If you have spent some time around EFI and ABS bikes you must have got a chance to interact with the ECU of the vehicle. On modern bikes, if the electrical systems detect any faults or issues within the bike, the check engine light aka "fault indicator lamp" or the ABS light gets lit indicating a problem with the respective systems. Ideally the check engine light is supposed to go off once the engine is started and the ABS light is supposed to go off once the bike is ridden above a speed of 5kmph. In case these lights do not go off even after doing the aforementioned it means that the bike is trying to tell you that there is a problem!
That's where OBD or On Board Diagnostics come into the picture. In essence, OBD is a feature that enables riders and mechanics diagnose faults (among many other things) within their vehicles using an OBD scanner and a corresponding software. This is generally accomplished by plugging a scanner into the OBD port and using an app or software to read what are known as Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC) that the ECU has detected. In cars the OBD port is a standard 16 pin female port that enables a standard 16 pin male scanner to connect into. When it comes to bikes, due to a lack of standardization, the manufacturers have taken the liberty of using any type of OBD port they deem fit. So although the underlying technology is the same, bikers and mechanics cannot simply plug into any bike they want and read the DTC's. However, if you have a scanner, you can scan any bike provided you make the correct connection between the scanner and the OBD port.
Since this is a problem I face and I guess other DIYers and even mechanics among us face, I thought of creating this thread where we all could share our experiences with OBD, OBD ports and other related things so as to help our fellow members identify what their OBD ports look like, what connections they need to make and what hardware/software they need to diagnose their bikes.
As a start, I am uploading a few pictures of OBD ports I have seen on bikes and what connections I made to scan the bikes. It would be great if you could do the same!
Scanner used: Carpm
Android app used: Torque and GaragePro
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