Dashboss useless, what to replace it with
Tuned
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 259
Likes: 37
From: South Dakota
I use Torque Pro with a few different Android devices and it works well for the most part.
Occasionally, I sometimes have connectivity or communication issues but that's due to having multiple devices in the vehicle that I've had Torque Pro downloaded on and they have their bluetooth on so they're all trying to connect to the the same adapter and it's trying to figure out which one to "talk" to.
Can't really fault Torque Pro for that.
Although it's true that you would have to manually add a few PIDs like Delta (difference between engine coolant temp and engine oil temp), FICM Sync, Oil temp (I can't remember if this one is included and it's NOT the same as Delta) and I think another one related to a crank sensor or ICP voltage, it has "most" of the sensor readings already loaded in the app.
You just have to load the "Ford (incl Powerstroke) list.
Someone else mentioned that if you have Apple devices, you would have to check to make sure you're getting the proper type of adapter that communicates with your Apple device as I think they use Wifi communication AND NOT bluetooth like Android devices.
Even though you wouldn't really have a modem or router in your vehicle, this is the form of communication that it works with for Apple (that I read somewhere). So, since someone else mentioned it as well, I would suspect this to be true. Bismic (Mark) could probably confirm this since he uses Apple devices.
The good thing is, the Torque Pro app is only about $5 and adapters can be found for as little as $10 to $15 on Ebay or Amazon. Regardless of what you decide on, it would be a good idea to have as a backup at the very least.
I don't think you can monitor things like EGT or fuel pressure though which would obviously be nice to do with the app. So, you would have to get those 2 separate gauges at least. Perhaps someone has figured out a way to do this with the app though. ("Anyone....Bueller"?)
As someone mentioned, Torque Pro does have alarms you can set up to blink or make noise and even change color if you want and you can set your parameters (minimum or maximum values) for when they go off. I know there is speech recognition as well so you could probably have that set if you want but that may get annoying if you have more than one going off at the same time or it doesn't shut up until you get below the limit or minimum alarm setting.
You can make some changes to whether the alarm can self reset if it's met the tolerance value for at least 7 seconds and change the alarm notification sound.
You can customize the app almost any way you want with different background layouts, gauge types (1/2 or full dial displays with meters or needles, bar displays, graphs, digital displays, and so on), sizes of displays, amount of screens, read fault codes, run tests, do acceleration times like 1/4 mile (and others), and more. There's so much to the app, it's really amazing.
I'll post a link to a video of me using it with a tablet and I'll try to post the link taking you to a time in the video where I have some alarms going off so you can see that. In the layout I have (one of the stock layouts), I'm using the small gauge sizes and even they are pretty large for a tablet. The different sizes are: tiny, small, medium, large, larger, extra large. I have since added 6 more "tiny" gauges on the right hand part of the screen. So, you could probably fill up the entire screen with probably around 36 to 40 different sensors if you really wanted to.
Typically, I use a smaller Samsung S4 phone with 15 gauges on the screen at a time and it's plenty for what I need. You can scroll to one screen before or after (you can have up to 15) if you need that has a different set of gauges on it (that you can decide) if you need more.
You can also do data logging, graphing, and more.
Here are some links to some of the Torque Pro threads with the first one probably being the better one and more recent. It's been a while since I looked at the other ones so not sure how much they have but here you go:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...stom-pids.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-pro-help.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...e-pro-app.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...e-pro-app.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ew-gauges.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...orque-pro.html
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On my layout, the top left gauge is "boost" and the one right below it is "map". You'll see they both start blinking at or above 17 PSI.
It starts doing this just a few seconds at where I started the video link and at the 14:54 mark where I accelerate more.
Occasionally, I sometimes have connectivity or communication issues but that's due to having multiple devices in the vehicle that I've had Torque Pro downloaded on and they have their bluetooth on so they're all trying to connect to the the same adapter and it's trying to figure out which one to "talk" to.
Can't really fault Torque Pro for that.
Although it's true that you would have to manually add a few PIDs like Delta (difference between engine coolant temp and engine oil temp), FICM Sync, Oil temp (I can't remember if this one is included and it's NOT the same as Delta) and I think another one related to a crank sensor or ICP voltage, it has "most" of the sensor readings already loaded in the app.
You just have to load the "Ford (incl Powerstroke) list.
Someone else mentioned that if you have Apple devices, you would have to check to make sure you're getting the proper type of adapter that communicates with your Apple device as I think they use Wifi communication AND NOT bluetooth like Android devices.
Even though you wouldn't really have a modem or router in your vehicle, this is the form of communication that it works with for Apple (that I read somewhere). So, since someone else mentioned it as well, I would suspect this to be true. Bismic (Mark) could probably confirm this since he uses Apple devices.
The good thing is, the Torque Pro app is only about $5 and adapters can be found for as little as $10 to $15 on Ebay or Amazon. Regardless of what you decide on, it would be a good idea to have as a backup at the very least.
I don't think you can monitor things like EGT or fuel pressure though which would obviously be nice to do with the app. So, you would have to get those 2 separate gauges at least. Perhaps someone has figured out a way to do this with the app though. ("Anyone....Bueller"?)
As someone mentioned, Torque Pro does have alarms you can set up to blink or make noise and even change color if you want and you can set your parameters (minimum or maximum values) for when they go off. I know there is speech recognition as well so you could probably have that set if you want but that may get annoying if you have more than one going off at the same time or it doesn't shut up until you get below the limit or minimum alarm setting.
You can make some changes to whether the alarm can self reset if it's met the tolerance value for at least 7 seconds and change the alarm notification sound.
You can customize the app almost any way you want with different background layouts, gauge types (1/2 or full dial displays with meters or needles, bar displays, graphs, digital displays, and so on), sizes of displays, amount of screens, read fault codes, run tests, do acceleration times like 1/4 mile (and others), and more. There's so much to the app, it's really amazing.
I'll post a link to a video of me using it with a tablet and I'll try to post the link taking you to a time in the video where I have some alarms going off so you can see that. In the layout I have (one of the stock layouts), I'm using the small gauge sizes and even they are pretty large for a tablet. The different sizes are: tiny, small, medium, large, larger, extra large. I have since added 6 more "tiny" gauges on the right hand part of the screen. So, you could probably fill up the entire screen with probably around 36 to 40 different sensors if you really wanted to.
Typically, I use a smaller Samsung S4 phone with 15 gauges on the screen at a time and it's plenty for what I need. You can scroll to one screen before or after (you can have up to 15) if you need that has a different set of gauges on it (that you can decide) if you need more.
You can also do data logging, graphing, and more.
Here are some links to some of the Torque Pro threads with the first one probably being the better one and more recent. It's been a while since I looked at the other ones so not sure how much they have but here you go:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...stom-pids.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-pro-help.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...e-pro-app.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...e-pro-app.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ew-gauges.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...orque-pro.html
----------
On my layout, the top left gauge is "boost" and the one right below it is "map". You'll see they both start blinking at or above 17 PSI.
It starts doing this just a few seconds at where I started the video link and at the 14:54 mark where I accelerate more.
More Turbo
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 695
Likes: 78
From: Almost Heaven
Yep. Got a new windshield for the truck and the guy broke my CTS 2, but gave me the money to replace it. Called Edge to get a replacement and they said the 3 is what they had. They asked if I was using a backup camera and I said yeah just a $20 one from Amazon that’s worked great for 8 years. “Oh well those old AV cameras aren’t compatible and you’ll need an adapter” turns out the adapter is $120 because it’s usb only connection, or I can buy their camera for $250. Might as well get a $150 amazin special double din with AV input.
not to mention it crashes and all the PIDs weren’t even there
not to mention it crashes and all the PIDs weren’t even there
More Turbo
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 698
Likes: 24
From: Houston, Tx
Maybe? it's just the LCD screen that got cracked. same with my SCT SF3 Tunner this last weekend, luckily I already had the unlimited tow tun uploaded so I'm not screwed when I go to tow.
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Tuned
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 363
Likes: 4
Thank you all so much for your responses. You've given me a lot to look at, and a lot of great information. I think I've got some questions, so I will be back. I've got to re-read through this again carefully, and follow up with some research into these options. Sorry, life and work has me 7-day-a-week swamped right now, so hopefully I'll be back shortly. In the mean time, again, THANK YOU!
Mike
Mike
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TexasGuy001
1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
1
Jan 24, 2007 05:41 AM
