ELM 327 OBDII & Torque app

[N8rfastback]

Well I went ahead and ordered the elm327 adapter and downloaded torque on my phone...

I have a fishing trip planned for next week and were taking the SHO to pull the boat, so I wanna monitor the car as we drive and see how she handles it. then when I get back I will compare it to around here driving and see what difference it makes.

itll be cool to monitor the temps and engine load, etc while we make the trip.

Ill put up some data here somehow after I get it all figured out.

-Nate

 

[thebigjimsho]

I use it in my V. Great app!

 

[N8rfastback]

Well I got the dongle yesterday and went driving around... got some gauges set up and watched some of the stuff.

During normal driving, going easy on the car:
engine load never really goes over 40% or so
engine stays in vacuum unless you mash the throttle or push it well up over 2k rpm, or it may go up to 1 or 2 psi boost if going up hill and get the engine load up a little bit
cats stay between 1150 and 1250 degrees mostly
water temp is around 185-190 ish...
intake air temp was up around 90 or higher, but it was upper 80's out yesterday so thats believable

it doesnt give me A/F ratio, engine oil temp, or tranny temp, which would be nice to monitor...

i did a couple WOT runs and it does show my boost maxed out around 12psi, engine load at 100%, and i didnt get into it far enough to get a good HP, or torque rating.

 

[N8rfastback]

i did some more driving around today, got some interstate driving in and noticed a few things.

the intake air temp does go down almost all the way to the outside air temp while cruising. The cats also drop in temp to around 1050 or so while cruising on the highway.

my water temp sits right around 185 or so while cruising, and shoots up over 195 pretty easily while sitting in traffic...

I am happy to report that is seems that while driving under normal conditions and not beating on the car, the engine seems to be pretty under-tasked hauling this car around. It definately makes more than enough power and is a good fit for the car. I only mention this cause I have had vehicles in the past where they werent equipped with enough motor and it just seemed the engine was always trying and trying to haul the car around and always seemed bogged down...

-Nate

 

[EcoBrick Bob]

Will be interesting to see what your coolant temps are pulling the boat.

You may want to get a 170 Deg. T-stat from Torrie... It is a pretty cheap fix for high engine temps. If you're careful... you won't lose any coolant.

I saw a 7 - 10 deg drop in temp, plus it goes back to 180 almost immediately when not under load.

 

[N8rfastback]

I'm still not understanding what the 170 thermostat does to keep your temps lower... doesnt it just allow the antifreeze to flow at a lower temp rather than at 180?

 

[typhoon5000]

So when you say boat, I hope you mean jet-ski or dingy considering it's only rated to tow like 1500lbs, right?

I run a ScanGaugeII on my truck and had it on my CV. I love it, gives me oil, coolant and trans temps, which are the main things I want to watch.

 

[N8rfastback]

No this is a 20 ft. flat bottom.

Tongue weight is only around 60 lbs and the whole combo weights around 1500 max...

And the class iii hitch I bought says its good to go on the car for 400 lbs tongue and 4000 lbs trailer weight.

 

[typhoon5000]

Well of course the hitch is rated for it. I had a class III on my CV, but the car was not rated that much. I'm just saying be careful cause you might void your warranty if ford finds out you towed over their rating.

You should've got an EB Flex, you can tow 4500lbs with them

 

[N8rfastback]

well i got back from my trip this morning and the taurus did great!!!

No problem towing the boat whatsoever, it certainly was easy for the car.

I did some comparing over the 20+ hours I had the boat back there.

first five hours of the trip:
maintained 70+ mph... boost was around 5-8 psi on average, engine load around 60-80%, coolant temp was consistently right at 195. MPG was around 14.5, and RPM was up around 2 grand.

second five hours:
maintained 55-60 mph... stayed out of the boost almost completely, engine load under 50%, coolant temp around 195, MPG was 17, and RPM around 1300 or so on average.

last 10 hours or so:
maintained 55-60 mph... kept car in manual mode in 6th gear almost the whole time, (this kept the engine rpm around 1200-1300 with no downshifting going up hills etc... boost was around 1 to 2 psi the whole time, engine load around 50-60%, coolant temp around 195, MPG right around 16.5 or so.

intake air temp and outside air temps were consistently around 64 to 66 degrees, it was all over-night driving so the cool air was nice.

what I have found is that if you can keep your engine load under 50%, you will stay in the vacuum and get the best mileage, the trick is maintaining 60 mph on all terrains (uphill, etc) without downshifting much and kicking the engine load up, forcing boost.

the car performed beautifully, i can see myself using it for more trips for sure, it makes way more power than necessary and gets great mpg for a towing full size car.

-Nate

 

[RedCandySHO]

Not really related to the Elm unit, but what hitch did you put on it? Did you have to cut the rear bumper to install the hitch?

 

[N8rfastback]

i got the curt class III, and it went it easy, no modding required. and the curt hangs down literally as little as possible, some of the other brands are quite bulky and show a lot.

Ill get a couple pics up when I can of the hitch.

-Nate

 

[RedCandySHO]

Cool. Would love to see some photos. I need a hitch to tow a small utility trailer occasionally. No real weight, but I didn't want to hack up the back end for the convenience of having a hitch.

 

[N8rfastback]

Heres the pics I promised a while back...

 

[RedCandySHO]

Wow....fits under there pretty good. Thanks.

 

[N8rfastback]

yea it tucks up under there really good. even the people that see the car all the time didnt notice I had it.

 

[SHOrod]

Looks very similar to the Hidden Hitch on my SHO, except the receiver cover doesn't say "Curt".

-Rod

 

[N8rfastback]

yea it looks very similar. Mine is a Curt hitch though, they may be made by the same company, who knows.