Scanguage

Can someone give me the quick down and dirty as to the beneficial reason behind using a scanguage? What am I gaining by having the information from it and what information from it is important that I should monitor?

I have not gotten one yet but it seems to be something that is a recommended purchase.

 

I've got one. Unfortunately no one has found the trans temp codes for the 3rd gen yet which is mostly what I wanted it for. You can pretty much put anything on it you'd like as long as you've got the code and there are quite a few preconfigured metrics you can use.

 

What do you use yours for other than the trans temp that we dont know the code for yet?

 

I have an older scangauge and I find it very useful to keep an eye on things. I tend to have it display RPM water temp intake air temp and MPH as my speedo is a little off with larger tires

 

I have a scantool bt adapter, but still waiting for trans temp and oil temp pids.

 

I've got one in my other vehicle and I use it all the time. I'm struggling to find a use for it in the Tacoma.

In my other car:

- I use it to show water temperature (the WT gauge is notoriously non-linear ) which helps me monitor warm-up and know when I can start being "more enthusiastic". That's less of a concern with the Tacoma

- Intake Air Temperature which has a significant impact on engine performance in that particular car. I also use it as a rough idea of outside air/road temperature to estimate tire traction. The Tacoma has an outside temperature gauge so this is less important.

- Instantaneous gas mileage: Tacoma already has this (though in bar graph instead of raw numbers)

- Trip gas mileage: Tacoma already has this

Also, I use it to calculate estimated miles to empty and tank MPGs, but again, that's already available in the Tacoma and I don't have to enter the number of gallons I bought each time I fill up. The SG also will calculate price per mile etc. I'm not sure if the Tacoma does that, but I don't even want to know so I never look at the SG for that information.

I think trans temp and oil temp are the "killer apps" for the SG in the Tacoma. Until someone finds them, I don't see that much use for the SG. So I vote "No" for now.


I have a $20 handheld OBDII reader and both a Bluetooth (not Apple) and WiFi (Apple) dongles and apps. If I wanted to be smart, I would download a list of common codes to my phone so if I'm out in the boonies I would have a rough idea of what the code I'm getting means.

Even though I have 3 (4 if you count the SG) code readers, the one time I needed one they were all at home. Keep one in your truck for you and you friends.

 

I have a code scanner but trying to figure out why should have a scanguage

Good idea to keep one in the truck. I have an OBD2 scanner. I will probably pick up a BT scanner and an app so I always have something.