Has anyone used one of these inexpensive CONSULT tool setups off a PC? If so, does it work for basic engine and transmission monitoring, such as temps, and other electrical data?

 

Hmm, I may have jumped the gun. Seems those are not CONSULT-III tools... The III's are much more expensive.

Am I correct in this interpretation?

 

There are 2 that are PC based there is consult III. And consult III plus(pretty much dubbed c4) .....for everything i believe its around 12-13k

 

I use a bluetooth OBDII adapter along with the Torque app on my phone. It will give you real time data on the engine. I'm not 100% sure if it monitors the transmission, but it probably does. If you have an android phone, it's about $20 for the adapter and $5 for the app.

Adapter I purchased:

App:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...l.torque&hl=en

-Brian

 

Does this work with the iPhone?

 

Outside of the obvious price differential, how does that compare to the Kiwi?

 

I've tried the cheapy amazon obd dongles in the past. Ended up getting the kiwi BT (had a kiwi wifi while back when I had an iphone). I get 0 errors, syncs up quick. They can be found for about $80-100 on ebay.

 

While the Kiwi is most definitely a better product, I haven't had one bit of trouble with my adapter. I've only had it for a month, but it syncs perfectly.

As for the iPhone, its bluetooth radio is proprietary. Apple will not allow app designers to interface with it in their apps. Therefore, these cheap bluetooth OBDII adapters can't communicate with the iPhone. There are other solutions (wifi), but they start at about $150.

-Brian

 

Does anyone successfully use their setup to read auto temps?

 

I just went out to my car to try getting transmission temp readings and it looks like the G37 doesn't pass that information over OBDII. There was an option to create a gauge, but the gauge just read 0 degrees.

-Brian

 

Thanks for checking that, Brian.

I wonder if it just needs to be configured as Infiniti's service manual states to use the CONSULT tool to monitor trans temp when re-filling the trans fluid to get the level right.

 

Do we even have a temperature sensor for trans fluid?

As far as OBDII readers go, I think Uprev's cipher is best. $200 gets you good accurate readings on your laptop. No connection issues or any of that.