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Luckily for you, Volvos are legendary in their longevity :)

I wonder though, if there's a simple list out there of all automobiles with a "black box" - I can't find an organized, easy to read list on Google yet, but here's a list of all the supported car models carrying Vehtronics boxes (and the box locations)... and the OEM database for On Board Diagnostics (looks to be very complete). Oh, and some info on pre-1995 models.

Post back if you come across a better listing !
Thanks.

See Here for OBDII, and

Here or Here or Here

tm

I googled 'OBD II' a while back and found these:

http://www.obd-2.com/
http://www.ghg.net/dharrison/obdscan.html
http://www.obdii.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000359.html
http://www.andywhittaker.com/ecu/obdii_software.ht m
http://www.elmelectronics.com/obdindex.html
http://www.dynahud.com/default.asp

They should get you started...

The car has a computer onboard. It takes one to know one, so to speak. You have to interface with the onboard diagnostic system to read the trouble codes it has stored. You can read the codes with a simple tool. According to the article, this has nothing to do with diagnostics, though; that was about the only thing the article didn't mention. Way to many buzzwords. The article did mention:

Call center services such as GM OnStar In-car navigation and guidance systems Car/cellphone integration (for example, for hands-free operation through the radio and a dash-mounted microphone) XM radio and Becker Online Pro Fleet management systems such as Qualcomm Omnitracs

... an embedded direct solution might function a little better by avoiding the overhead of simply running Linux.

If you're going to have a network interface and drive a terminal or a gui, you can either reinvent Linux, poorly, or you can use whatever portions of Linux help. Since you can fit the entire OS on a single floppy, I don't think it has to be any heavier than is really necessary.

OBDII Information

Is probably the best source of unbiased information for the OBDII protocol and related technology

I saw something on TV about these black boxes. The first part was simply explaining that these record maybe the past 40 seconds of what happened. For instance, they begin recording when the pedal is depressed fast enough. If you keep moving, it just tosses the data out and keeps rolling. If the airbag then deploys or you don't move, it keeps the data.

The second part of this particular TV show shows a guy in a new red Corvette and his particular privacy concerns and that he had the box removed. Which I think is important, as long as new car owners are told about the existance of a black box and that you can remove it without (legal problems, car problems, etc...), it should be up to the owner if they want the box.

ODB-I was a joke in how little it did. "OBD-II, a new standard introduced in the mid-'90s, provides almost complete engine control and also monitors parts of the chassis, body and accessory devices, as well as the diagnostic control network of the car." (http://www.obdii.com/background.html). ODB-II doesn't log anything, it merely provides a common digital protocol for mechanics to interface with using computers in the shop.

Before everyone starts crying foul, maybe you (the reader) should try understanding things better and lot allowing that which you don't understand scare you. I'm sure if you researched the ODB-II and the black box and black box circuitry, you'd understand it's not big brother trying to issue you the tickets cops aren't there to see but helping the police reconstruct what happened if you're involved in an accident and to help your mechanic out and find some problems easier.

I was half-kidding about the oil filter. While it's a bitch to remove, everything else on the car is fantasticly designed, right down to the battery (the glass mat Panasonics that came stock with Miatas were originally based on batteries designed for jet fighters, and with proper care can last more than 5 years!! ).

Oh, and they should have stuck with the real oil guages found in pre-'95 models -- though it's a fairly easy mod.

Slightly more on-topic, here are the diagnostic codes for the Miata. As you may have guessed, I'm a fan of the little roadster. But they really should have offered supercharging as an option from the get-go. At least now they're making up for it.

It's a 99 Dodge Ram (turbodiesel). I have the Haynes manual, and I'm pretty sure there's a code table in there. Honestly, I can't remember now--I also paid $90 for the factory service manual, and I _know_ it has the codes--it's what the techs at the dealer use, after all.

Besides, it's an OBD-II interface. While some of these are manufacturer-specific, I haven't had trouble finding the codes--here, for example.

Not always good enough to tell you exactly what to fix (P0216--injector pump timing fail isn't the most intuitive way to say your $2000 injection pump is shot), but the FSM really helps here.

--Ribald

Cool! I am still fiddling with the I-Opener from several years ago. Now something else to splice into the Jeep :)

Maybe I could use it for the OBD-II display?

On OBD-II equipped vehicles, the port is typically located to the right of the steering wheel in the driver's side footwell. It is trapezoidal.

There are many systems available for reading this information, from scan tools to computer interfaces.

It sounds like what you want is something like the PSI data display unit (DIN-sized). These connect up to OBD-II enabled cars.

The big problem you may run into is that the OBD-II standard requires only that the most basic parameters be reported to scan tools. Manufacturers are notorious for obscuring the most interesting information and it's typically been up to enthusiasts to reverse engineer manufacturers' proprietary additions to the OBD-II protocol.

OBD was introduced in 1988, but I'm not sure when it became mandatory. (OBD II was adopted in '96). I know my 1989 car didn't have the standardized connector.

This is good since we already have an open monitoring standard: ODB-II.

I see. That's fairly good news, though I see that it costs anywhere from 250 to 2500 dollars to buy a scanner, with upgradeable ones starting at around $500.

• OBDII

• OBDIII

Well, *all* vehicles sold in the US after the 1996 model year are federally mandated to have OBDII. It's true that few of the interfaces have tunable parameters, but the interface is there, and can be read from. Yes, manufacturer-proprietary interfaces for setting parameters are causing problems in the field of aftermarket OBDII software, but it certainly exists in many forms.

Plus, there are certainly other EMS's available for less than the $3000 range, such as the Haltech, Microtech, and even the Megasquirt, which, while not unencumbered, has at least source and schematics available. It's just not to be used commercially without authorization. While I'd welcome a Free EMS, it's probably better to add your skillset to the DIY-EFI group, as they're already working on this.

What is new about this? The OBD and OBD II standards have been around for a long time... you can go out and buy a tool that will interface with your car and show you the codes... You can even get a cable that lets you hookup a laptop the sensor port.

The OBD-II Homepage
OBD-II Codes

Not all scantools are equal. In fact, some aren't even close. As part of the OBDII standard, the US Environmental Protection Agency mandated that a basic set of emissions related readings be supported on all OBDII vehicles. The SAE specification J1979 defines these legislated parameters. Many low-end tools only support these emissions related readings, giving you access to only a dozen or so truly useful parameters. While these give you some basic vehicle information, they are just a small set of the vehicle information available through the OBDII port. When shopping for a scantool, be sure to find out if it supports just the legislated parameters or if it also includes the enhanced (sometimes called proprietary) diagnostics.

Newish American cars have to have OBD installed. It means that your car already has a lot of sensors installed and accessible. The protocol is kind of available, I think