fault code reading.

[tsunami]

hi there this is my first post on here but i read the site quite often. My question is about fault code readers and obd II etc.
Bearing in mind that live in England and I have a 97 318 ti, which if any, fault code reader would fit my car. Im not sure if it is obdII compliant as lots of the readers over here seem to leave it out in their specs.(if it has a socket where is it? right hand drive remember!) also would the peake tool work on a car from england?

[tsunami]

Any ideas out there?

[Mallard]

the diagnostic socket is in the engine room.

its the 20 pin round plug

carsoft / peake will work

the fault codes will be limited to engine/abs/airbag

[teetime4one]

wow...in the USA it is federally mandated that the OBD be within 24" of the steering column.

[Mallard]

i dunno

unless the plug is 24 inches in a staight line from the column?

[teetime4one]

hmmmm
good question

[tiFreak]

the law says 24 inches from the steering column, and accessible from the drivers seat, but that only applies to OBDII

[tsunami]

Thanks for the replies
I think obdII only became mandatory in the uk in 2001, but some cars were compliant before eg vw.
Ive seen adaptors from round Bmw ports to 16 pin readers, but i wasnt convinced that they would work on cars that had nothing to do so far in the uk with obdII. I really wanted to see if there was a reader that was fairly universal that could read my Seat/ V.W. codes then with an adaptor use on the BMW.
Is the Peake tool USA specific or is there a UK model, or does it not matter?

[greenmeanie]

I use Carsoft 6.5 with an interface i bought on ebay,BMW only ,It works fine for most things.
I think the OBD Socket laws in the USA is for the emissions test , in the UK on the annual
DOT Test they do not use this they measure the emissions with a probe up the exhaust.