71
7 European On Board Diagnosis
7.1 Introduction
With the introduction of the Mini
People Carrier Agila for MY 2000 ½,
Opel was obliged to incorporate the
European On Board Diagnosis
(EOBD) system into this car’s
engine management system. The
appliance of the European On
Board Diagnosis system is manda-
tory for newly type approved
passenger cars up to 2500 kg’s as
of 01-01-00.
For Opel the Agila and later on the
Speedster will have to comply with
these regulations. As of 01-01-01 all
newly sold vehicles will have to
comply with these regulations. This
means that for the next Model Year
Opel must incorporate EOBD into all
of its petrol engines.
Part of the measures taken to
improve the air quality in Europe
was the introduction of the EOBD
system by the European Union.
This despite the fact that:
• the amount of automobiles
increases.
• the amount of driven km’s
increases.
• the amount of trucks remains
the same but the amount of
driven km’s of each truck
increases.
7.2 History of On Board
Diagnosis (OBD)
On Board Diagnosis was introduced
in the early 80’s using flash codes.
In 1988, the California State (USA)
required all manufacturers to provide
a system, that could identify a fault
in an Electronic Control Unit (ECU),
or the components connected to
this ECU. This was the introduction
of the OBD l.
For Opel, OBD was introduced in
1985 on the C13LZ in the Corsa A.
This system stores a DTC if an
electrical defect is detected on a
component or a reduced functional-
ity of this component has been
recognised. The system is capable
of recognising DTC’s, storing DTC’s
as well as displaying the DTC and its
status.
In Model Year 1996, OBD stand-
ardisation was introduced for all cars
in regards to the indication of DTC’s
on certain components. Further-
more the communication protocol
between diagnostic tester and ECU
was standardised as well as a 16-
pin diagnostic link.
At the same time these standards
were set for OBD ll and in 1996 all
car manufacturers were required to
meet these standards.
To Next Page
