Hey Veeky Forums, just wondering if any of you guys use OBD scan tools of any description. I was contemplating getting a scangauge, then I figured why not simply a bluetooth dongle and Torque Pro? I already have the computing power with a Android phone.
Anything a purpose made OBD scan tool can do over a phone app and dongle? Any particular bluetooth dongles you aut/o/bots can first hand recommend to either buy or throw in the trash?
Being able to read and clear codes would be handy, but I more want to keep tabs on EGR%, boost pressure and EGTs.
Bump. Also wondering if there's any other preferred apps. Is there a reason Torque seems to be the go-to?
Jeremiah Moore
One with an authentic elm327 or stn11x0 chip
Jackson King
Thanks man. I didn't realise there was such a thing as an "authentic" ELM327, and just presumed they were all cheapo chinese crap. Any link to the genuine article?
Nicholas Cook
I used my blue driver this weekend to find out I had a faulty maf sensor. Went into the codes and found it was reading -40°f in a 90° shop
Ethan Reyes
A friend had a bluetooth one about 4 years ago that we used. It seemed to be able to to everything our $3000 scan tool could do except clear codes. That may have changed since then but I dont know for certain.
Lincoln Phillips
ALDLDroid is great for OBD1 cars. I use it on muh camaro all the time. Great for datalogging and tuning too.
Cooper Richardson
I use one, they're okay but generic. You'll get engine codes, not always with the perfect caption, some telemetry but not much more. Great for their prices.
Check if you can't buy a chinese knockoff dedicated scan tool for your car. Usually they come with cracked software and can dig a bit deeper.
Benjamin Sanchez
Oh and the cable I use is a $3 one I made. Search ebay for ftdi to serial usb. There's a video on YouTube on how to make it: youtu.be/c7doKzdQYpg
Noah Young
there are limits to the obd2 data, but if you can get into PID hacking you can get almost everything available, i use torque pro as the app, i was warned the disc was full of spyware
mine was shipped to my house for under 5 bucks, cleared codes on a few toyotas no prob
cant complain for that price
Owen Russell
I have HP Tuners for tuning but I use torque sometimes to monitor things.
Thomas Jones
I have the dirt cheap clone one it's fine for diagnostics but it can be a pain to sync. If my fox had OBDII I'd have probably bought a legit one to keep synced with some old phone in place of gauges.
Jeremiah Sullivan
sweet thanks man.
Ayden Richardson
There are archived threads on OBD scan tools. Examples are:
There are 3 versions of ELM327, 1.3, 1.4 and 2.1. Most amazon/ebay dongles will use 1.3 even if they claim to have other versions, sometimes nonexistent ones. For your purposes 1.3 is completely fine, just choose the one with the best reviews as a lot of the cheap ones break easily.
For interface I use Torque, if you're a poorfag torrent it.
Jordan Gutierrez
Also I hope you have an Android, less of a pain in the ass when it comes to programs and dongle connectivity
Christopher Mitchell
>Most amazon/ebay dongles will use 1.3 even if they claim to have other versions, sometimes nonexistent ones.
That's the thing about Chinese sellers and re-sellers. They love to make false claims.
Luke Nguyen
you got torque pro to work with a generic scanner?
Brody Campbell
Maybe it's just a REALLY good cold air intake.
Lucas Foster
Woah
you once had 29.4 airs for every fuel
Anthony Rodriguez
No. That is what it reads during declaration fuel cutoff. It actually was no fuel, just air, but the sensor only reads up to 30.
John Thompson
Not him, but I did/do ezpz. Works on my car, and my cousin got one, works on his. Turns out he had a misfiring on a cylinder he didn't know about. Of course, chinese made, but this store in my city had it on stock so we got it here. Now all I need to do is find out the PIDs specific to my engine/ECU, so I can have all the autistic info I could ever want.
Luke Brooks
.. Why wouldn't it
Caleb Watson
Thanks for the replies. At the moment I'm tossing up between spending the money (still no that great amount in the grand scheme) on a Scantool MX, or just getting a cheapy Chinese one just to test compatability and measurable parameters.
Jaxson Gray
And thanks for the link man. Much appreciated.
Brody Stewart
What are you using it for? Everyday diagnosis and repair? Chinese is perfectly fine. Have the money/want to do stuff your average wrencher doesn't do? MX.
Samuel Cruz
ObdII is nice. On the fox you have to run a twEECer RT or moates quarter horse. Or that $2,000 AEM setup.
Chase Phillips
Depending on the age of your car you may be able to enable/disable features - provided you get a scanner that's compatible with your make/model.
It's mainly for body related shit, like reprogramming keys, modifying the alarms behavior, etc. I've seen that in some newer models you can disable the indicator bulb out warning in the BCM, so I'm hoping I can do that with my Mazda. I want to change other shit anyways so I got a $100 Ford VCM dongle and I'm going to give it a go sometime.
As far as I'm aware, the Bluetooth models are also capable of normal OBD2/ELM327 monitoring.
Grayson Parker
Basically my main reason for looking at scanning tools is to monitor the EGR before/after a resistor mod. But then it'd be a handy tool to have for monitoring and maintenance. I have an old original model Xperia Z phone doing nothing that simply needs another screen, and I'd probably end up mounting that somewhere to further monitor parameters the standard trip computer doesn't.
If it matters, the in question is an '09 NT Pajero DiD.
Hudson Carter
I use dash commander on my fruit phone. Can't remember the obd scanner, it was around 20$ on Amazon.
I like the app, I like the customizablility of the dashboards. Everything seems to work pretty neat.
I'd say get the scanner and an app. If you hate it, you're only out a few bucks.