OBDII doesn't make sense to me on my euro spec 318ti

[stirlsilver]

Hi all,
Well, I have a Late 1996 build 318ti here in Australia, according to the VIN it is Euro spec (thanks to mallard). Now, I was seriously thinking of buying a DashDyno unit. http://www.auterraweb.com/dashdynoseries.html

And it was all going well since the specs for the unit state any OBDII car will work with the unit. So since I have only owned the car now for around the month i'm not overly familiar with it yet. But being late 1996 with the M44 engine I was assuming it would be OBDII. However I started hunting around the car and I couldn't find the internal OBDII connector??? You obviously can't miss the diagnostic port in the engine bay but I can't find the one inside.

So I did a bit of research and couldn't find all that much, except that european cars are different and use EOBD instead of OBDII or something along those lines? Some more research suggested that if you have an EGO sensor before and after the catalytic converter it's OBDII. I looked under the car, and I can only seem to find one EGO before the converter.

I took a look on realoem and put in the VIN number of my car. Looked at the exhaust system drawings and saw where the post catalytic EGO sensor should be... looked under the car and it isn't there.

So what's going on here?

If it isn't OBDII what is it? OBDI? on a late 1996 car?

If it is any help, this is the info Mallard pulled up from the VIN:

Type code CG72

Type 318TI (EUR)

Dev. series E36 (5)

Line 3

Body type COMP

Steering RL

Door count 3

Engine M44

Cubical capacity 1.90

Power 103

Transmision HECK

Gearbox MECH

Colour HELLROT (314)

Upholstery STOFF NETZ FLACHG.M.SW/ANTHRAZIT (C6AT)

Prod. date 1996-07-31


Order options
No. Description
243 AIRBAG FOR FRONT PASSENGER

255 SPORTS LEATHER STEERING WHEEL

282 LT/ALY WHEELS SPORT SPOKE STYLING II

305 REMOTE CONTROL FOR CENTRAL LOCKING

354 GREEN STRIPE WINDSCREEN

401 SLIDING/VENT ROOF, ELECTRIC

410 WINDOW LIFTS, ELECTRIC AT FRONT

441 SMOKERS PACKAGE

530 AIR CONDITIONING

687 RADIO PREPARATION

806 3RD STOP LIGHT

810 AUSTRALIA VERSION

818 MAIN BATTERY SWITCH

876 RADIO FREQUENCY 315 MHZ

925 SHIPPING PROTECTION PACKAGE

928 TYIRE CONTROL

[tiFreak]

check under the drivers side of the dashboard, if it's OBDII the connector is required to be withing reach of the drivers seat, not under the hood

[mohaughn]

You have the answer to your question in your post.

Well, I have a Late 1996 build 318ti here in Australia, according to the VIN it is Euro spec (thanks to mallard).

So I did a bit of research and couldn't find all that much, except that european cars are different and use EOBD instead of OBDII or something along those lines?

OBDII is a system that is usually only used on North American cars, specifically for the US. Cars outside of the US, in Europe for instance, starting using EOBD in 2001 for petrol cars.

So no your car does not use OBDII. If I had to guess, it is using OBDI, or something similar to it.

[stirlsilver]

I had a very strong feeling that I was going to be told something like that... damn.

I'll have to try the flick the key to on and push the pedal in 5 times trick to see if I get anything flashing on the dash like error codes or something.

[cheekz1084]

So I'm going to safely assume you have figured it out y now but this if for persons like me who have been trying to locate their port on a right hand drive Euro spec 318ti, mine is 96.

There is no port inside, or at least i have yet to find one. There is however a port under the hood. Facing your car it is on the left hand side close to the back, its basically a fist sized black thing that just spins and when you open it is shows you something that pins should go into,...my understanding is that this is the OBDI port.

[stirlsilver]

I've now sold the car and have a 05 120i.

But yes, the port you mention under the hood is the diagnostics connector. You can buy an adaptor that will convert it into the standard OBD port if you wish. I was using the port to clear error codes and reset the service interval.

I hope this helps!