OBD readers and iOS Apps

Hi all,

No, I'm not that young, and this is all new to me, although I have had a car with an OBD port of some sort (an European market LHD Jaguar XJ8) for almost a decade and an iPhone and iPad, and had been thinking of getting a rolling dyno App of some sort ever since I got the iPhone 4S.

But my recent 456 GT purchase made me think that it surely would not hurt to know what's going on in the engine and car management and all ECU's. (I read about the engine temperature problems some people had had when driving fast, temperature too low, stuck thermostat or stuck oil thermostat, and that the temp gauge and engine ECU have different senders etc.) My car has no service history, so when doing some test driving, it would be great to know how things really are going.

Now I did find a couple of useful threads with the search function in the 360/430 model forum, like this one: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/360-430/467996-mobile-obd-scanner-logger-iphone-android-360-430-a.html?highlight=OBD+reader

But a few puzzling questions came up inside my fuzzy head:

1. My car is from 1995. All the OBD and OBD2 Apps only seem to support cars from MY1996 onwards, in some cases only North American 1996 and younger cars, and European cars from 2001 and onwards. Now can this really be such a big problem? I would think the error codes and the data from the ECU's would be pretty much the same also on a 1995 456 GT than a 1996 456 GT, but who knows?

2. The OBD connector, where is it on a 456 GT? And is it the 16-pin standard connector or what? (I only have the Owner's manual so far)

Now I did read both here in the 360/430 forum and some other forums in the web about the problems people have had in connecting with Wifi or Bluetooth and the various Apps like Carbonga ($4.99) and OBD Fusion ($9.99) and I don't think cost in an issue here so I would be glad to buy both and some more Apps, especially if I would know they could be of some use with the 1995 456 GT I now have, but can they?

CARbonga

https://www.obdsoftware.net/software/obdfusion

And finally, does anyone know of a cable OBD reader for an iPhone or an OBD reader with a Wifi connection, or a Bluetooth connection available in Europe that would plug in and work with the 456 GT?

Maybe I can move my car hobby forward in time a bit, the pushrod engined Jaguar wioth drum brakes I have from 1950 also has a port inside the engine room, which will show you either the battery voltage, or charging voltage from the generator if the engine is running, but that's about all the electronics I have had to deal with so far, in addition to changing glass fuses and a few light bulbs!

Cheers,

Pekka T.

 

Hi,

Sorry Alfredo, I decided to quote this in this thread, instead of the door/window ECU/switch thread.

The Wifi OBD II thingy I got works really well with our MY1998 European (Finland) sold XJ8. And I got some adapters from a friend for the OBD II plug, that ends up in two separate cables with two plugs. But the plugs are not even remotely anything that I could find connected to the Motronic 2.7 found in the scuttle/side of the drivers footwell.

Anyone know where to get adapters for these that would plug into the common OBD II adapters?

I think it could be very useful to see what's really going on with the different temperature sensors, lambdas, cats etc. in the future.

I did get a few "Check Engine 7-12" lights last week, I think they are just the spark plug wires that were not correctly fixed and mounted, but I already sorted that out. At least the light did not come on one single time during our 700km drive on Monday.

Now I wish I could find the SD card with all my photos on it! The GoPro vid is on Youtube, "Return of the V12", sorry for the boring soundtrack (except some nice exhaust burl) radio was in Italian, Swiss and Austrian German, were talking Finnish, and singing... (my 12 year old son that is mostly)

Now I really need the new tires, and the big service. Ulrich Frankfurt gave a quote on the belt replacement service etc. so I think I'll try that and see how it goes.

Cheers!

Pekka T.
Fin.

 

Hi guys, I tried googling for OBD1 to OBD2 adapters and came up with a few leads, but nothing definitive.

Some discussions from the 348/355 forum here on fchat also showed up, but again no useful photos or definitions of what to buy and from where.

So I am still trying to put this together:

1. On the driver's side I could find these plugs that can also be found in the factory ROM that suggests connecting them with the SD-1 (pg. C 64)

(photo attached)

2. On the passenger side I could find the fuse and relay panel, and some additional connectors, one of them looked like it could be an OBD plug, but not all sockets had connectors. Is this the one? Should I hook it up somehow with an OBD I to OBD II adapter?

(photo attached)

Cheers!

Pekka T.
Fin.
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Hi,

Yeah, I know, that's the point. As this is not rocket science (and SD-1 from the early 1990's is nothing but an old PC with some software) surely there is a way to hook up an OBD I/OBD II reader/sender and read the data it gives out.

I am not going to do any chip tuning, or to modify anything, I would lust like to be able to see what the Motronic 2.7 sees for instance as coolant temperature, MAF, etc.

Cheers,

Pekka T.
Fin.

 

Hi,

And thank you for the photos, that far I got as you could see also in my photos with the connectors I found inside. Now the car still is at a workshop in Germany.

I did also find that one thread about a possible connector and software kit but the website still only has Porsche stuff on it, nothing related to the 456/550/575.

AFAIK the Bosch Motronic 2.7 is the same as used on later Testarossas and 512TR and I know a Finnish enthusiast with a few Ferraris including a TR who possibly can help me getting there.

My check engine problems were cured by fixing the spark plug wire conduits and cables, they were a mess. YMMV.

Cheers,

Pekka T.
Fin.