diagnostic plug

Hi all, I have a 1999 2.0ltr petrol symphony. A friend tells me he will put it on his scanner and see if any faults exist but we cant find the diagnostic socket. Does anyone know where it is? I was told its near the r/hand suspension turret but there is only a two pin plug unused there. Is this it? I thought it would be the 16 pin type. Alski the flummoxed.

I don't believe they have one. I've never been able to find one on my 1997 Symphony. If it does have one it has to be within reach of the driver, so usually under dash board or behind ash tray. Let us know if you find one.

On mine, it's a green two pin (spade really) plug hanging down from the loom, behind the air filter. You read a series of flashes on an LED to read the fault codes.
At some stage they will have changed to the more sophisticated 16<?> pin "proper" diagnostic socket but I don't know what year these came in.

According to Frank Massey (see Rimini top speed post) they are not as useful as the makers of code readers would have you believe. A "rich" reading on the lambda sensor for instance could be a faulty lambda sensor, a bad connection to it, a faulty injector, or wiring to it, fuel pressure too high due to a faulty pump, faulty pressure limiter etc.etc.. Or it could be the ECU.

They give you a clue where to look - they don't solve the problem for you, Unless you're really lucky.

Frank

A 1999 van is probably too old to use the OBD II or EOBD standards, which didn't become mandatory for cars until 2003 (and siginficantly later for commercial vehicles). So my 1999 Mk5 Transit had a diagnostic port (hidden behind a spare fuse carrier in the fuse box!) but it could not be read by a standard OBD code reader. Yours will probably be similar.

Hi,
Boxerman is correct on those vehicles with electronic injection and a ECU it was a 2 pin green plug under the bonnet and read with a small electronic box on a flashing light basic which gave a number to compare with a list of faults and there are not many about 6 i think. also remember if the fault disappears after 50 restarts the memory is erased.
the 16 euro type plug came in early 2000 year models with euro4 engines ( i think ) this 16 pin plug can be in many different places and sometimes nowhere near the driver.
Please forgive dates as it was a long time ago.
Cheers
John Dean

Thanks for your help everyone, I will have another look at the weekend and see if I can find a 2 pin plug near the air filter. Where would I get an led flashing light box? Or do you just put a 12v led across the pins of the plug Alski

I have one of these:http://www.drapertools-online.com/products/manuals/68079ins.pdf
I got it from Amazon for £6 + p&p in 2009. I've just googled it and some places said it was discontinued, but there are some on ebay at silly prices.
Search for Draper 68079.
There are some for sale for other makes too, Vauxhall, Audi etc. which look exactly the same as mine and the all part numbers 680** probably just the plug on the end that's different?
You probably can rig up an LED but I have no idea how to do this.

Frank

Hi
Does this help

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John Dean

I think there was also a way of getting the flash codes to show on one spare indicator in the instrument binnacle, but I never investigated this fully.

Bartfarst

Hi,
When at Peugeot teaching technicians both in Uk and France this 2 way green diagnosic plug was considered a bit of a joke as technicians needed to know how all the sensors worked and the readings coming from those sensors to diagnos a problem. The flash code gave a slight clue but a fault could be in thousands of places.
Some technicians were heard to say the flash code was about as good as a chocolate teapot. the French technicians were much better at understanding the working parameters than the UK who couldnt quite get their heads around diagnosics. A simple multi-meter was the best tool to check a fault out but you do need to know what readings to expect both voltages and ohms and current also amps etc.
In my own van I would only be concerned if the engine management light was staying on.

cheers

John Dean