greatwhite
01-18-2013, 09:59
Anyone who has dealt with an intermittent PMD and limp mode knows the value of a "transportable" scanner/code clearer.
I have also felt the sting of a failing PMD and struggling with limp mode because a code has popped up and "latched" limp mode even though the fault is no longer present.
Even though I haven't had a PMD fault in almost 2 years, I still carried an old laptop and an interface cable to scan and clear codes. Once certain codes are set, it doesn't even matter if you change the pmd, you have to clear them with a scanner. Trust me, I know from very painful experience....
Well, carrying a laptop in the truck is just an invitation for someone to break in. Even if it's hidden from sight. But up to now, that's pretty much been my only option for clearing codes on this old beast.
I also carry an iphone so I figured there must be an "app" out there somewhere that would work to scan and clear codes.
A trip to the "istore" reveals there's lots of apps. Bu they all use wifi, or a proprietary Blutooth interface. Even if the app is free, the interfaces go for anywhere from 99to 199 bucks.
Yeah that's too much when you can buy a cheapy off ebay for 10 bucks, right?
No so fast hoss. Apple has locked down the iPhone (what a surprise right? Apple locking something down? Nah, can't be true....:rolleyes: ). Not just any bluetooth device works with it. Seems apple only wants you to play with the stuff they get a "cut" from.
Well, there's got to be a way around this.
And I found it. I'd like to say I figured it out myself, but I mostly just followed info I found out and about on the net.
Here's the 4 steps if you care to follow:
1. You need to jailbreak your iPhone. Lets not discuss whether or not it's legal because there's nothing illegal about jailbreaking your iPhone (what you do with it after that can be illegal though IE: stolen apps, etc).
Not a big deal for me. My 4s (IOS 5.1) was jailbroken a long time ago with Green Poision (be careful googling it, there's lots of fake ones out there). It's the main reason I refuse to upgrade to an iPhone 5 and IOS 6+ (even more locked down hardware/software and no untethered jailbreak currently exists for it). My phone is also unlocked from my carrier (a service they offer after you've been on contract for a certain period). I can't stand paying hundreds or thousands of dollars for a piece of IT and then being told what I CAN'T do with it because the OE doesn't want you too. In Apple's case, they want their extra kickbacks even though you're already given them a couple good fistfulls of your hard earned cash...yeah, look somewhere else, I'm not playing that game. Sure, they hide it behind catchy slogans like "it just works" and they want to "keep it stable", but that's just complete and utter BS. It's all about them getting more money out of ya. That's why they're always popping out a "new" version of their hardware every 6 months.... Anyways, enough ranting about Stalin Jobs......errrr......Steve Jobs galactic empire.....
You need it jailboken to install the next app....
2. You need an app called "roqyobd". This can be found on Cydia (Jailbreak iphone store). This allows your Iphone to talk to any OBDII bluetooth device instead of just a handsfree, headset or a car stereo. It's free to install, but it will only read data unless you pay 6 bucks to the developer for the full version. You need two way communication to clear codes. 6 bucks is cheap to let your iphone use any bluetooth device instead of what big brother Apple dictates you can. I may investigate if programs like ScanXL and Carcode will work with it and allow wireless TDCO commands and other advanced GM discrete module fault codes. But that's for a later date and that cheap little ELM327 chip may not have the right protocols....no wriies if it doesn't. That's what I have more powerful "wired" scanners for.
3. You need an obdII interface. I bought one off ebay for 10 bucks with shipping. Yeah, it's a chinese jobby, i could care less. It's small and tucks right up under the dash. I can leave it installed all the time. "Roqyobd" connects to it no problem. It's just a cheap simple ELM327 chip with a bluetooth transmitter in it. Looks like so:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/gr8twhite/maYqczz4msrcy873pB44S6g.jpg
Mine is black as above, but they come in white, semi-transparent blue, etc. It doesn't really matter, you want the electronics inside. It comes with drivers and cheap software, but you can just put that aside. It's all either old, pirated or virus infected anyways....
4. Now you need an app to read and display the data as well as command the clear codes. It gets a bit sticky here. You need a program that will allow you to configure the port settings. RoqyOBD came back with port settings of 127.0.0.1 and 35000 which needs to be input in you obdII app. Most of the free ones on the istore are either trial stuff or don't let you enter port settings. I'm a long time user of palmer performance scanning software, so I bought that. It's 49.99 but is really configurable and works with just about everything I have come across. They have great support and a web forums where you can ask questions, download custom dashboards, etc. To make a long story short, I input the port settings in the dash command "settings" menu and it found the truck, scanned the PIDs and I was in and scanning lickety split with no muss and no fuss...
There may be other apps out there that do the job, but you'll have to dig for them. I tried a couple, but they either didn't work, didn't clear codes, wanted proprietary software or were as much (or more) than dashcommand.
I won't put up a link to dashcommand in deference to forum rules, but google palmer performance and you can read up on all the things the iphone app version will do. It's really quite amazing how versatile it is right down to an inclinometer. FYI, I have no business affiliation with the program developers/retailers. I'm just a very satisfied customer.
So now I can pull the cables and laptop out of the truck and put them away in the house. Dash command will do anything my other scanning programs will do and it's sitting on my iphone ready to use. My iPhone connects wirelessly to the module and it's comes with me in my pocket when I leave the truck.
My iphone is also the truck stereo (MP3 though the OEM radio with a USASepc Interface module) and gps, as well as my day planner and phone books so I've always got it with me anyways. My Cobra 29 NWBT is also a hands free for the phone.
So I'm out the door for around 70 bucks for a blutooth iPhone OBDII program that does wayyy more than any off the shelf scanner could do.
Anywho, that's how I did it. No more stuck by the side of the road frigging with cables and laptops or not knowing why that check engine light is on and crawling home in second gear if I don't have to.
As always, use at your own risk and your results may vary...
:)
I have also felt the sting of a failing PMD and struggling with limp mode because a code has popped up and "latched" limp mode even though the fault is no longer present.
Even though I haven't had a PMD fault in almost 2 years, I still carried an old laptop and an interface cable to scan and clear codes. Once certain codes are set, it doesn't even matter if you change the pmd, you have to clear them with a scanner. Trust me, I know from very painful experience....
Well, carrying a laptop in the truck is just an invitation for someone to break in. Even if it's hidden from sight. But up to now, that's pretty much been my only option for clearing codes on this old beast.
I also carry an iphone so I figured there must be an "app" out there somewhere that would work to scan and clear codes.
A trip to the "istore" reveals there's lots of apps. Bu they all use wifi, or a proprietary Blutooth interface. Even if the app is free, the interfaces go for anywhere from 99to 199 bucks.
Yeah that's too much when you can buy a cheapy off ebay for 10 bucks, right?
No so fast hoss. Apple has locked down the iPhone (what a surprise right? Apple locking something down? Nah, can't be true....:rolleyes: ). Not just any bluetooth device works with it. Seems apple only wants you to play with the stuff they get a "cut" from.
Well, there's got to be a way around this.
And I found it. I'd like to say I figured it out myself, but I mostly just followed info I found out and about on the net.
Here's the 4 steps if you care to follow:
1. You need to jailbreak your iPhone. Lets not discuss whether or not it's legal because there's nothing illegal about jailbreaking your iPhone (what you do with it after that can be illegal though IE: stolen apps, etc).
Not a big deal for me. My 4s (IOS 5.1) was jailbroken a long time ago with Green Poision (be careful googling it, there's lots of fake ones out there). It's the main reason I refuse to upgrade to an iPhone 5 and IOS 6+ (even more locked down hardware/software and no untethered jailbreak currently exists for it). My phone is also unlocked from my carrier (a service they offer after you've been on contract for a certain period). I can't stand paying hundreds or thousands of dollars for a piece of IT and then being told what I CAN'T do with it because the OE doesn't want you too. In Apple's case, they want their extra kickbacks even though you're already given them a couple good fistfulls of your hard earned cash...yeah, look somewhere else, I'm not playing that game. Sure, they hide it behind catchy slogans like "it just works" and they want to "keep it stable", but that's just complete and utter BS. It's all about them getting more money out of ya. That's why they're always popping out a "new" version of their hardware every 6 months.... Anyways, enough ranting about Stalin Jobs......errrr......Steve Jobs galactic empire.....
You need it jailboken to install the next app....
2. You need an app called "roqyobd". This can be found on Cydia (Jailbreak iphone store). This allows your Iphone to talk to any OBDII bluetooth device instead of just a handsfree, headset or a car stereo. It's free to install, but it will only read data unless you pay 6 bucks to the developer for the full version. You need two way communication to clear codes. 6 bucks is cheap to let your iphone use any bluetooth device instead of what big brother Apple dictates you can. I may investigate if programs like ScanXL and Carcode will work with it and allow wireless TDCO commands and other advanced GM discrete module fault codes. But that's for a later date and that cheap little ELM327 chip may not have the right protocols....no wriies if it doesn't. That's what I have more powerful "wired" scanners for.
3. You need an obdII interface. I bought one off ebay for 10 bucks with shipping. Yeah, it's a chinese jobby, i could care less. It's small and tucks right up under the dash. I can leave it installed all the time. "Roqyobd" connects to it no problem. It's just a cheap simple ELM327 chip with a bluetooth transmitter in it. Looks like so:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/gr8twhite/maYqczz4msrcy873pB44S6g.jpg
Mine is black as above, but they come in white, semi-transparent blue, etc. It doesn't really matter, you want the electronics inside. It comes with drivers and cheap software, but you can just put that aside. It's all either old, pirated or virus infected anyways....
4. Now you need an app to read and display the data as well as command the clear codes. It gets a bit sticky here. You need a program that will allow you to configure the port settings. RoqyOBD came back with port settings of 127.0.0.1 and 35000 which needs to be input in you obdII app. Most of the free ones on the istore are either trial stuff or don't let you enter port settings. I'm a long time user of palmer performance scanning software, so I bought that. It's 49.99 but is really configurable and works with just about everything I have come across. They have great support and a web forums where you can ask questions, download custom dashboards, etc. To make a long story short, I input the port settings in the dash command "settings" menu and it found the truck, scanned the PIDs and I was in and scanning lickety split with no muss and no fuss...
There may be other apps out there that do the job, but you'll have to dig for them. I tried a couple, but they either didn't work, didn't clear codes, wanted proprietary software or were as much (or more) than dashcommand.
I won't put up a link to dashcommand in deference to forum rules, but google palmer performance and you can read up on all the things the iphone app version will do. It's really quite amazing how versatile it is right down to an inclinometer. FYI, I have no business affiliation with the program developers/retailers. I'm just a very satisfied customer.
So now I can pull the cables and laptop out of the truck and put them away in the house. Dash command will do anything my other scanning programs will do and it's sitting on my iphone ready to use. My iPhone connects wirelessly to the module and it's comes with me in my pocket when I leave the truck.
My iphone is also the truck stereo (MP3 though the OEM radio with a USASepc Interface module) and gps, as well as my day planner and phone books so I've always got it with me anyways. My Cobra 29 NWBT is also a hands free for the phone.
So I'm out the door for around 70 bucks for a blutooth iPhone OBDII program that does wayyy more than any off the shelf scanner could do.
Anywho, that's how I did it. No more stuck by the side of the road frigging with cables and laptops or not knowing why that check engine light is on and crawling home in second gear if I don't have to.
As always, use at your own risk and your results may vary...
:)