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OBD tools
stevebubs - 2/8/13 at 04:37 PM

Right. Venturing back into the world of tintop ownership after a number of years running company cars.

Bought a low mileage, fully loaded 2005 Mondy Estate to see me through for now and just know something will go wrong at some point.

As everything is now OBD enabled, I thought I would stick a note out and see what people recommend nowadays...I have an old USB ELM327 device sat in the cupboard but no software handy.

Electronic equipment I have access to include:
- Multiple Android Tablets / Phones
- Win XP and Win 7 laptop PCs

Recommendations? Happy to buy software and/or hardware as necessary to get something stable. I hear some good things about Torque on Android....


[Edited on 2/8/13 by stevebubs]

sdh2903 - 2/8/13 at 04:45 PM

Torque has been great for me. Using a Bluetooth adapter and a galaxy s3.

stevebubs - 2/8/13 at 04:50 PM

quote:
Originally posted by sdh2903
Torque has been great for me. Using a Bluetooth adapter and a galaxy s3.


Any recommendation on BT adapter? A quick search turned up a number for under a tenner, including this one.. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=281093683302

Have you used it for diagnostics codes?

Bare - 2/8/13 at 04:51 PM

Erm.. don't 'fix' it until it's actually broken :-)
Internet/ebay (chinese) obd software is too often full of nasty bugs. Take care

stevebubs - 2/8/13 at 05:03 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Bare
Erm.. don't 'fix' it until it's actually broken :-)


I'm aware of all this...what I don't want to happen is "it's broke" then have to wait a week for the tools to diagnose...I'd much rather have the tools in the garage already...

So far this week, I've fixed the SatNav (dodgy roof aerial) and retrofitted Bluetooth...

quote:

Internet/ebay (chinese) obd software is too often full of nasty bugs. Take care


I know - my last foray into OBD was 8 years ago and it was an utter nightmare...hence asking for recommendations...

[Edited on 2/8/13 by stevebubs]

[Edited on 2/8/13 by stevebubs]

sdh2903 - 2/8/13 at 05:06 PM

It was an ebay one although not one of the ultra cheapies. Yes I have used it for fault codes, resets and the realtime info for diagnosing an intermittent lambda fault on our zafira.

I think it's cost me around a tenner all in so its paid for itself 10 times over.

blakep82 - 2/8/13 at 05:28 PM

I bought a elm adapter for £7 on ebay, works fine with torque.
Not had any fault codes on the car though, so can't say how good it is for reading or clearing them, but otherwise the live data it shows all work just fine

jossey - 2/8/13 at 07:25 PM

quote:
Originally posted by stevebubs
quote:
Originally posted by sdh2903
Torque has been great for me. Using a Bluetooth adapter and a galaxy s3.


Any recommendation on BT adapter? A quick search turned up a number for under a tenner, including this one.. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=281093683302

Have you used it for diagnostics codes?


I couldn't get mine working they spent ages on IP address setting and stuff but using iPad n iPhone n pc I was stuck.

They must work but I couldn't get it working.

I got a refund

bigrich - 2/8/13 at 08:01 PM

Use torque and a 15 quid elm adapter. Used it on loads of cars and works a treat for less than 20quid with the full paid for app its a complete bargain and a must have

beaver34 - 3/8/13 at 08:06 AM

what apps are out there for iphone for this kind of thing?