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Old 05-28-2017, 06:31 PM   #1
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OBD II--Does anyone carry one with them

I was wondering if anyone carries and OBD II analyzer with them? On my trip last summer I had a check engine light come on as I was driving down I-10 approximately 10 miles from the nearest town and had to find a way to a nearby dealer to find out what was going on.

Just curious as to if anyone does and if it is of any real benefit?

Thanks ahead of time for any replies.
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Old 05-28-2017, 06:42 PM   #2
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I carry an OBD II scan tool with me. I bought it when we purchased our Audi Q7. I didn't want to pay Audi in the event I had a check engine light. It is Audi/VW specific but has the ability to read codes from other makes. I like the ability to pull codes and find out right then and there instead of tracking down a dealer or Autozone.
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Old 05-28-2017, 07:18 PM   #3
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I carry a cheap scan tool (cost +- $75) and it can report the causes of check engine lights - like my glow plugs which failed one by one. It let me know that the cause of those check engine lights was nothing awful. The scan tool I bought was this one.
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Old 05-28-2017, 07:23 PM   #4
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My new radio (waiting for delivery from Crutchfield) has iDataLink unit that reads the OBD and displays on the radio. Also looking forward to some of the added telemetry it gets, especially tranny temp.
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Old 05-28-2017, 08:52 PM   #5
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I have one in my glove box. Mine connects to my iPad / iPhone.
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Old 05-28-2017, 09:22 PM   #6
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I run an Edge CTS2. It plugs into the OBD2 port. It provides real time monitoring and can read and clear trouble codes.
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Old 05-28-2017, 10:14 PM   #7
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OBD II--Does anyone carry one with them

Yes I carry an obd2 in the truck. Also running a tuner on the truck that has scan capability. You can google any obd/can code to get you started diagnosing or repairing. The scanner I have gives live info. One thing I carry hoping to never use it. Safe travels!


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Old 05-28-2017, 10:23 PM   #8
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I use a Scangauge and it's always hooked up. I set it up in the speedo well where I usually keep it on average MPG but it can monitor a lot of engine parameters and error codes.
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Old 05-29-2017, 04:49 AM   #9
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I have had a Veepeak OBDII bluetooth connector for a couple years, and have used it several times in conjunction with the free version of the Torque app for Android. Well worth the $20 to be able to read and clear codes.
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Old 05-29-2017, 07:45 AM   #10
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We have an Edge Insight CTS2 in our 2500HD, a ScanGauge II in the Tacoma and an Ultragauge in the FJ.
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Old 05-29-2017, 08:12 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bankr63 View Post
My new radio (waiting for delivery from Crutchfield) has iDataLink unit that reads the OBD and displays on the radio. Also looking forward to some of the added telemetry it gets, especially tranny temp.
Quote:
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I have had a Veepeak OBDII bluetooth connector for a couple years, and have used it several times in conjunction with the free version of the Torque app for Android. Well worth the $20 to be able to read and clear codes.
I have both of these methods. I haven't had any codes with my truck but I've used the torque app to look at things and played around with the idea of a tablet mounted in the dash but eventually went with an in dash touch screen.

I have used the Bluetooth unit to scan and clear codes on a few other vehicles. Seems to work great for the less than $20 investment.

I haven't done anything with the built in feature on my new head unit but it in conjunction with the aforementioned iDatalink Maestro is supposed to offer that capability.

I do have a regular OBDII scanner but I don't carry it with me.
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:37 PM   #12
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You can buy an ELM327 obdii on eBay or Amazon for $10
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Old 05-29-2017, 08:28 PM   #13
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I do

I got one on amazon for about $10. It is bluetooth and connects to a phone or tablet. There is a free app called torque. It reads everything your ecu knows about and will graph it.
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Old 05-29-2017, 08:34 PM   #14
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I don't always carry my Bluetooth OBD2 in my TV. I have both the torque lite and torque pro apps. It works great. I have it for my everyday vehicle that has a broken wire plug, so I check the codes periodically to verify nothing new has popped up.
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Old 05-30-2017, 06:38 AM   #15
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Absolutely. It can mean the difference between a worry free trip or stressing about your TV the whole time. A check engine light could be something temporary and very minor or it could be something major that needs dealer attention right away.
Without a reader you just don't know.

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Old 05-30-2017, 08:21 AM   #16
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I use this along with Torque Pro on my Android phone as others mentioned. It came with a program but I like Torque better. I really haven't needed it for codes but more to see real time data and data logging on more things than what I have gauges for. Though it is normally in my WRX so I have to remember to grab it before heading out. I should just buy a second one and leave it in the truck.

If going with a bluetooth design there are a few things to watch out for. Some don't go to sleep so if the vehicle is parked for a while it can kill the battery. Some of the cheaper ones are fine for pulling codes if that is all you want but they don't have higher refresh rates needed for apps like Torque to provide "real time" data. They still work, it is just that some readings like RPM, Throttle Position, Boost and others that are constantly changing will appear as something like a 1 second or so refresh rather than a continuous stream and move like the gauges on the dash. Finally make sure that there is some physical interface for pairing the device with a new mobile device. Some of them out there are always in pairing mode and you don't want someone in the car next to you to pair with something interfacing with the OBD-II port on your car. Sure you may think that all they can do is read data. That isn't necessarily the case. In my Audi I had a while back as well as the Jetta TDI I had before my WRX, I would use a system call VCDS (VAG-COM) to reprogram things all the time. Also a lot of tuners out there push their programming through the OBD-II port so you really don't want to expose this. The OBDLink scanner addresses all of these concerns. I originally bought the LX version but the MX isn't that much more and is needed to read CAN systems.
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Old 05-30-2017, 08:42 AM   #17
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I'm buying one for my new truck. You can also program a lot of features in your vehicle that are otherwise impossible to do. For example, there's a free program called FORScan that works with Ford trucks. It allows you to do things like disable the seat belt chime, have your tow mirrors automatically retract when the truck is turned off... extend when it's started.. you can remove the double horn honk that happens if your keys are inside. There are dozens of things you can tweak. Couple more things I just thought of... you can enable the ability to run with your fog lights and highbeams on at the same time (Bambi Mode), and add functionality to your keychain that controls your tow mirrors.. some of the tweaks are a lot more useful than others, but it's cool to have the ability.

This is all in addition to just getting the detailed monitoring of your trucks systems.

There are too many OBD2 interfaces to mention... you shouldn't need to pay more than 20 or 30 bucks. Only real question is if you want to be hard wired to the truck, or bluetooth.

All that said, be aware that wireless access to your trucks 'brain' comes with some security concerns. I wouldn't leave it plugged in all the time.
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Old 05-30-2017, 08:58 AM   #18
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There are too many OBD2 interfaces to mention... you shouldn't need to pay more than 20 or 30 bucks.
As I mentioned with my post above there are a few key things to look for that may drive the price above $20-30. Largely it comes down to how you intend on using it. If it is making setting changes or pulling it out of the glove box to read a code then a $20-30 one is fine. If you are leaving it in the port all the time there are some things to watch out for.

At a minimum make sure it had a physical button you have to press to enter pairing mode. As you pointed out they can be used to tweak settings on a vehicle and the last thing you want is someone driving next to you fiddling with your vehicle settings. I am an IT Security Analyst and I deal with people hacking things on a daily bases. Don't leave a door open.

If you plan on leaving it plugged in all the time make sure it goes to sleep. Some (more expensive ones) do the cheap Chinese ones may not. This may leave you stranded with a dead battery. If you drive the vehicle every couple days it will likely be fine as they don't draw a lot of power. Head out of town for two weeks vacation and the vehicle is sitting there it may be dead. Kind of like the propane detector on campers.

Data rate for real time data. If you want the tach, boost or other data to be logged and displayed at near real time it needs to support the higher transfer rates. If it doesn't these readings will just update every second or so. Maybe that is fine for your needs.

CAN Support. Ford uses the Medium-Speed CAN system. If your adapter doesn't support this, you may not be able to access the areas of the ECU that program things like the mirrors, lights, horn and such that you mention. Sure you can still most likely read and clear fault codes but you are limited in what other things you can do or see with it. I found that out when I initially bought the LX version of my adapter and luckily I was still in the return window where I could spend another $20 for the MX version which added the CAN support.

I just caution that you do your homework before spending $20 on the cheapest one that you can find. If your only desire is to clear an occasional code it will work but it sounds like you want to do other things with it which may not be supported.
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Old 05-30-2017, 09:00 AM   #19
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the ford-trucks forum has a wealth of info on this topic too for anyone that's interested.

I'm also an IT guy. Pen testing QA manager at a Microsoft shop. Fun stuff..
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Old 05-30-2017, 09:16 AM   #20
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the ford-trucks forum has a wealth of info on this topic too for anyone that's interested.

I'm also an IT guy. Pen testing QA manager at a Microsoft shop. Fun stuff..
Ok, a lot of people don't consider it as an attack vector and simply shop based on price. There are more and more attack vectors coming out with this stuff all the time. I am the security group of one for our Microsoft shop (2K workstations/laptops and 500+ servers) and stuff like this is what keeps me up at night.

A brand specific forum is great for this as you can let others test which ones work and which ones don't. I knew I wanted the Torque Pro app for day to day stuff and the OBDLink was the highest rated one from Torque as well as brand specific forums for what I wanted to do. For my Audi and VW I didn't bother with the cheap ones for stuff like changing settings. I went with the VCDS but that unit runs about $350. It is also laptop based so not exactly good for the day to day stuff but very powerful. As someone mentioned earlier, its full feature set is only compatible with VW based cars/trucks. Kind of like what you are looking at for your Ford you can do all kinds of cool stuff. It will read/clear basic codes on my GMC and Subaru though but simply isn't practical to carry all the time.
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