Anyone use an ELM327?

[boomhower]

Check engine light came on my truck a couple days ago which got me looking into readers. Since it has 113,000 on it I imagine it's not going to be the last one I see. Got to looking around and came across the ELM327. I went ahead and ordered one, for $20 seems like it offers a lot of functionality for the money.

Necro-bump from a spammer. Closed.

Zenmervolt - AnandTech Moderator

 

[Raduque]

I use one with Torque on my Android phone. It works great.

 

[T2urtle]

I have one. It offers decent stuff for what it is. A lot more then the average guy needs.

There are some eBay ones that doesn't work in general. As well as some cars offer more support/features then others.

 

[Bartman39]

I use one with Torque on my Android phone. It works great.

X2...:thumbsup: (Torque pro)

 

[TridenT]

They work with Androids from what I gather.

I wouldn't bother with it on a jailbroken iPhone. Even the jailbroken iPhone apps are super buggy. (Speaking from experience. Mine habitually disconnected within 30 seconds of being tethered to the phone; near useless)

 

[disappoint]

Check engine light came on my truck a couple days ago which got me looking into readers. Since it has 113,000 on it I imagine it's not going to be the last one I see. Got to looking around and came across the ELM327. I went ahead and ordered one, for $20 seems like it offers a lot of functionality for the money.

No idea what kind of truck you have. Does it have OBDII?

 

[ThatsABigOne]

ELM is a great way to do self diagnostics. Much better than scan gauge POS that can only display one information at one time.

 

[jlee]

I use one with Torque on my Android phone. It works great.

Yup. I have two of them somewhere.

 

[T2urtle]

They work with Androids from what I gather.

I wouldn't bother with it on a jailbroken iPhone. Even the jailbroken iPhone apps are super buggy. (Speaking from experience. Mine habitually disconnected within 30 seconds of being tethered to the phone; near useless)

Its an android only app for a while now. The only obd things u can do with apple products are like $200+

Torque software is like $5 and the Bluetooth adapter is $15-25.

 

[boomhower]

I know Torque on Android is the most common one but since I have an iPhone I am going to use Engine Link. If it sucks to bad I'll get my sons phone and use Torque.

No idea what kind of truck you have. Does it have OBDII?

2001 Suburban

 

[cardiac]

I classify my ELM and Torque as one of those "How the hell did I live without this" thing.....

 

[TridenT]

Its an android only app for a while now. The only obd things u can do with apple products are like $200+

Torque software is like $5 and the Bluetooth adapter is $15-25.

Again, this isn't true at all (Please don't speak about shit you don't know anything about). Torque might not be there, but you can tether an ELM327 to your iPhone. You have to jailbreak your iPhone in order to do it and get non-apple approved apps to do it. There are plenty of apps (Free and not) that will read the OBD2 information once it is tethered.

And, honestly, it only works well if you have the iOS version that the app was designed for. If you're any later then it's going to be busted most of the time.

 

[T2urtle]

Again, this isn't true at all (Please don't speak about shit you don't know anything about). Torque might not be there, but you can tether an ELM327 to your iPhone. You have to jailbreak your iPhone in order to do it and get non-apple approved apps to do it. There are plenty of apps (Free and not) that will read the OBD2 information once it is tethered.

And, honestly, it only works well if you have the iOS version that the app was designed for. If you're any later then it's going to be busted most of the time.

Ok. I speak because I've only seen these options. If there is stuff that's harder to find and non apple approved items how can I know exactly. Its easy as pie for an android. And it doesn't seem like many apple guys are mentioning this at the moment. Thanks for not bashing my head tho.

Its great that u iOS now has a cheap option. If u can please link me to some of it so I can show my iOS friends. They bother me for my torque/elm scan a little too often.

 

[TridenT]

Ok. I speak because I've only seen these options. If there is stuff that's harder to find and non apple approved items how can I know exactly. Its easy as pie for an android. And it doesn't seem like many apple guys are mentioning this at the moment. Thanks for not bashing my head tho.

Its great that u iOS now has a cheap option. If u can please link me to some of it so I can show my iOS friends. They bother me for my torque/elm scan a little too often.

It's basically this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOZ-YxqC8_g

However, I don't know if it really works anymore. Cydia is completely broken on my iPhone and I don't feel like doing a reformat at the moment.

 

[boomhower]

Ok. I speak because I've only seen these options. If there is stuff that's harder to find and non apple approved items how can I know exactly. Its easy as pie for an android. And it doesn't seem like many apple guys are mentioning this at the moment. Thanks for not bashing my head tho.

Its great that u iOS now has a cheap option. If u can please link me to some of it so I can show my iOS friends. They bother me for my torque/elm scan a little too often.

Here is what I'm going to try. $6 certainly isn't $200. It may not be the most powerful thing under the sun but I just need to read codes, plus it does a few other things to boot.

 

[T2urtle]

Here is what I'm going to try. $6 certainly isn't $200. It may not be the most powerful thing under the sun but I just need to read codes, plus it does a few other things to boot.

most of us only use it to pull codes. Very small % use it to datalog and look at streaming data for trouble shooting. All my friends do when they borrow my phone is to pull the code and take random guesses of fixing it. The $6 app paired with the elm327 should give you everything most people will need to save some money.

All my older OBD scanners are now collecting dust. However some cars dont offer enough PID and are slow and sending data. Most newer cars dont have that issue. The 2001 burban should give you all you need in terms of data.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Yes (with Torque pro) x3.

Works well, though I have heard of compatibility issues, so I bought one from amazon so I could return it if it didn't work.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Here is what I'm going to try. $6 certainly isn't $200. It may not be the most powerful thing under the sun but I just need to read codes, plus it does a few other things to boot.

I think he was talking about the adapters not the software/apps - Apple gimp the bluetooth on the iPhones so getting full functionality is difficult.

If you check the software is specifically say it works with wifi - not bluetooth (although that could be an error).

Turn your iPhone into vehicle monitoring and diagnosis tool. With an ELM 327 OBD-II WiFi adapters plugged in your vehicle's standard OBD-II port

 

[Excelsior]

Of course. has come in handy many times. Use Torque Pro on my android.

 

[TridenT]

I think he was talking about the adapters not the software/apps - Apple gimp the bluetooth on the iPhones so getting full functionality is difficult.

If you check the software is specifically say it works with wifi - not bluetooth (although that could be an error).

It'll only work with wifi unless you jailbreak your phone...

Here is what I'm going to try. $6 certainly isn't $200. It may not be the most powerful thing under the sun but I just need to read codes, plus it does a few other things to boot.

You need to understand how Apple does bluetooth devices. They only allow you to tether registered with Apple devices. Devices that only Apple has approved. You cannot tether other types of devices. (Such as random ELM327 OBD2 devices)

Thus, that app is worthless. It can probably READ the data once the device is tethered but it WON'T tether the device. (A key issue and basically why it's a shot in the dark! You have to jailbreak your iPhone in order to get non-apple approved apps that allow you to bluetooth tether OBD2 devices to your phone)

 

[KentState]

One of my CTS-V friends actually picked up a used Android phone to use with his since he was so impressed. I even have a web page setup on my home server to receive the logs real time.

 

[BUTCH1]

Of course. has come in handy many times. Use Torque Pro on my android.

Yup, paid $5 for TP and $17 for the ELM off Ebay, very useful, works great with my N7..

 

[Wuzup101]

I just bought the pro version along with an elm 327 and a mount for my second gen nexus 7. I'll be testing it out in my Evo X next weekend. For basic things, I'm hoping it will be better than using the tiny screen on my COBB Access Port.

 

[boomhower]

It'll only work with wifi unless you jailbreak your phone...



You need to understand how Apple does bluetooth devices. They only allow you to tether registered with Apple devices. Devices that only Apple has approved. You cannot tether other types of devices. (Such as random ELM327 OBD2 devices)

Thus, that app is worthless. It can probably READ the data once the device is tethered but it WON'T tether the device. (A key issue and basically why it's a shot in the dark! You have to jailbreak your iPhone in order to get non-apple approved apps that allow you to bluetooth tether OBD2 devices to your phone)

I bought the wifi version of the ELM, not the bluetooth.

 

[DaTT]

What are we up to now, x5 for Torque Pro on Android with an ELM327? Never had any compatibility issues and is by far the most useful app i have ever purchased.