OBDII Connector - Where is it?

super_freddie

Hi,

I'm trying to locate the OBDII connector without success on 2 cars: a 2001 VW Polo and a 2003 Opel Corsa. These are both petrol cars and a number of online references (e.g. http://www.gendan.co.uk/article_5.html) I've seen have stated that all petrol cars sold in Europe since January 1, 2001 must have OBDII and the accompanying connector, with the connector being "easily accessible from the drivers seat" (that may not be the exact lanuguage used but that's more or less it).

I've accessed the OBDII connector on a 2002 Passat easily, under the dash on the drivers side but can't seem to locate it in the 2 cars mentioned above. Any ideas on where this connector is in these cards? I presume based on EU OBDII regulations that it is actually definitely present?

Thanks,
super_freddie.

Kid Nothing

The Polo one could be under the ash tray or behind a panel along the dash that slides away

shamwari

Its under the ash tray in the polo, and in the Corsa, it is under the panel beneath the head of the handbrake. You need a screwdriver to gentle prise that panel up.

Lucifer

You don't have to remove any panels on the Corsa. It's below the heater controls in front of the gearstick. It should have a cover on the block connector but may not if it was not put back on.

Veloce

I am new to using this technology but would be interested to learn more about it- specifically the software people are using to read information from the car. I presume software applications can be purchased readily and can be used on your laptop? Any that people can recommend? Do specifically different software packages have to be downloaded for different types of cars or is can this be universal? (sorry i don't have much of clue of this:rolleyes:).

super_freddie

Hi,

I'm not that experienced with it myself but a good starting point in terms of software is scantool_net. It's open-source (or at least a version of it is) and can be downloaded at

http://sourceforge.net/projects/scantool/files/

This should run on most recent Windows OS's.

As for versions etc, as far as I know, the more you pay for both your hardware and software, the more information you'll get from any car. But the basic software referred to above, a laptop and a cheapo piece of hardware available on eBay from Hong-Kong or similar will get you started. Obviously any criticial diagnostics wouldn't be recommended / possible with that combination

super_freddie.

Veloce

super_freddie wrote: »

Hi,

I'm not that experienced with it myself but a good starting point in terms of software is scantool_net. It's open-source (or at least a version of it is) and can be downloaded at

http://sourceforge.net/projects/scantool/files/

This should run on most recent Windows OS's.

As for versions etc, as far as I know, the more you pay for both your hardware and software, the more information you'll get from any car. But the basic software referred to above, a laptop and a cheapo piece of hardware available on eBay from Hong-Kong or similar will get you started. Obviously any criticial diagnostics wouldn't be recommended / possible with that combination

super_freddie.

Cheers Super Freddy that's handy to know.