(Guide) How to tell if you have ODB1 or ODB2

[Nerih 0]

Here is a short guide i've written

In the spirit of the club, this guide has been made available to benefit premium members only. I'm sure you understand.

Please subscribe to the vr6 owners club for this guide.

--- this thread does contain enough material to 'tell' if you have odb1 or odb2...

[FishWick 21]

It asks for a windows logon mate......

But...OBD2:-

No idle valve

4 pin MAF

ABV size throttle

ABV manifold bore

Simplex upper chain

Solid polymer upper tensioner pad & corresponding bolt

Different ECU revision (CP?) with immobiliser

OBD1:-

ISV

Heavily stepped throttle for more progessive torque delivery

Narrower manifold bore

5 pin plat wire MAF (some later OBD2s had the 4 Pin MAF and ISV, just to confuse matters even more)

Duplex cam chain

Resin/steel upper pad

AG ECU

Anything else?

The Highlines make 185bhp all day long because of the bigger mani and throttle...but VW never publically disclosed that.

[dubloke 4]

But...OBD2:-

No idle valve

4 pin MAF

mine has a 4 pin maf and is obd1. so it follows that all things that should be dont always follow what people think! my car also made over 200bhp with just a filter and zorst the first time on stealths rollers, so it doesnt always follow that obd2 cars produce more power all the time, as i have seen many obd2's with less power than standard!

[FishWick 21]

Aye, it's all very bizarre but Golfs and Corrados got the 4 pin MAF ('462) whilst still being OBD1!

200+ with a zorst and filter is damn good....considering VW quoted 174. My 2.9 makes 199 and 190 torque with the standard exhaust and paper filter.....so I sometimes wonder why VW bothered with the 2.9 to be honest!

[Eat this 2]

afaik not all obd2 have simplex upper chain just to stir it up a bit

[badboyV6 4]

The Highlines make 185bhp all day long because of the bigger mani and throttle...but VW never publically disclosed that.

Highlines were no different to normsl VR6's all that was different was the trim level. All 2.8 VR's tend to put out about 180- 190 on the rollers - some nearly standard too- and thats early and late cars- very strange! What does your 2.9 put out Kev?

[dubloke 4]

afraid you're slightly mistaken there warren, the highlines on obd2 do have different engine management criteria, inc a larger tb and intake to the manifold to suit! the bb tb's that are sold are basically flowed and ported to almost the same spec as the later types, but flow better!

kev-mine made 209bhp & 199lbs/ft before the vgi in colder conditions, but on a par with many other cars in the same condidtions. when it was in for the vgi, in july '04 it ran 199bhp prior to schrick! final figures were, 209.6bhp & 202.9lb/ft@3799. more than a usefull nudge on the road! will be interested in seeing the performance differences in yours and mine when my stage 2 v9 is on.

[andy 0]

Once again people are confusing Highlines with OBD2 cars, although all Highlines are OBD2, not all OBD2 cars are Highlines ;-) Highlines make more than OBD1 cars because they are OBD2, Highlines will not make more than a later spec OBD2 car because thay are the same.

[dubloke 4]

as i said above in the previous response, highline dont always make more power than obd1's. they sometimes dont even make stock power. and its getting rare to find any standard cars of both design to compare!

[Nerih 0]

sorry to say, but you need a lil' correction :-

highlines - late models odb2, large tb + mani = more power than stock

highlines - late N reg (LIKE MINE) have coil pack but are ODB1 (becuase of TB (see my thread on it).

ways not to tell?

if you're car has late style repeaters

if you're car has a coilpack

if youre car is a highline

if youre car develops more power than stock

ways to tell.

1. read the guide. (i'll copy paste in here for those without pdf)

1. ODB2 has no pipe coming off air intake

2. odb2 has a black cover on drivers side

3. odb2 has sensor with 4 wires on TOP of tb

4. odb2 has odb2 diagnostics (LOL)

5. odb1 has the pipe on air intake

6. has a sensor on tb with 3 wires on the drivers side

while i was at the fesitval yesterday i illustrated this to a fellow club member with his late highline and my early highline,

when you line the two engines up its easy to see, is there a problem with accessing my pdf?

[MSV83 0]

nerih - hello matey nice meeting u....thanks for clearing up my questions...

[binliner 0]

as i said above in the previous response' date=' highline dont always make more power than obd1's. they sometimes dont even make stock power. and its getting rare to find any standard cars of both design to compare!

[/quote']

I think yours was the only OBD1 car in the top 10 though at that rr

[dubloke 4]

as i said above in the previous response' date=' highline dont always make more power than obd1's. they sometimes dont even make stock power. and its getting rare to find any standard cars of both design to compare!

[/quote']

I think yours was the only OBD1 car in the top 10 though at that rr

even so justin, it still made more power than all the other highlines there, apart from the forced induction! and a one in ten chance of having that sort of power in obd1 cars is not bad odds!

[binliner 0]

so yours is a bit of an oddity... ie 90% of the top cars were OBD2 proving the rule that generally they make more power

[Nerih 0]

i'm with justin here, the odb2 have a bigger bore throttle body (which is why amd don't do big bore tb for odb2 cars, becuase they already have it!) which equates to more power.

[VR6Pete 1,455]

Check this link for a comparason:

http://www.vr6oc.com/results.html

[cadguy77 0]

What year did vw start using obd2 in th vr6? !sad

[Eat this 2]

1995 afaik

[Paul-VR6 0]

I take that my vr being a late 97 would mean i've most certainly got ODB2?

[Nerih 0]

only way to be 100% is to check the guide m8, but yes probably, unless your vr was in an accident and had a transplant from and odb1 car lol.

[matth76 1]

What is an ODB1 and ODB2? I assume it is two different versions of engine lump that the VR6 came in? I have a 1997 P-reg Golf VR6. What will mine be and will it be better or worse than an older or newer VR6? Does the ODB2 engine have more power?

Ps. Mine's a standard VR6, not a Highline. However I assume all that is different is the trim, i.e leather etc? From what I have read here all late VR6's (standard and Highline) have ODB2 engine lumps and have the same power output...is this correct?

Please can anyone help with this question?

[Craig 0]

Methinks somebody needs to read the thread ...

OBD stands for On Board Diagnostic. The OBD is (basically) a unit which monitors the ECU during normal use and logs any errors that arise. These can then be accessed using diagnostive equipment - during servicing, for example.

From what little I have learned as a relatively new VR6 owner, there are two versions used on our engines. OBD1 was used up until around 1995 and OBD2 superceded it thereafter.

For more information, read through the entire thread and also have a look here

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1393162

[lee060 3]

nerih your pdf guide for odb1 & 2 was great its corrected my confusion now (witch arised at E38), but the power difference with the highline thing and just in general still baffel me

thanks

liam

[binliner 0]

its nothing complicated, simply put some people believe that OBD2 cars had a different map to OBD1 cars and thus in general produced more power as standard

[Guest Anonymous�212.10.34.16]

If have just bougth a late '96 (97 model) ABV 2.9 VR6 engine from a Golf Syncro...

Is that an OBD2? It is the one with Black plastik Cover, and no Idle engine next to the TB.