Thread: bluetooth obd 2 adapter and torquepro ( obd 2 & car ) questions

torque is a great app

People will say not to use a phone app to monitor KR, other say the bandwith isnt an issue because the pcm is over 10 years old and a smartphone has more processing power.. However phones and apps arent perfect. To my knowledge nobody has compared the results yet.

I do however have torque pro and the bluetooth adaptor. It seems to update the readings about twice per second. It took me a few minutes and a couple google searches to get KR to have a screen for it, but there is a function to monitor KR and also the number of knocks it's recorded that session. It has a boost/vacuum guage as well, and can scan and clear codes from the check engine light, although it is a little slow doing so. About 30 seconds to read codes, another 30 to clear them.

Overall, great app! But I would trust an aeroforce guage over a phone app. I'll be checking how accurately it tracks Kr over the summertime though compared to aeroforce.

I havent used the GPS feature. But I'd assume that would operate at the same speed as the GPS directions you get. And it interfaces with the car via bluetooth. So data speed or 3g wouldnt have any effect on that.

You don't need to run gps with it

Torque is the s**t... It's a very well written (code) app, probably one of the best I've seen. It works well and if you take some time to learn to use it, does quite a bit. The KR is monitored via a PID just like any other scanning software. You set the gauges you want, limit how many pages you set up as more will slow things. It also records drive sessions, recording what you want... and yes, can read and clear codes as well.

All this for $5... Truly, once you set up the vehicle profile, it's plug and go.

Now, you can get the $15-20 Bluetooth adapter which I have and many others do. Or the more expensive ones which some say are needed. The $20 one I have from China works perfectly and never had a problem. It's just BT and your phone. If you have an older smartphone that has BT you can use that as a dedicated gauge.

Been using it for over a year, love it!

well, its worth for the check engine application alone. yes, it works. i really don't know why anyone would think it has a data transfer rate issue at all. you can tell just by looking at it that its essentially real time just by looking at the rpms. the throttle moves, your tach needle moves, the needle on the phone moves at the same time. if you can send songs over bluetooth and you can have a digital conversation over bluetooth with pretty much no latency i'm pretty sure bluetooth can handle the "bytes" of information processed by the car's pcm that has technology that is over 20 years old in it. if for some reason it had a few millisecond delay its not like you could do anything to stop whatever calamity befalls you anyway by using it.

that being said.....i have not found a plug in that i am satisfied with for boost and for knock retard. i went through the plug in menu in the google play store. i used one for knock retard and i would suppose it is working because it said zero and i have no issues. basically all it did was told me to floor it and when it was done with its processes it said i had none. i did find a type of data reader that gives vacuum pressure but i don't recall it giving a real time boost read out. it had a timing readout but it wasn't like real time. it only said last recorded reading. it said i had 25 degrees of timing but i don't know the circumstances in which it arrived at that read out.

so i could use some help if anyone knows of the better plugins--if they exist.

Originally Posted by comatoast

Is the one I linked just a basic Chinese one? And what are the more expensive ones supposed to do??

i got mine of amazon for 20 bucks. it works fine. sure its the china version. will it last? idk. does it work effectively now and function as its supposed to? yes.

Originally Posted by Shiftingshaddow

that being said.....i have not found a plug in that i am satisfied with for boost and for knock retard. i went through the plug in menu in the google play store. i used one for knock retard and i would suppose it is working because it said zero and i have no issues. basically all it did was told me to floor it and when it was done with its processes it said i had none. i did find a type of data reader that gives vacuum pressure but i don't recall it giving a real time boost read out. it had a timing readout but it wasn't like real time. it only said last recorded reading. it said i had 25 degrees of timing but i don't know the circumstances in which it arrived at that read out.

Yeah that's the knock detector app. You gotta download the "Torque Scan" addon via google play or the store, THEN go into the PID manager, and select GM. That will allow you to use the KR live monitor and knock counter. As well as any other GM specific parameters

Originally Posted by comatoast

Can you post up a link to the add on apps I'll need?

I posted a how-to in the how-to thread. has every step I believe.

My torque is retarded I think, says I'm running -6* timing advance with a blip of 2.6* of KR? I'm pretty sure if I was running -6* of timing advance the car would kill itself.

I'd say check and see if there are other advance timing displays. one might work while another doesnt.

I have had the Torque app and the OBD2 BT scanner for over two years now without any issues at all. In all fairness though, I don't use it that in depth. Works great for everything that I have used it for (data logging, checking/clearing apps, KR etc).

The first BT scanner that I got from ebay was defective though, they sent me a new one and I have been using it for over two years without any problems. Pretty easy to set-up and everything.

For $25 for the app and the scanner, I don't see how you can go wrong. Its 1000x better than most obd2 scanners for a fraction of the price.

I have access to my works TechII ScanGauge (dealership) anytime but I plan to buy one of these soon so I don't have to borrow it anymore unless its something major, they have such a good reputation for our cars its worth the $25 even if you don't have the best results.