Silly OBD question

[Stratman]

While idly browsing through some OBD2 tools, I kept seeing references to Bank 3 and Bank 4.

I understand Bank 1 and Bank 2 refer to V-engines, with Bank 1 housing cylinder number 1, but what are Bank 3 and Bank 4?

I thought they may be sensors, but then saw references to Bank 1 Sensor 2 and the like.

The readers are aimed at the home market so I doubt they cover Deltic and radial engines. What does it mean

I'm particularly looking at the Launch CReader 6. Ignore the price, it's £45 on Amazon. It can record up to four streams of live data and display them in graph form.

 

[grober]

Unless its camshafts on a twin cam V6/V8--- I'm guessing.

 

[markjay]

Dual spark plug setups?

 

[Stratman]

After a lot of searching, I think I finally found the answer on the Snap-On site.

A Bank refers to a group of cylinders with a common sensor or sensors.

So a V12 could have Banks 1 and 2 with two six-into-one exhausts, or it could have separate exhaust manifolds for the front three and rear three cylinders on each bank each with their own cats and sensors, making four separate banks.

 

[E270 Owner]

Bank 1/2/3/4 usually refers to up stream/downstream O2 sensors on V engines

You can have:

Bank 1 sensor 1
Bank 1 sensor 2

Bank 2 sensor 1
Bank 2 sensor 2

Bank 3 sensor 1
Bank 3 sensor 2

Bank 4 sensor 1
Bank 4 sensor 2

Normally its the top two that are relative Bank 1 & Bank 2