kevin1727

It's a 4th of July trip so it will be a while before I report back. We're looking forward to the camping!

Wicked ace

Do yourself a favor as it's a good thing anyway. Get the Torque app and an ELM327 bluetooth scanner to read ALL the vehicle data on your phone. An easy way to monitor what is going on with real time data and not rely on idiot lights. It's configurable to display up to six parameters on the screen at once. I put all the temps up when towing.

kevin1727

I'll have to think about that. All this stuff is getting expensive. I bought a scan tool a few years ago to do diagnostics. Now I bought one with canbus for forscan, but it is the USB version to work with my laptop. I see Torque requires a bluetooth unit. Maybe I can try one of the cheaper units instead of spending another $79.

Any recommendations on one of the $29 models that works with Torque?

Wicked ace

I mentioned that because most, if not all, of these trucks come with Apple Carplay or Android Auto so you could put it up on your screen. I'm not familiar with the software you have for canbus. If you can use your laptop and see the parameters without it being obtrusive, why not do that? Use what you have. After you get a feel for what happens it will become secondary anyway.

kevin1727

I use Scantool software with the scantool OBD device. It is just for diagnostics to read codes, etc. Not really for use while driving although some people do that short term during diagnosis.

The canbus OBD/ELM327 adapter I just bought is for the forscan software so I can enable the trailer brake controller I bought. It was a lot cheaper than having the dealer do it. They wanted $112 to enable it and the adapter was only $30. I may want to try some different things too once I get familiar with what forscan can do. The Ford Brake Controller was also $85 on e-bay from a Ford dealer, even though the local dealer wanted $133 for the exact same part. I'm trying to do this on the cheap.

The laptop runs on battery but needs 115V to recharge and I don't have an inverter in my XL. It would only be okay for a while.

I use Android Auto a lot when I'm driving but that app seems to take over the truck display. I use it for hands-free and navigation. As long as I have a cell connection (which is not reliable here in the mountains) the hands-free features are better than what comes with Sync3. If I don't have cell, I have to switch to offline navigation or sometimes I can preload the Google Maps route and hope I don't have to take a detour.

I think I will try one of the cheap bluetooth ELM327 adapters for Torque. I found a couple for under $20 and the reviews say they work fine with Torque. For this trip, maybe I can use the passenger's phone for Torque and they can monitor the temps and scream as Smokeywren suggested. I can then use mine for Android Auto.

Thanks for the suggestion on Torque. I think it will come in handy.

Wicked ace

Why can't you use the OBD/ELM327 adapter you have now? You need to be careful with the $20 jobs as there are LOTS of knock offs. http://carscanner.info/choosing-obdii-adapter/
It's been a few years since I got mine and I can't recall the seller but it did come with a disc that had a tutorial and scan software for my laptop, which proved useful. I have a Camaro as well so I was following what worked on the LSx site. A quick search came up with this: http://www.wirelesshack.org/our-pick...pter-2016.html.
prices have dropped alot in a few years.

kevin1727

Torque seems to only use Bluetooth or WiFi and both my adapters are "USB only" for the laptop. I can plug the adapters into my S7 phone using a USB/micro adapter but Torque can't find the adapter. Tried settings in Torque and don't see any other options except bluetooth and WiFi.
Torque says if I get a cheap adapter to make sure it has a good return policy in case it doesn't work
I found a couple for $10.99 on Amazon that say "works with Android Torque Pro", and also have good customer service ratings for returns. One from Panlong and one from Kitbest. Both have 4+ star ratings.
I'm reading through the links you sent now. Thanks!

old_programmer

Good to hear you found it. I wasn't at my truck so couldn't remember the name of the display but was referring to the one that has the vehicle stats. When on longer trips towing I always give the transmission temp a peek or two along with the tire pressure. I don't know how accurate it is but watching for trends in the display is a lot better than the analog gauges.

kevin1727

Deleted

kevin1727

Deleted