Do any of you have a bluetooth OBD2 reader?

Geodark

There is an app called elm327 identifier and it shows the version and protocols supported by the tool you have connected - all elm327 are not equal...

JustAnotherSaver

forgotmyname said:

Yes they plug into the OBD port but they dont all use the same protocols. 

https://www.scantool.net/blog/which-obd-ii-protocol-is-supported-by-my-vehicle/


Nothing wrong with the cheap ones, I have a cheapo blue one which is bigger than the one pictured but
it was purchased years ago for less than £5. Works a treat because it uses Ford protocols. Just buy the
identical one that says for Ford.

Thanks. I just searched for ELM327 Bluetooth OBD2 because I thought ELM327 was what needed to be listed to talk to a Ford Mondeo. 

Obviously my mistake. Thanks for info. 

AdrianC

ELM327 is the chipset used inside the dongle.
EOBD is the diagnostic code standard, which has to be implemented on any European-market car or light van built after 2001 (petrol), 2003 (diesel)

I have one of the £5 blue bluetooth ones - and it works just fine across the three cars I've used it on so far.
Codes read and cleared on Fiat and Peugeot.
Tested for communication on Fiat-built Citroen-badged van, no codes to read.

forgotmyname

I have a handheld Autel unit as well as lots of Bluetooth/USB ones.  The Autel does lots of protocols
but it wont go deep into all of them. Cars with additional modules for ABS and gearboxes will read the
code but not scan/interrogate the other modules.

JustAnotherSaver

Well i went to send it back in the end but the seller gave me a refund.

I bought a Vgate unit at about £11 which works.

Question now is which app. I've tried a few. Some i think are decent, some pretty poor.

I tried out the Torque Lite/Free. I wasn't a fan. I don't know if the paid for version is considerably better but the Lite version was just disappointing.

Was going to try out Forscan but it's like £5.50. Not bank breaking but other apps seem to charge less. If Forscan is above and beyond everything else then fine but if it isn't then it's pointless paying more.

I downloaded inCarDoc Pro. Paid £2.50 or whatever it is for this but it also seems really disappointing.

Downloaded "Car Scanner" which actually seems quite decent. I like the live data with the various readouts on the same screen. At least it's confirming that my coolant temperature needs looking at and it tells me what my boost pressure is ... which would be great if i knew what it meant, lol. But since i have a fault code relating to the turbo then it could be a helpful feature.

It was disappointing though in that none of them actually detected any fault codes whatsoever on my brothers car whereas when i plugged in my free version of Forscan on the laptop in to his car ... that detected 4 faults.

AdrianC

JustAnotherSaver said:

It was disappointing though in that none of them actually detected any fault codes whatsoever on my brothers car whereas when i plugged in my free version of Forscan on the laptop in to his car ... that detected 4 faults. 

You're looking at two different things, though.

EOBD is the legally compulsory diagnostic set. Engine management, emissions.

ForScan is a specific app that just works on Ford group vehicles, and pulls all the Ford-specific codes as well as any EOBD ones. That may include HVAC, ABS, Airbags, transmission, whatever other bits.
Any Ford-specific codes are outside EOBD.
Any manufacturer-specific codes on any other brand of vehicle are outside ForScan. Every manufacturer has their own codes on top of EOBD, and their own diagnostic kit for that extra layer.

JustAnotherSaver

AdrianC said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

It was disappointing though in that none of them actually detected any fault codes whatsoever on my brothers car whereas when i plugged in my free version of Forscan on the laptop in to his car ... that detected 4 faults. 

You're looking at two different things, though.

EOBD is the legally compulsory diagnostic set. Engine management, emissions.

ForScan is a specific app that just works on Ford group vehicles, and pulls all the Ford-specific codes as well as any EOBD ones. That may include HVAC, ABS, Airbags, transmission, whatever other bits.
Any Ford-specific codes are outside EOBD.
Any manufacturer-specific codes on any other brand of vehicle are outside ForScan. Every manufacturer has their own codes on top of EOBD, and their own diagnostic kit for that extra layer.

Sorry you've lost me.

The app i used on my phone was "Car Scanner". I assumed (rightly/wrongly ... i'm guessing wrongly) that if the app and the bluetooth OBD2 unit can talk to each other and the bluetooth unit can talk to the car and read live data (speed, coolant temp etc etc etc) then it would also be able to read all the DTCs, no?

In fact when i was moving my old car around, the emissions light came on so i plugged the bluetooth unit in and opened the "Car Scanner" app and voila it read the DTCs, cleared them and the light was gone.

Yet when i went to read my brothers codes (and we knew there were codes) it returned absolutely nothing, even though it could read all the live data.

The Forscan program on the laptop read them perfectly fine, yet that's about all it can do as i don't have the premium version.

Also if it matters any then his car and my current car are the exact same. The only difference is 2 years. My old car is a Vauxhall.

AdrianC

Fault codes are the basic, live data is usually premium-only on the freemium apps.

So ForScan pulled up more than the EOBD apps - on a non-Ford vehicle? That's odd.

JustAnotherSaver

AdrianC said:

Fault codes are the basic, live data is usually premium-only on the freemium apps.

So ForScan pulled up more than the EOBD apps - on a non-Ford vehicle? That's odd.

Ok we've got a bit of a misunderstanding going on here and i'm not sure where it is so when i go piece-by-piece i'm not trying to be condescending. Far from it. I'm putting it to you so you can understand what i'm saying & eventually be able to help.

So i bought something like this.

To avoid confusion i'll stick to the app that i have used rather than the few i tried out and didn't like. The app i have used is Car Scanner.

I plug the OBD2 device in to the port on my current (Mondeo) car and unlike the one at the start of the thread, this one actually communicates with the car. I can pull live data - coolant temp, boost pressure, speed, average consumption et etc etc & watch it change as i drive.

I went to scan the DTCs on my car but it said nothing showing. Not a total surprise as the turbo hadn't played up today and i cleared the code (using the laptop) after it happened yesterday. It sometimes has an EGR code even when the light doesn't trigger. Nevertheless, I wasn't majorly shocked.

I drove to my brothers place as he had ABS lights that wouldn't turn off & we thought we'd try this out on his car (also a Mondeo, also a 2.2 diesel but just 2 years older - Euro3 instead of Euro4, apparently).

It detected the car no problem. I scanned for DTCs.....it said nothing.

This we thought unusual as we knew there were DTCs stored.

I unplugged the bluetooth OBD device. I got my other OBD device similar to this and the laptop i also brought with me. I plugged this in and fired up the Windows version of FORScan. The scan returned various DTCs. 2 related to the HIDs front and rear (which i assume are the autolevellers), 1 related to the ABS and another which i forget. As i said, not one of the faults was detected by the bluetooth device.

I cleared the codes and then set to working on my old (Vauxhall) car stripping it out ready for getting rid. During the process i saw the emissions light on the dash and i thought ok i'll test out this bluetooth unit on this car (the Vauxhall) since i don't have my OPCOM (to communicate with Vauxhall's) cabling for the laptop with me to do the scanning.

I plug it in and scan the DTCs and no problem - it picks them up. For the record it also showed live data just like with the Mondeo. Only difference was it actually read the DTCs with the Vauxhall too.

Hope this clears things up?

AdrianC

JustAnotherSaver said:

I unplugged the bluetooth OBD device. I got my other OBD device similar to this and the laptop i also brought with me. I plugged this in and fired up the Windows version of FORScan. The scan returned various DTCs. 2 related to the HIDs front and rear (which i assume are the autolevellers), 1 related to the ABS and another which i forget. As i said, not one of the faults was detected by the bluetooth device.

No, they won't be. Because they're all faults outside the EOBD basic engine management set. They're all the Ford-specific stuff that ForScan does on top of EOBD.

EOBD is the legally required fault code set. It is engine management only. That does not include ABS or lights.