First of all...HELP!

Second...I'm trying to figure out what my car has in it...I'm just starting to learn the "electronics" portion of my car and am starting from the "brain" of the car. Now I've been told that anything pre 1996 was OBD1...but I've also been told that my 1990 Civic HB Si is OBD"0" ??? I've NEVER even heard "0" mentioned before but was assured that that was what my car was...any way to be sure?? Thanks gang!

Jason

 

Yea your car is OBD-0. The "everything older than 1996 is OBD0-1" saying is rather misleading. It's like saying every home PC older than 1996 must a a 486. Much like all fields of electronics the computer controlled EFI world is constantly changing. OBD-0 is in fact just that, Honda's first company-wide computer controlled EFI setup with On Board Diagnostics(OBD). I've heard it called OBD-1a and the 92-95 called OBD-1b, but that just sounds retarded to me, because the level of diagnoses and electronics design is totally different between the 2 generations. Why it's called OBD-0 is our circles i'll never know, because most everywhere else the first itieration of a companies OBD technology wasn't designated "OBD-0". Maybe it has something to do with the fact companies started agreeing to put diagnostic ports in most cars from 1992+ for troubleshooting purposes. This is where the OBD-1 "standard" took off, from since it was a common point for everyone, anything before that is OBD-0.

The OBD-0 computer in your car will not plug into a 92+ honda. After that Honda switched to OBD-1 and then OBD-2 in 1996. Most times I just call it "OBD", and drop the zero. This generation of computer does have a rudimentary diagnostic capability but nothing you can plug a code scanner into and read/clear codes like the newer obd1/2 cars. There was also a "pre-obd" EFI setup on the 86~87 era Honda's that used a vaccume adv. distributor much the same as the cabuerated modles, but it had EFI as a means to supply fuel.

At any rate here are the years designations just for handy reference

86~87 ~ "Pre-OBD"

88-91 ~ OBD-0 or OBD

92-95 ~ OBD-1

96+ ~ OBD2a,b,c ect

 

Thank-you for your very concise and informative reply.

Do you know of any sites etc. that would be beneficial for me to view in order to "learn" the electronics of my vehicle?

Jason

 

Define learn? If you want to know how to make your ECU dance circles through chipping and hardware tweaking i'd suggest www.pgmfi.org. Be warned tho, they/we aren't very newbie friendly and it is a very technical site. Those who enter should be aware that most everone is expected to have read the "stickies" , provided how-to's, and FAQ's. This site can be a bit intimidating, so aside from jumping to that, you can search through the various car forums backposts and just absorb as much as you can. Feel free to ask me anything you'd like to know particulars on. I've had ED(88-91 civic/crx, also called "EF's" by rice-boy JDM whores) chassis cars for almost 5 years now.

~Steven

 

Well..."basically" I want to learn what happens after I put my key in and turn it and why...up until now...anything electronic...I stayed the hell away from...completely...
...now I want to learn...as much as possible...basically to the point that if I have an electrical problem I can figure out how to fix it....or at least where to start...and I won't be intimidated to at least "try" and figure out the problem...

I had already been to the site you suggested and that seems a little "advanced" for me yet...hell, I haven't completely grasped how to read a volt meter yet...

 

OIC, i'd suggest howstuffworks.com then. It may sound corny but it's actually a decent site to learn yourself up on various things.

 

Thanks for the honesty, I have other questions, but I am going to see Nickelback Live in concert in a few minutes so they'l have to wait...I will check out the HSW's website too...before i ask my questions so I will try and avoid some of the dumb ones.

Thanks again,

Jason