The trouble codes also provide information useful for carrying out any repairs that might be necessary.
A good scanner tells what’s wrong when the check engine light comes on and allows users to clear the code, turning off the warning light. Today, do-it-yourselfers have a large variety of OBD2 scanners they can keep in their home garages, or even in their vehicles. In the early days, only dealerships and independent mechanics had scanners that could read the data and the fault codes. The port’s design is standard across different makes, it’s always located within three feet of the driver and can be accessed without tools. Every gasoline-powered vehicle built since 1996 and every diesel since 2008 is equipped with an OBD2 port to get access to that information.
When a fault does occur, it’s stored in the computer as a diagnostic trouble code and sometimes triggers the check engine light on your dashboard.
A vehicle’s computers monitor the data from multiple components, keep track of what they’re doing and if something’s wrong. “OBD” stands for “On Board automotive Diagnostics,” and OBD-II (oft abbreviated to OBD2) is the second generation of this technology.
