Share your OBD Dashboards 😊

[Zed]

My LandCruiser has a Pentium4 processor in its ECU, as such just like we monitor everything that's automated by computers, I want to collect what sort of parameters are good both for onroad & offroad driving. I'll start with below, mainly for offroading:

 

1. Vehicle Speed: seems redundant cos we have speedometer, but mine is in Miles per Hour, so having KM/h is important to avoid speed cameras 😂 Additionally any minute drop in speed means i'm losing power for momentum. 

2. Gear Actual: unfortunately my OBD dongle doesn't connect to the transmission ECU so I can't get the transmission temperature to check for overheating. But at least I know constant shifting of gears will overwork my transmission 😁. A bit moot cos I drive in Manual nowadays, but when the terrain is flat I do switch it back to D and let it cruise on sand. 

3. Engine Load: it should be up & down, something that continuously goes up to 100% means we are maximizing our engine power and may lead to engine overheating which is why the next value is Engine Temp 😃

4. Engine Coolant Temp: a bit redundant as we have it on cluster panel, but at least we know if it reaches 100 Celsius 😁

5. Throttle Position: sometimes you floor it, but it doesn't show 100, so things to check: throttle cable if not drive-by-wire, or throttle sensor for newer cars with pedal-by-wire. Sometimes it may even mean too thick carpet that prevents full pedal being pushed all the way down 😁

[Niki]

@Zed awesome thread!  

I think it may have been you who encouraged me to look at OBD scanner plus apps alongside @Frederic. 
 

Am an absolute beginner but have been playing with the bellow setup for a few weeks with main objective being: 

1. Transmission temp (I drive in D and my car FJ cruiser doesn’t have this on the display) 

2. A method to identify potential sand in engine? (Using the MAF sensor and doing some research) 

I use an iPhone as found a super easy App with a small payment that had a large number of PIDs pre-programmed including the A/T ... I found the PID values on a US site but loved the idea of an App that had car specific PIDs already setup (at a small cost).  The app is called OBD fusion and has a very basic dashboard and is customizable but not the best looking. 

I track the below PIDs 

A/T 

Coolent temp (digital version of the dial)

Battery voltage (just to fill the space) 

MAF to measure aid flow (researching if this is useful or not)

intake air temp (baseline Incase I ever add a snorkel to test difference) 

RPM (to measure idle and also fill space) 

There is a radial dial dashboard but I am struggling to setup (time) the range limits and make it relevant to metric vs imperial values... once done I will do a follow up and share. 

Do share which app you use and any tips 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Niki Patel

[Zed]

hi @Niki Patel good to see fellow OBD-enthusiasts 👋🏻  I use Motordata OBD (screenshot below), cos it has an option to do "Extensive Search" while connecting, and the log shows it tries to connect to every possible controller from Climate Control to ABS. The most popular one is Torque but I find it lacking and for a phone the Dial Gauges are too small too see, maybe they are better suited for RAM-mounted Tablets or Android radios 😁. If you use iPhone I believe your OBD Dongle is WiFi instead of Bluetooth?

[Niki]

Hey I think you may have created an OBD enthusiast in me!!  👋🏽

I use a Veepeak BLE+ Bluetooth 4.0 dongle (link) ordered from the US (Dubai Amazon had an older version or the WiFi one). I prefer Bluetooth.  
 
100% agree on the phone screens being poor vs iPad... I have a 12.3” screen in the car but it doesn’t allow mirroring as Toyota didn’t install a hdmi port as an input even though the headunit allows .. I may try Android mirroring  (though Android auto was a bad experince in the car). I have the perfect screen to display the dashboard but haven’t found a solution to add the app to CarPlay or get mirroring to work  so for the moment I look at the readings during breaks in our drives (a quick check on temps). 
 

I’ll drop a screen recording of the app for you here once I can reduce file size <10mb ... it has a 37aed option to add 2002 model Toyota’s  Incase that may save you all the effort to program PIDs .. The set up seems similar in that is scans many modules. 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Niki Patel

[Niki]

@Zed okay your app looks awesome!  I have downloaded it and will play around tomorrow!  Thanks for sharing.  

[Varun Mehndiratta]

2 hours ago, Niki Patel said:

@Zed awesome thread!  

I think it may have been you who encouraged me to look at OBD scanner plus apps alongside @Frederic. 
 

Am an absolute beginner but have been playing with the bellow setup for a few weeks with main objective being: 

1. Transmission temp (I drive in D and my car FJ cruiser doesn’t have this on the display) 

2. A method to identify potential sand in engine? (Using the MAF sensor and doing some research) 

I use an iPhone as found a super easy App with a small payment that had a large number of PIDs pre-programmed including the A/T ... I found the PID values on a US site but loved the idea of an App that had car specific PIDs already setup (at a small cost).  The app is called OBD fusion and has a very basic dashboard and is customizable but not the best looking. 

I track the below PIDs 

A/T 

Coolent temp (digital version of the dial)

Battery voltage (just to fill the space) 

MAF to measure aid flow (researching if this is useful or not)

intake air temp (baseline Incase I ever add a snorkel to test difference) 

RPM (to measure idle and also fill space) 

There is a radial dial dashboar

. .

 

Edited April 10, 2021 by varunmehndiratta

[Zed]

5 hours ago, Niki Patel said:

@Zed okay your app looks awesome!  I have downloaded it and will play around tomorrow!  Thanks for sharing.  

When you connect, make sure to click the checkbox "Find more ECUs" (screenshot below), it will take longer to connect (almost 5mins) but will find every reading hidden by the manufacturer 😁

[Frederic]

@Niki Patel that's a nice setup you have made. Well done !

To identify sand in your engine, i do not think you will be able to measure this. The ECU is programmed in such a way that it will trigger the ENGINE CHECK light as soon as the MAF readings are deviating too much from the expected results, which would indicate a defective MAF sensor. In the case your air intake hose has a crack where sand could enter, i do not think you will see this in the MAF sensor measurements. It would be more useful to ask your mechanic to inspect the flexible rubber hose whenever the air filter is being replaced. A crack will occur more often on a poorly installed or universal aftermarket airfilter (Cold air intake) setup, and also on cars that are more than 10 years old where the original rubber is dried up and started to crack/deteriorate.

[Niki]

thank you @Frederic that has saved me a lot of time/effort  

 

[Thomas Varghese]

2 hours ago, Frederic said:

@Niki Patel that's a nice setup you have made. Well done !

To identify sand in your engine, i do not think you will be able to measure this. The ECU is programmed in such a way that it will trigger the ENGINE CHECK light as soon as the MAF readings are deviating too much from the expected results, which would indicate a defective MAF sensor. In the case your air intake hose has a crack where sand could enter, i do not think you will see this in the MAF sensor measurements. It would be more useful to ask your mechanic to inspect the flexible rubber hose whenever the air filter is being replaced. A crack will occur more often on a poorly installed or universal aftermarket airfilter (Cold air intake) setup, and also on cars that are more than 10 years old where the original rubber is dried up and started to crack/deteriorate.

You are absolutely correct @Frederic. I discovered this truth when the air intake rubber hose cracked and sand entered the intake manifold😢. The rubber hose cracked beyond the MAF sensor and entered the intake manifold through the throttle body and triggered the check engine light and safe mode acceleration. Luckily for me the intrusion of sand was minimal.