OBD2 to PC Question

Author
Discussion

DLF

Original Poster:

6 posts

217 months

Wednesday 11th October 2006
quotequote all
I've recently discovered that you can connect to the obd port on a car through a pc with the appropriate software. I also seen that an interface (elm323 etc) is necessary. I've recntly heard however that on certain cars (VW ,Audi) you can connect directly from the serial port on a pc to the OBD port on the car,without an interface. Is this true? will it work on any other cars?

Mikey G

4,759 posts

245 months

Wednesday 11th October 2006
quotequote all
All serial to OBD connections need an interface. for a start the diagnostic plug is a different shape...

You can buy the cables and software on ebay pretty cheap but you are limited to what you can do with some of them and some of the cars. Even though they are stated as OBD not all OBD ports are the same or use the same protocol.
Most german cars use EOBD or ISO OBD, and then theres ADS.
Ford also use a different protocol but cant remember what it is called.