HOW TO - Read your car's mind OBDII

If your vehicle was manufactured after 1996, it contains an On Board Diagnostic (OBD) computer that captures information about how it's running. I've found a great source of information on HOWTO Guide for OBD-II so that you can get started playing with it.

I use Equus 3030 OBD II Car Reader which is a great piece of hardware. You can use it to save money by reading error codes without a trip to the mechanic when your "check engine" light is on, capture performance data about your car's drivetrain in real-time, or log data as if it were an airplane's "black box"

On-Board Diagnostics, or OBD systems give the vehicle owner or a repair technician access to state of health information for various vehicle sub-systems. The amount of diagnostic information available via OBD has varied widely since the introduction in the early 1980s of on-board vehicle computers, which made OBD possible.

Modern OBD implementations use a standardized fast digital communications port to provide myriad real time data in addition to a standardized series of diagnostic trouble codes, or DTCs, which allow one to rapidly identify and remedy malfunctions within the vehicle.