II places the emission tester IN THE VE- HICLE COMPUTER. Buy acay, get an on-board emission analyzer, Take it with you wherever you go. It’s portable, it uns its own set of tests on a regular basis, and it will alert the owner of the vehicle with the dead catalyst that he is becoming an environmental menace. Whether he chooses to heed the warning is an entirely different issue. Does this mean we need to learn fuel and engine management systems all over again? Not really. One of the great myths associated with, OBD Ils that all of us will have to scrap what we © 1998 NAPA Institute of Automotive Technology already learned about engine management sys- tems. That simply isn’t the case. Modern fuel injection systems haven't been redesigned in terms of their basic operation. Admittedly, there are some new technical changes taking place in fuel system design, And some additional sensors are used on OBD II vehicles. But many system improvements and refinements would have probably happened without OBD I. Your hard- earned skill and experience with diagnosis and repair of OBD I vehicles will be even more important as you tackle OBD II problems. aes) 4 alate Te) Fig. 1-2. A scan tool with the correct connector cable and OBD 1 software is a minimum requirement if you need to work on OBD 1! vehicles. What special tools will I need to work on OBD I vehictes? A scan tool or PC with an OBD II software inter- face is the biggest single addition you'll need to make in your equipment inventory (Fig 1-2). In fact, an OBD I scanner interface is essential. The u