Hi,
I've been using the torque app my phone to monitor my truck. The problem I'm having with them is they keep dieing. Plug it in monitor truck for about two weeks then magically they can no longer connect to my phone. I've owned the truck for just over a month and two have died. One was an obdlink mx. And the other a bafx products one. So they weren't cheap.

So I'm wondering, could my truck be some sort of monitor murdering monster? Or do I just have bad karma? On a more serious note, could my truck be sending some sort of voltage spike down the obdii interface that is killing these things? I wouldn't be super concerned except that I bought a live wire monitor for it. And I'd prefer not to let my truck murder that as well.

Thanks
Joe

 

Did you try restarting the phone?

 

When the failure to connect occurs, I assume you tried unplugging the adapter and plugging it back in. Did you try to start with a fresh pairing? Has your phone been doing a lot of updates lately and maybe needs a reboot? Have you tried to another portable device or laptop with the BT adapter?

 

Tried the fresh pairing. The cable company unplug. Restarting phone. All three together. Reinstalling the torque app. Nothing worked. The bafx one used to have all kinds of flashy lights when I plug it in. Now it's just the red one. And my phone can't even find it's existence. I randomly tried the obd link mx again yesterday. And it worked for about 10 miles. Then stopped updating values and again couldn't get it to reconnect with any combo of the aforementioned trouble shooting techniques.

 

It's very weird that you lost two very different OBDII adapters of good quality. I can't speak to the BAFX unit losing its lights - this lends itself to suspicion of a bad connection (like a ground somewhere) a PCM issue, or a fluke bad adapter. The MX working then not lends itself to maybe the portable device having issues or the items that sabotaged the BAFX. Since the MX still wants to work, I'd do some troubleshooting on the vehicle connections before clicking any more shopping cart buttons.

Do you have any other Bluetooth items running at the same time in the vehicle? Is the phone the only item paired to the adapter? Is the adapter the only item paired to the phone? I'm thinking if you're trying to do the OBDII thing and the phone decides to link with the head unit, another phone, or a wireless microphone - the phone may freak out.

I use a tablet with my OBDLink MX, and its connection is exclusive to the adapter - I even disable the WiFi while driving (automatic feature available in Torque Pro).