Problems with OBDII Bluetooth Reader

[arsin225]

Hello all.

I had a problem I thought I caused when I was installing my auto-starter. My PIC (Panel Instrument Cluster) would blink and sometimes turn off while driving. I coined this problem to myself shorting the ignition wire to the chassis, which gave me a CEL stating I lost communications to the PIC. I tried to make everything 'stock' by removing any additional wiring and still had the issue. What I didn't remove was the OBDII reader, some generic ELM327 bluetooth adapter.

I took out the OBDII reader and have been driving for 2mo+ without the issue. Now that issue wasn't repeatable because I didn't know the cause, but from a time test I'd have that issue every month sometimes 2-days consecutively. I talked to a mechanic who told me some of these generic OBDII readers can screw around with your ECU, he also suggested I remove it.

I had another problem that might be related again, where my ODBII reader screwed up. I created a thread where I thought the orientation of my car was causing an issue for me starting my car. I pinned the problem to "My fuel injector wire was wet", as this cable was in 'storage' in my battery tray till I fixed the issue. I'm not sure if the OBD reader cause that issue too, but so far it's been smooth sailing.


Has anyone had similar problems? I'm using Torque (Android), but all the times it screwed up I didn't have the app running. I just left it plugged in so I didn't have to keep track of where it was in my garage.

[r4BBiT]

I have elm327 plugged in most of the time and does not cause any issues.

[ryan2.3]

same, i have mine plugged in both cars all the time without issue. Also depending on what kind of reader you're using, it likely doesn't have write access to your vehicle and cause issues. At most you may be able to send commands via terminal app to read data back as well. My parents had a volvo 850 T5 with a broken odometer. I used the a free terminal android app and was able to send commands to the ECU to pull the mileage as stored, since the mechanical odometer was broken.

throw it back in, if the problems start back up again, it may be something off in it, perhaps poor wiring causing some kind of short. If you're worried about losing it in your garage, just unplug it and keep it in your door card to be used as needed for DTCs

[arsin225]

Plugged in for two weeks, problem appeared again. Flickering dash and/or traction control light. As usual happened 3-4 times in a row, while the car was running I reseated the connector. After that no issues, I feel like it's a coincidence though. Gotdam gremlins.

I'm going to clean my chassis ground, with it plugged in and wait again. If I go 2mo without problems I'll deem my car 'good'. I don't think it would be a dirty chassis ground causing an issue, as I expect more features to flicker, no just the PIC. Here I go again.