How to get your turbocharged engine boost pressure with iOBD2?

Do you know that if your car has a turbocharged engine, you can get turbo boost pressure with iOBD2 although there is no a boost gauge on iOBD2? It is easy. Simply read the MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) value, and then subtract 100Kpa and you will get the boost pressure.

I didn’t get this idea until one of our customers sent me a message. Here is the story.

A few days ago, one of our customers sent me a message on our company Facebook page saying he could not find boost gauge on iOBD2 as he mainly wanted to know the boost pressure of his 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo. I said sorry to him that iOBD2 app was designed according to the generic OBD II specification and a support for boost gauge was not demanded in the specification.  The next day he said his Veloster Turbo hit 202 KPa (which is too high) and wanted to confirm if there was problem with the app or his car. This time I was confused. How did he get the 202Kpa as the app did not have a boost pressure gauge? He told me that he got a max MAP value of 221Kpa but had been subtracting 100Kpa, so that made a boost pressure of 121Kpa which is normal. Now I understood that the 202Kpa he got was a MAP value but not a boost pressure value.

Yet I still want to know the theory behind it and the following was what I found from volvoforums.com.

Keep your car healthy with your iPhone

Normally you use iPhone to make a call, send a message, watch a video, play a game, or take a photo. But how about use your iPhone to monitor the health of your car?  Whether you realize it or not, to keep your car healthy, you should install an OBD II app in your phone and start to monitor how your car is doing. There are both free and charged OBD II apps in the app store for you to choose from.

Before you can take the next step, you have to prepare an OBD II adapter for connecting your iPhone with your car’s on-board computer. Make sure the adapter supports both your car and the app.

When everything is ready, plug the adapter into the 16 pinout OBD II port on your car. It is usually under the steering wheel. Connect your iPhone with the adapter according to the user manual.

Now you can get access to the whole data of your car’s on-board computer, such as engine coolant temperature, fuel economy, intake air temperature, manifold absolute pressure, torque, horse power and so on. Monitoring those data will help you sense a potential problem before it gets worse.

How to choose the right OBD-II scan tool for your car?

Figure out what functions do you need from the tool.
Do you just need to read the trouble codes or erase the codes? Do you want to close the check engine light when it is on? Or do you want to access to more advanced data besides the engine data? So choose the tool that best fits your need.

Set your budget for the tool.
There are many kinds of OBD-II scan tool averaging 20$ to 200$ on the market. Generally the more functions the tool has, the more expensive the price is. 

Make sure your car model is supported by the tool.
Find out the manufacture year and model of your car and make sure it is OBD-II/EOBD compliant. Then choose one that is compatible with your car. A normal OBD-II scan tool should support cars that are OBD-II/EOBD compliant. 

Confirm this before you buy from the seller. 

Find the most cost-effective OBD-II scan tool on xtooltechstore.

What is OBD, what OBD can do?

Most car owners have heard of OBD port but few know what it is and what it can do. They just see at the repair shop a mechanic diagnose the car by plugging a scan tool into the port, then the trouble codes are erased and the cleaned air damper stops a warning. However, the OBD port is not as mysterious as imagined. Car owners can become car geeks by knowing how to use it.

What is OBD?

OBD stands for On Board Diagnostics. When the car is running, it monitors the engine electronic control system and other electronic control modules. If there is something unusual, it will detect what the trouble is and store the DTC (Diagnostic Trouble Code) on the ECU (Electronic Control Unit). The DTC helps for car repair and maintenance. A mechanic can quickly locate the problem by reading the code with a scan tool, saving time for a repair.

The OBD port normally locates under the steering wheel, near the place of driver’s knee. Its actual position may differ in car models, but overall it is almost the same position.

10 Must-Have Car Tools

As a driver, safety is the first.  Here are 10 must-have tools that helps keep you safe on your travel.

1.       Backup tire

Often the backup tire is left in the trunk, lacking of maintenance. It is better to check the tire every 3 months and inflate the tire when necessary.

2.       Floor jack

A floor jack is necessary to change tire or replace brake pad.

3.       OBD2 code reader

Commonly every car driver should see the check engine light flashes sometime. An OBD2 code reader will allow the driver to diagnose what the problems may be. You can choose some small code readers like iOBD2 on the market that turn a smartphone to be a display of the trouble codes.

4.       Toolkit

Every car has a toolkit with frequently used tools such as wrench, screwdriver, and tire key. Checking and cleaning the tools regularly will help increase their service life.

5.       Flash light

A good flash light help not only examine the car when there is a trouble at night but also send a signal for help if there is an emergency.

iOBD2 Demo

Download iOBD2 from app store.

How to diagnose your car on iPhone with iOBD2

iOBD2 is an app for your car. It makes your iPhone or iPad into a car diagnostic tool to read your car engine data.
The first impression iOBD2 gives me is that it is so small but with powerful function. Now plug the iOBD2 into the OBD connector on the car. Remember to check whether it is connected firmly.

Then download the free iOBD2 app from APP store on your iPhone.

XTOOL iOBD2 on-board diagnostic tool

Clever diagnostics box plugs into your car then sends data to your phone

Speedos and in-car fuel economy readings are notoriously inaccurate, but this clever new kit flashes up real-time performance and efficiency data on your phone.

iOBD2 comprises a small white box and a free smartphone app. The box took minutes to fit, as it simply attaches to your car’s On Board Diagnostic (OBDII) port – under the steering wheel in our Kia and in the glovebox of our Peugeot.

Once you’ve downloaded the app to your Apple or Android smartphone, select iOBD2 from your list of WiFi connections. Enter your car’s details, and you get three ways to view live data: Diagnosis, Performance Test and My Dashboard. Diagnosis offers the most info, so can bring up fault codes and tell you what they mean. It found a problem on our car we thought had been rectified.

Performance Test lets you measure acceleration or braking over a set time or distance, while My Dashboard enables you to personalize the data – everything from revs, speed and efficiency to coolant temperature. However, the displays could be clearer.

iOBD 2 works on Android and Apple devices, and is a worthy investment for its functionality.

Download iOBD2 from app store.

Xtool iOBD2 brings car diagnostic and performance testing into the wireless age

Xtool iOBD2 brings car diagnostic and performance testing into the wireless age

Home-brew car diagnostics generally do two things. With a little knowledge, they can save you money on car maintenance. And they can also be a lot of fun.

It's the latter that the Xtool iOBD2, a combination of hardware and app that supports iPhone and Android, majors on. That's not to say, however, it can't do the useful bit.

It's at least as powerful as most low cost on-board diagnostics readers, possibly more so. But it gets the job done in a much more user-friendly way and throws some extra features into the mix. Best of all, it connects wirelessly to your smartphone.

What are on-board car diagnostics?

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. First a quick recap on what, exactly, digital car diagnostics involves.

It starts with the OBD II, or On Board Diagnostics Version 2, port. It's an industry-standard data port that provides an interface for pulling car diagnostics and error codes, among other info, in a common format.

OBD II was made mandatory in 1996 for all cars sold in the US. The European Union didn't follow suit until 2001. But the US stricture means most cars sold in the UK after 1996 have an OBD II port.

It's typically found somewhere under the dashboard. In our test car, a 1997 Porsche Boxster, the port is freely accessible without any dash disassembly, if slightly obscured. So a little neck craning aside, getting at it is no harder than, say, the USB port on the back of a tower PC.

A wide range of data can be pulled via iOBD2, from engine error codes to sensor data and current operating parameters like coolant temperature and road speed. Exactly what can and can't be read will depend both on your reading equipment and the make and model of car in question.

The OBD II port can also be used to program car ECUs, for instance resetting error codes. But that's another level of sophistication that doesn't apply to relatively straight forward readers like the Xtool iOBD2.

What is the Xtool iOBD2?