there is some sort of dongle or adpater I need for the phone to talk to the car. What is it.

 

brg, you need an ELM327 bluetooth adapter. Search on Ebay, there are many suppliers, and now I see little mini one costing below $2! Amazing. I don't recall which supplier I used, but i have the old large model.

Steve

 

Interesting. Where does it fit in the car?

 

I found the adapter. You download the app to your phone (droid only) or laptop, then you buy the adapter, Elm 327 OBD II Bluetooth Dongle, plugs into your OBDII port and via bluetooth connection it reads all kinds of **** about your car in real time.

 

Cool, but where do I find the place to plug it in if I got one? Might help with a few of the random errors I get...

 

find the OBDII port, I don't recall where they are on these cars but like most cars it is in and around the underside of dash by the steering column. Google it, I am sure you could find it that way.

 

by your right knee

 

On US cars it is on the bottom of the dash, near where your left knee would be. On the very edge of the dash. On RHD cars it would be the opposite. If I get a chance, i will snap a picture later.

 

I'll take a look. Thanks guys.

 

I took this photo for a different reason (you DON'T need to remove the bolster around the steering wheel!) but it shows the location of the OBD2 port on RHD XK8/XKR arrowed in red:



It's recessed into the corner of the lower dash.

Graham

 

You are going to be amazed at how much information is available using the Torque app.
This is by far the best tool I own - that it only costs $5 is crazy
It even talks to you. Once your connected download and run the add-on 'Knock Sensor' app which detects any detonation.

 

Be aware there are a lot of 'marginal' bluetooth adapters. Go to the apps website and ensure you purchase one that's compatible, some of the $2-5 dollar varieties will not work consistently or pair. That said I wouldn't spend more than 15,

 

well I bought the adapter that was suggested for the app.

 

The TORQUE Android app is truly amazing, especially for $5. With the display on a 10" Android tablet it will function as a very readable driving companion.

Now if we can get programming capability added.

Apparently, ELM published the design of their OBDII to Bluetooth converter without any copyright/patent protection and anyone and everyone with the capability to burn chips put out a clone. Not all are reliable or even fully compatible. I now have two adapters, $7 and $10 that would not work on my V8 Ford/Volvo. The first one worked for one connection never to be heard from again. The expensive one would not work on the Ford but did on other cars. Got one ordered at the moment ($23) that very specifically claims to work on the Ford data link protocol plus everything else.

 

$23 is what I paid for mine on Amazon. So far it has worked on the 4 cars I have tried it on

 

Mine arrived yesterday.

HH OBD Torque Android Bluetooth Car OBD2 Auto Engine Fault Code Tester Adapter | eBay

£6.55 so a bit on the cheap side - will give it a go and report back.

 

When connected, will the Torque app read and display true coolant temperature for XK8?
With a different pressure sensor could it be made to display true oil pressure also?

 

YES to the first question and POSSIBLY to the second.

See forum member WhiteXKR's website for his neat and proven solution to reading true oil pressure with his RealGauge upgrade to the factory gauges:

About XK8 / XKR / XJ RealGauge - TheJagWrangler

Graham

 

I also have Torque Pro and love it. I'm told you can check fuel trims with it (or possibly with an additional plug-in), but not sure how to do it. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

 

Both short and long term fuel trims are available in the 'new gauge' pull down menu along with about 50 other displays.

There are a few knowledgeable folks writing additional TORQUE PID displays. This could get much better.