Some vehicles from model years 1994 and 1995 have OBD-II. If your vehicle is from 1996 or newer, U.S. federal law requires all cars and light trucks sold in North America to be OBD-II compliant. This includes all domestic vehicles (Ford, Dodge, GM, etc.) and imported/foreign vehicles (Toyota, Honda, etc.).
The foolproof way to know if your vehicle is OBD-II compatible is to look for the standard DLC (data link connector) that all OBD II vehicles have. It looks like this (16-pin connector) and will typically be located under the driver’s side of the dashboard:
Other possible DLC connector locations include:
Behind a removable trim on or under the dashboard
Near the gear shift
Inside the center console next to the driver (seen on a Volvo, you need to open the console cover to access it)
Under the passenger side of the dashboard (seen on a Ford Thunderbird)
Now, if your vehicle is 1996 or newer, you definitely have OBD-II. If your vehicle is older than 1996, the presence of the DLC may or may not indicate that you have OBD-II. To check, look under the hood for a VECI label. The VECI label will indicate whether the vehicle is equipped with OBD II or not. Sorry, we don’t have a photo of the VECI label.
We found a very helpful service that locates the DLC (data link connector) for your vehicle; you can either enter your VIN or year/make/model, go to the Innova DLC search tool.