In response to good advice on the forum, I ordered an inexpensive ELM 327 OBD reader and installed the Torque app on an android phone.

One of the parameters I wanted to see was coolant temperature, but on the 1998 XK8 this comes up as N/A. But when I put the reader into my 2007 Honda it does provide this info so it appears the reader and app are working OK. I am sure I recall other posts on here where individuals report being able to monitor temperature on the XK8. Is it only newer models that have this ability, or should my 1998 be able to also?


Thanks


Andy

 

I use the Ultra Gauge on my '97 to monitor coolant temp. Do you have the free Torque Lite or purchased Torque Pro app?

 

I have a 1997 4.0 convertible, and can see coolant temperature on Torque (Pro)

 

yes 1998's display coolant temp on OBDII. I do forget the abbreviation for it, maybe it is an obscure acronym? Either way it is availble.

John

 

Thanks all. I have the Torque Pro app and an Amazon sourced blue plastic ELM OBDII.

It is puzzling that it shows the temperature on the Honda but not the Jaguar.

 

Are you sure it is coolant temp you are looking at that says N/A and not for example intercooler temp or similar which would be N/A on your car.

 

OBD name is normally ECT (engine coolant temp) and should be available (unless it's a broken tool/software, which it doesn't sound to be).

 

I had this same behavior on my blue Elm reader. Turns out that older models of that device read my 2001 Jag fine - but newer models do not, for some reason.

If you search odb2 reader you may find the details - I looked, but I can't seem to find my subscribed threads :-(

 

Two issues here. The first may seem pedantic but title referring to OBDI is highly misleading, even though most likely a typo.

But the second is even more worrying and previously raised in other recent XK8 threads. These small translucent blue "mini" OBDII units are turning up from China with inconsistent internal connections and, as a result, widely differing performance. Some are "dead on arrival" while others vary in the parameters displayed in Torque apps - both Lite & Pro.

The OBDII protocol uses pin assignments for 3 different networks (CAN, ISO & J1850) together with power and ground pins . . . yet, when several were carefully opened and inspected, showed inconsistency in actual pin usage. Incredibly, some do not even have the main power pin #16 connected.

I have several "minis" that do report engine coolant temp on both my MY04 and several other cars tested, both early cars and later. However, I am aware of many others that do not. As a result, I have stopped recommending the little blue mini, because I have seen or heard of no such problems when using the original, larger, opaque black unit that is stamped with the engine-like OBDII icon on its body.

Perhaps this is a recent problem. All but 2 of my units are a few years old and have performed reliably, albeit on the software front, I recommend use of Torque Pro (not Lite) if you want full functionality.

Cheers,

Ken

 

So, Ken, it is possible that my ELM327 reports the coolant temp on the Honda but not the Jaguar because the two cars have different kinds of networks and the ELM does not read the Jag one? I had presumed that since it worked on the Honda, the problem was in the Jag's sensor or wiring, not the reader. But if that is not the case, maybe a different OBDII reader might work?

Is this bigger black one the kind of reader you suggest is more reliable?


Thanks

Andy

 

I've been puzzling over this for a while too and am posting in case my findings help others albeit without a clear solution. I have 2003 XK8, a cheap android phone (ZTE Blade) with Torque Lite and DashCommand (paid version). Initially I used a wifi obd2 adapter with DashCommand which worked "as advertised". In order to use Torque I bought a cheap mini OBD2 bluetooth adapter. The adapter had pins 1,2,3,4,5,9,10,11 connected to the circuit board. The adapter did Bluetooth connect to my phone but neither Torque nor DashCommand could connect. Torque says unable to find a suitable protocol which is probably due to the lack of pin 15 required for ISO 9141-2.

Inspection of Ken's mini adapter revealed that pins 2,3,4,5,7,9,10,11,15 were connected to the circuit board. I purchased an identical mini adapter with the following results -
Torque Lite connects but coolant temperature shows "no data".
DashCommand connects and DOES show coolant temperature correctly.

I haven't checked all parameters but most other readings seem to be available on both apps. Pin 15 is ISO 9141-2 L-LINE. Ken reports that Torque Pro exhibits the same result with this particular adapter. It seems that buying a mini adapter is a lucky dip even if I knew which pins are required to enable Torque.

I like the small size of the mini adapter and will continue to use it with DashCommand although the power consumption on the phone is a concern.

 

Is that nessesary?
l use torque pro and connect wi fi to my elm. Don't need to use bluetooth, maybe lite is different.

 

Hi Baxtor. Maybe phone is different, you didn't say. Torque description on Play Store (android) says "The app needs a Bluetooth OBD2 adapter to work" which is also my experience.

 

Bazjag, maybe lite and pro differ in this regard but pro settings asks for connection type and has choice between wi fi, Bluetooth and USB.
I have used both wi fi and Bluetooth (with different elms)

 

Whoa . . . several issues need clarification . . . and thanks to Barry [bazjag] for reminding me of at least one version of pinout variations on the mini and an alternate s/w app, DashCommand, if problems persist.

Firstly, I cannot explain why these problems have only recently emerged, nor why they seem to afflict devices connected to the XK8/R. Barry notes no probs when used on his Honda. I can add more vehicles, including Ford, VW, BMW, Audi & Toyota . . . more importantly, no such problems when used on several other Jaguars across the S-Type, X350 & X400 era.

Secondly, to Andy [agd], the opaque black unit I refer to and which has proven free of these problems is pictured below, with the blue mini for comparison. As you see, recommended unit is longer than the translucent blue units, protruding some 2” from socket rather than 3/4” of the mini. It has 3 LEDs maked PC, OBD & Power and comes with a software disk, although Torque is available from your iTunes Store, Google Play, MS Canteen or whatever.

Thirdly, that great 'Bay in the sky is awash in most countries with huge numbers of sellers and pricing is around AU$6-$7 . . . not the CDN$26 I noted from your link.

Fourthly, and most critical, to clarify comments from Steve [baxtor], all of these units must support either WiFi or Bluetooth comms – ideally both, as do the 2 devices in my pic . . . Why? . . . because if your phone is of the Apple persuasion it will only work with Torque using WiFi comms . . . whereas if Android, it will work using Bluetooth.

Hope all this helps to clarify,

Ken

 

Baxtor, are you using ios or android?

 

Android Baz.

 

I have used the KIWI PLX successfully with Torque Pro. It is a bluetooth device.

 

Usually if ISO 9141 is being used it's pin 7 (K-line) that matters. Even then, some software can't cope if the PCM (aka ECM) is not at address 10 (that's hex 10, sometimes written $10 or 0x10). Some jags use $11...

Other cars (and many jags) use CAN, on pins 6 & 14.

(Some of the jags respond to both ISO & CAN for the PCM, which some software really doesn't expect.)

 

I was going to add that even if our cars use several OBD technologies (CAN, ISO, SCP), the standard OBDII protocol is only implemented over ISO 9141. You might want to go through the settings in the Torque app and check that this protocol is in fact used, or that it is not forced to CAN for example.

Also, as part of the OBDII protocol, there is a set of meta PIDs that tell you what information can, in fact, be retrieved for a specific car. TorquePro highlights these when you create a gauge. From memory, they turn a shade of green.

Best of luck, keep us posted.