OBDII on 95-97? (was Re: link ecu)

[zorruno]

Anyone know this for sure? I thought all the post 95s had OBDII - including
NZ/Japs etc? if not, does that mean that the 95-97 ecus are pretty much the
same as 94s?

Can you tell an OBDII by the engine bay connector?

At miataforum.com they mention it being a tedious install on post-95's due

to OBD-II , I presume we don't have this problem ?

[Bill Rehm]

zorruno
For the less than technically inclined, what's an OBDII and what is it's significance?

[jeff]

OBD-II ... On Board Diagnostics ver.2

Logs a bunch of diagnostic info, and keeps track of other "useful" Orwellian info like peak engine revs, speed etc. Basically it's a US emissions related requirement.
http://www.sema.org/faq/obdII.cfm

Come to think of it, things like a second cat. converter and the EGR (exhaust gas reticulation?) pipe are part of it none of which I've seen on my car, sooo... hopefully we never had it ..? Maybe I'll ask Mazda to be sure.

Jeff
'96 1.8

Bill Rehm <bill@kase.co.nz> wrote: zorruno
For the less than technically inclined, what's an OBDII and what is it's significance?

[Bill Rehm]

Thanks for enlightening the ignorant

[Gary Morrison]

zorruno,

I'm understood it was US specific, and only cars for that market had it?

Gary

[jeff]

I should probably spend more time driving instead of just reading about it!

Bill Rehm <bill@kase.co.nz> wrote: Thanks for enlightening the ignorant

[Fletcher Blades]

The requirement for it is definitely US specific... but as that
market is over 50% of all the cars, it may not be worth Mazda's effort
to design a non-OBDII ecu for other markets?

I think I recall Mazda NZ saying that OBDII was a new feature for the
new shape MX-5's in NZ, at the product launch back in '98???

But then, a lot of what got published around that time wasnt 100%
correct... apparently the aluminium bonnet for better weight
distribution was a new feature too!

So basically, I still wouldnt want to guess...

But yes Jeff, if your '96 has OBDII, it should have two O2 sensors,
one before and one after the Cat, and EGR (exhaust gas recirculation)
which I've never seen myself but seems to be some sort of tube running
behind the engine joining the exhaust manifold to the intake
manifold...

Fletch.

[Gary Morrison]

Fletch you must also remember that the US market is left hand drive too, and
our right hand drive market, although much smaller, is catered for by
substantial differences to the US cars. (eg steering wheel on the other
side!) And the Oz and NZ markets have been so price sensitive that if they
can delete aircon, and power steer etc from our models I'm sure they'd do
away with emissions stuff that wasn't 100% necessary. Thats my guess anyway.

Gary

[zorruno]

I'm pretty sure an OBDII car would have a different plug in the engine bay -
what does yours look like Jeff? Karlmw has a pic of what the diag connector
should look like on earlier ones

[jeff]

the diagnostic connector looks pretty normal - there's no plug-in socket or nothin'...

there was only one cat on it before (all gone now!) and definitely no EGR, so I don't think it's OBD-II. If I can ever pull myself away from the PC I'll check the connections to the ECU as well (Flyin' Miata site mentions OBD-II having three plugs for the ECU) Wurst comes to worst I just need to re-arrange the wiring loom a bit.

everyone else sick of this yet ?


zorruno <admin@mx5forum.co.nz> wrote: I'm pretty sure an OBDII car would have a different plug in the engine bay -
what does yours look like Jeff? Karlmw has a pic of what the diag connector
should look like on earlier ones