OBDLINK causes funny things to happen

[ShadowZ]

Not electrical and not performance so I put it in General.

Ok guys, got a question.

I bought an OBDLink tool so I could use the Torque app and monitor a few extra PIDS we do not have displays for. It works great and then there are a few problems.

First run with it is always flawless. If I leave it plugged in and go for a drive later it has an erratic idle and it feels like there is a ghost on my gas pedal. The it gets really weird, the ESC light comes on (fully disabled, NO NANNY) which is great, but the CEL comes on too and I only get 3rd gear no matter what I try to do until the codes are cleared. But it is a weird code that has no meaning other than a network error.

Anyone experienced this? Is this actually causing a control issue, or is it a potential back door into the ECUs programming?

 

[kpxnsfcxkp]

Not electrical and not performance so I put it in General.

Ok guys, got a question.

I bought an OBDLink tool so I could use the Torque app and monitor a few extra PIDS we do not have displays for. It works great and then there are a few problems.

First run with it is always flawless. If I leave it plugged in and go for a drive later it has an erratic idle and it feels like there is a ghost on my gas pedal. The it gets really weird, the ESC light comes on (fully disabled, NO NANNY) which is great, but the CEL comes on too and I only get 3rd gear no matter what I try to do until the codes are cleared. But it is a weird code that has no meaning other than a network error.

Anyone experienced this? Is this actually causing a control issue, or is it a potential back door into the ECUs programming?

From your description, it sounds like the OBDlink is messing up the CAN communication and putting the car in limp mode. It does not have the potential to program an ECU. It is just causing CAN communication error, that's all. All though, it should not damage anything, I would not use that on my car if it keeps giving me those symtoms. I hope this helps.

 

[ShadowZ]

It helps, and I figured it was a CAN error.

I only use it for first run cycle now and unplug it in between.