Ok can someone explain to me how this torque thing works? I'm not understanding all the numbers & what to do with them.
Just my perspective on this...
Torque Pro is an Android app that connects with a separate Bluetooth/OBD adapter to collect and display info from the (for us with Ford Owner's) Power Control Module (ECU). So it can display any info that the PCM "see's" in a GUI gauge display. In the app, you can select a vehicle profile linked to a dashboard kind of display, so that when it starts, it will go back to those settings. PID's are ways that it talks to the computer and translates it into a usuable gauge "control." (So we can read it and it be accurate.) It remembers what profile was selected/used last and will restart with that last profile. A dashboard, is the page that you setup with the GUI gauge (controls) that you link a style of guage, with a PID, that polls the PCM for specific data about a specific thing. It was originally written for OBDII controlled, basic gasoline vehicles and had basic PID defintions for the commonly accepted OBDII standards.
What this thread means to us, with Older Ford Diesels... was at first a challenge. Powerstrokes are not the normal vehicle. Ford uses it's own way of talking and translating info from it's computer. These Extended Ford PID's were first translated for the 6.0l powerstroke, by some 6.0l PSD owner's elsewhere on this forum and on the torque forum.
MJ and another person, translated most of the PID's for the 7.3l... and the early OSB 7.3l's... OSB's are different animals. They had different injector types, different sensors, an IDM instead of the FCIM... and the computers were not as smart and controlled less things (saw less info). Example, OBS'es, the PSM doesn't see the Coolant temp... that goes straight to a gauge for us. It is
almost completely working for us. It is a real handy app. It is also easy to use.
Along side this, there are owners of other makes of cars (asian, european, etc.) that are developing the translations to their specific makes of cars.
I have a GPS mount from my window, leave my BT/OBD adapter plugged into my truck... and when I get into it, I mount and plug my phone into power, press the Torque Icon... and have my app configured to start in a dashboard. So when it starts, my truck has it's pages of gauges up. Want to look at a different page of gauges, I swipe the screen.
My cost of the whole setup was about $20. My mechanical gauges where $250 and are only 3 gauges... I have Autoenginuity, that will show visual data gauges, but was just under $400 (besides the laptop). So, yes, this is a low-cost alternative, that is very useful.
The diagnostics part of it (the OBDII scanner) will show ODB error codes, but not much else. You cannot do a buzz test with it. (But there is another android app that will... Car Gauge Pro) The gauges themselves are a diagnostic goldmine to show me what is going on
when it happens.
It also has a data-logging feature, where you can capture the data, to track down things going on... And not have to watch it "when it happens" to see what is going on.
So yes, a low-cost solution that will provide you with some very power tools. IMHO, even if you just use it as GUI gauges, you can't beat the price. I picked up a phone for free, when a friend upgraded theirs. No service? No problem. Wireless updates when I am home.
The extended PID's that MJ and others are getting worked out, at the moment, have to be added/entered and saved in the Extended PID Editor manually. Once they are worked out and work, then mj could submit them to the author of the app, to be included in the Extended Ford PID file, so those particular items could just be selected from the list... and there would be no manual work required of new users. That is the goal, right?
On the other (off-topic)- The Adjuster just left. They are fixing my truck, including replacing my mechanical gauges, the PHP Hydra Chip and paying for my custom tunes. Big load off me. I was
really stressing me out last night when the Claims clerk mentioned the possibility of being "Totaled!!!" Which brings to mind... How do I do "mods and upgrades" and insure that it's protected? I'm thinking on burglar alarms, booby traps, cutoff switches, a blank tune position and such... but Insurance-wise? Just something more for me to think about.
nce you have those you download the ford pid package which mostly consists or gauges that work for 6.0 .
