OBD 2 dongle and phone app

Looking for a good dongle and app that can display data like coolant temp and oil pressure in real time while the engine is running. Anybody have any suggestions?

 

I don't think you can monitor oil pressure on the 2nd Gen truck.
It's mechanical. If the pressure gets too low, it just grounds the light for the oil pressure warning light.
It's basically a dummy light. It doesn't monitor pressure at all. Once the light comes on, it's too late for the most part.

You have to physically tap into the oil system if you want live oil pressure data.

 

Yep, I never saw anywhere to display oil pressure.

Engine coolant, automatic transmission pan and torque converter temps are available though.

 

Thanks for that information. The oil pressure was merely meant to be an example of the kids of real time data I would be looking for. I just like the idea of being able to see more vehicle information while driving if I wanted to in a quick glance.

Not looking to do any other big modifications for extra data other than a plug in dongle and maybe download/setup an app on my phone.

 

For the annoyance of connecting the phone and opening the app every time, I’d recommend getting a dedicated device like the Ultragauge instead.

 

I thought about that, but after looking at the pros and cons and how often I would actually use the real time data I decided a dongle and app would be the way for me to go. Most the time I think will just use my phone for streaming music like I typically do.

 

As long as your phone is Android based go with the Torque app. I've been using it for years on multiple cars as a code reader and to monitor engine functions. As stated above it will not monitor oil pressure on a lot of Toyota cars since it is a dummy light with trigger only. I run it on a tablet in one of my vehicles, the rest I just throw it up on my phone which is on a mount to keep it in line of site.

 

The only real downside I’ve found with an app is that it’s only as good as long as the app is supported (aside from fees and ads). Once it’s not, you’ve got a paperweight and a true device may be your next option.

I ended up grabbing a BlueDriver (https://us.bluedriver.com/pages/bluedriver), no ads / fees, as a Cyber Monday Deal. Here’s to hoping it works out.

 

This is very much what I had in mind!

Did you have to buy a specific dongle for your OBD2 port?

 

No, any generic dongle seems to work fine for it. I've used a couple different ones and had no issue with any of them.

 

So I ordered a dongle and bought the torque pro app (like five bucks I think). Set up ready to go with no tools in less than 20 minutes. It was awesome!

I didn't realize just how much more information my truck could tell me until I did this mod. Utilizing the phones other capabilities to help augment also was a really cool feature.

I do like how it allows you to find tune some of the values of information you have to help it be more accurate, but as it comes it's awesome.

Highly recommend.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1718187-what-i-use-for-obd2-scanner.html

what i use

 

Forgot to mention....the torque pro app will sync to the Bluetooth enabled OBD2 reader and still sync to my aftermarket head unit simultaneously so that I can have the new "gauges" working with my music streaming all at the same time.