Every modern car has a diagnostic port called OBD-II (On-Board Diagnostics ver. 2) which enables external devices to communicate with the ECU - the brain of the car.
Well, if your vehicle is brand-new there is no real reason to peek under the hood but if it's a second-hand then one should be prepared to encounter all sort of problems used cars might run into... with the help of live data and logged failure codes the reparation just got a small step easier.
On eBay you can find cheap bluetooth OBD-II adapter (like the ELM327) that make a perfect match with any smart-phone with proper software installed on it.
I have an Android phone and there are quite many applications just for this purpose. Most notable perhaps is the Torque by Ian Hawkins.
As modern phones have an impressive assortment of on-board sensors, it makes it a perfect drive-computer and allows all sorts of analysis be made in real time and later on, based on collected data.
Just to name a few:
- engine load (%)
- turbo pressure (kPa)
- in-take air pressure and temp
- fuel consumption (l/100 km)
- speed by ECU
- throttle position
- acceleration
- speed, direction and position (GPS)
Software on a smart-phone nicely bundles it all together and is capable of keeping a log file with for example 1 second interval.
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