Check Engine light lit up this weekend so I plugged in the OBD dongle and fired up the app at the gas station to see what was what.

P0116 - hmmm... that's a new one to me. Search suggests a 'out of range' reading on the engine coolant temp. Could be a stuck thermostat or a sensor gone bad.



I cleared the code and monitored temps rolling down the highway. I KNOW this one is wrong.



But this looks more like reality...



...and this one is probably accurate.




I ordered up a



Will report back on results but I'm optimistic this will be the correct fix.



The $30 spent between the dongle and app is the best money spent on a D1. Makes diagnosis much easier than otherwise.

 

....and good use of a really old iPhone.

 

If you don't mind me asking, where'd you get your obd II adapter?

 

Pretty much any OBD dongle on Amazon should work. The ability to connect with your device is the biggest hurdle. iPhone likes wifi connectivity. Android devices can use Bluetooth. Buy the OBD dongle with the corresponding capability.

After that, buy an app. I use OBD fusion for iphone (yeah, that is a vintage iphone 4 that I keep in the truck just for these purposes)

Android uses seem to like the 'Torque' app.

 

I use one of the cheaper Bluetooth OBD-II dongles from Amazon. No issues at all so far, but I still unplug it at night to avoid the battery drain. I specifically chose a dongle that uses wifi because I have a Bluetooth GPS antenna that I use for Gaia GPS on my ipad. This way my ipad can connect to both the gps antenna and the obd-II dongle at the same time (I can switch screens or split screen). If I'm using my android phone, the phone can connect to the dongle via wifi and also to the Bluetooth radio transmitter so that I can listen to Spotify via the car speakers.

 

think I will be re purposing my old iphone 4 for the same thing - thats good to know about iphone prefering wifi
What dongle did you purchase?

 

I purchased mine in 2014 at Amazon and the listing is no longer valid. I'd just search Amazon for a "ELM obd wi fi" and choose the one with the best rating. As I understand it, they are pretty generic.

That said, some power down when the ignition is turned off and that means you can leave it in. The one I use does NOT power down and if I leave it plugged in it does drain the battery.

 

Hey there! Great news that you got your OBD port working. I have a WiFi reading that works perfectly on other vehicles but no matter what app I use it won’t connect to my 97 Disco 1. Is this common?

 

It's common when the fuse for the Data Link Connector is blown, Satellite Fuse Box 2, F3 10A.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I checked out the fuses and they're all fine. The OBD reader was turning on before so it's fine power wise, but there is so no data signal it seems.