A couple of weeks ago I did buy TORQUE for my Galaxy Tab and used it with OBD KEY II Bluetooth on my brand new Subaru Impreza WRX STI (MY2011, sedan). At first I had no problem at all: connected OBD KEY to the car, switch engine on, pair bluetooth, start TORQUE… all right! I’ve been able to see all ECU parameters, and play with all real time gauges. Perfect!

I did it one time, two times, three times… always all right. Today I wanted to try the new release of TORQUE so I connected the OBD KEY as usual and I started driving on my test cicruit with the Samsung tablet in front of me… While driving, the sofware was running fine as usual but when I moved the
tablet away from the cockpit I noticed that the ABS light was on… Oh my God, It never happened before!

I soon stopped the software, stopped the engine and disconnected the OBD KEY. After restarting the engine all the warning lights of the cockpit were on like a christmas tree! ABS, EBD, DIFF LOCK, ENGINE, OIL, everything was on… and buttons / switches to change ECU mapping / ABS / DIFF LOCK did not work at all. But the OBD KEY was NOT connected… damn, how is it possible?!

Stop and restart the engine, did not solve the problem. Last try before going to Subaru assistance: I connected the OBD KEY again and started TORQUE in order to see ECU error code: I don’t remember the number code, but it was something like “networking error”. So I sent the “clear error code” command from TORQUE, stopped the app, stopped the engine, disconnected the OBD KEY, wait few minutes and start engine again without OBD KEY connected… and it was all back to normal.

Ok, problem solved, but where is the problem? Is this a problem of the new TORQUE release? So I tried another test: use OBD KEY with his own software, not with TORQUE on Galaxy Tab. So I switched the tablet’s bluetooth off and stopped TORQUE, so no way for the Android software to connect to the ECU. Ok, I was ready to pair the PC bluetooth and try OBD KEY with his own software but as soon as I start the engine with OBD KEY connected all warining lights turn on again after few seconds: and there is only OBD KEY connected, without any software running or device paired!

I did repeat the steps to clear ECU error codes with TORQUE and now the car is normal, but I can not use OBD KEY and TORQUE anymore: always that networking error that makes the car’s ECU going crazy.

Can anybody help me? Has the fault been cause by new TORQUE release or what? Is it a problem of the OBD KEY hardware that causes the ECU malfunction? But it was fine before! It’s getting me crazy. Any idea?

Remember that the OBDKey unit is a “Vehicle Data Gateway” device and works under instruction from the application that commands it.

The reply from Ian Hawkins about protocol discovery before ignition is turned on may be correct in that this is what has caused the problem.

But be aware that OBDKey doesn’t search for the protocol unless the application commands it to (by sending a PID request for example). So if Ian is right, then you will need to have the ignition ON before running the Torque application on your phone.

If you do have a chance, I would appreciate a log from the OBDKey supplied software.

Sinclair (OBDKey)

Hi all!

I’m back from my test with OBD KEY original software on PC: after some troubles in establishing connection (not a real problem, only needed to find the right port of the PC) the software established connection as soon as I pushed twice the start button of my car (IGN ON): no engine lights on and the software running fine with all real time monitoring. I’ve been driving on my circuit for 15 minutes with no issues: finally I did check for error codes and no one was stored in the ECU… everything fine!

Last test: try again with TORQUE. Stop the engine, disconnect PC and turn it off; turn on tablet’s bluetooth and get ready with OBD KEY still attached to the car. Push start button twice, IGN was ON and no warning lights, ok. Start TORQUE and… all right!
Usual test drive with real time monitoring and data logging. No issue at all and final check for error codes: none stored in the ECU.Finish the test, upload the data on the webserver: all right.
Disconnect the tablet, disconnect OBD KEY and try to start the car again: all right, no engine light! Good.

So what’s happened yesterday? Maybe a problem during initialization as Ian said. Non everything seems fine and I must thank OBD KEY support for their assistance: first quality service, first quality product! I really recommend OBD KEY if you are looking for a compact size adaptor, well designed, well built and with great support.

And many thanks to Ian that soon explained the possible cause of the problem. This is what I call a professional and qualified service.

I had a similar issue today just after connecting to the phone I started driving off car felt a little funny sluggish and the cars audible chime and warning lights came on and I got a message on the cars Info screen that said “transmission failure” Service required. I shut off the car unplugged the OBD connection (using ObdLink Bluetooth.)I used the cars info screen to scroll for health and the car showed no issues. I later hooked up to Torque scanned for fault codes and none were found so I know it had to be the Scanner tool and Torque that caused the issue.I did go back and removed the check that allowed plugins full access could this have been part of the problem?
Car is a 2012 Ford Focus.
Any other ideas?

Thanks, Bob

Quote from admin on December 12, 2011
Hi

Sometimes that can happen when the adapter scans for the correct protocol whilst the ECU is starting up – it can cause a network issue on some vehicles that prevent some modules from talking – this usually only happens when everything is starting up and the adapter starts hunting for protocols (or you are using a duff clone adapter)

There is an easy way to prevent it however!

Go into your vehicle profile once you have connected, scroll down, look at the current protocol, then change the protocol selection from ‘Automatic’ to whatever your protocol is as noted just above that box (ie: ‘Current: 500k CAN’ etc). This will then skip the protocol selection and the app will ask the adapter to go straight to that protocol on startup. You’ll also get faster connections/startups as well!

Ian

This worked really well for me on our Fiat Multipla. I first had a cheap chinese bluetooth adaptor which worked really well for a week or so before packing up. I then decided to go all out and bought an OBD link MX. Worked great with our Toyota Prius but wouldn’t link to the Multipla ECU’s in Torque which I couldn’t understand.

I was able to use the OBD Link MX with dedicated Fiat software so I knew it was working fine just suspected that the protocol was a problem.

After finding this thread I manually checked down through the different protocols and got it working on ISO 14230-4 (fast init)

Quote from admin on December 12, 2011
Hi

Sometimes that can happen when the adapter scans for the correct protocol whilst the ECU is starting up – it can cause a network issue on some vehicles that prevent some modules from talking – this usually only happens when everything is starting up and the adapter starts hunting for protocols (or you are using a duff clone adapter)

There is an easy way to prevent it however!

Go into your vehicle profile once you have connected, scroll down, look at the current protocol, then change the protocol selection from ‘Automatic’ to whatever your protocol is as noted just above that box (ie: ‘Current: 500k CAN’ etc). This will then skip the protocol selection and the app will ask the adapter to go straight to that protocol on startup. You’ll also get faster connections/startups as well!

Ian

I concur, the “all the lights go crazy” happened in my Camry Hybrid when Torque was running before switching on the car. After setting up the protocol manually as per Ian’s suggestion everything is working fine, regardless of the order in which things are switched on, torque, bluetooth, car etc.

Hi

Unfortunately that option isn’t in the lite version at the moment – all the development effort for things like this is currently going into the paid app