FIXD 'Diagnostic Tool'

[gordon_s1942]

There is an ad on Yahoo of a device called 'FIXD' that plugs into the OBD (On Board Diagnostic) port of your car this is compulsorily fitted to all cars made after 1996.
Firstly do ALL cars made after 1996 have this OBD port and is it like the one this device plugs into which to me looks like a USB type of connection.
My AU has a 'Diagnosis Connector' according the workshop manual but it shows it as a 'Dual in line' 8 pin type, similar to a TV SCART connector.

This is not an area I am familiar with but I had the impression that while such devises exist in various forms, to go from Make to Make, Model to Model you need an adapter unless your in the repair trade and buy everything in one.

Even if it does fit, are the 'Codes' available or like most things, a 'Trade Secret' ?.

There was a Garage show on Foxtel sometime back and the mechanics had a 'Reader' but if I remember correctly, the mechanics said that even if it showed an 'error message code', you still needed to interpenetrate what is was as it could refer to more than a single problem.

[peteramjet]

Most cars will have ODB ports, but not all can be used to access data in the same way.

My understanding is that it was only in that US that post-1996 all cars had to run the OBD-2 protocol. This was not worldwide, and certainly not the case with many Japanese cars (Toyota, etc) that we’re sold in Australia.

I think all cars in Australia now operate with the OBD-2, which will give you the information you are after. If an older model (say, more than 10-15 years) it may run M-OBD, which will still provide some information, but nowhere near the amount you may want.

[Skepticist]

OBD2 interface only became compulsory in 2006 for Oz vehicles but it was 1996 for the USA so most cars, particularly the foreign makes, had the 16 pin port fitted well before '06. Unfortunately not all those pre '06 cars with the port follow OBD2 protocol. Toyota comes to mind for me in particular in that regard and many others used propriety interfaces in Oz perhaps to use up the ECUs they could no longer sell overseas.

Assuming your car is OBD2 compatible, a simple scanner will return the error codes that caused your CEL (check engine light) to come on plus allow you to reset it. A lot of standard things have the same codes across all makes but every manufacturer has their own unique optional extra monitored functions so you need the manual for your exact model to interpret the 4 digit code's meaning in a lot of cases. It can include transmission, ABS etc etc error codes as well as engine management codes.

You can get a cheap simple dongle (like <$20) with bluetooth or USB comms and use free software to read the codes on a smart phone, tablet or laptop if your interface is a standard OBD2. Other protocols require a manufacturer's specific scan tool which they sell for $1000's in some cases.

If you have an oddball (non OBD2) interface and the check engine light is on you can often get the error code to blink on the CEL by placing a jumper across 2 pins of the interface. Which 2 pins to jumper and how will take a bit of internet searching or coaxing the method out of a dealer's mechanic then you need to get them to tell you what the code means for that exact model (an intermittent EGR fault led me down that rabbit hole recently).

[enf]

There's a thread on these sensors here....................some good work by Thala Dan on these devices.

[Tiny]

For code listings I find these 2 sites have good generic code info as well Manufacturer specific codes.