Hey just curious if anyone was able to use the ELM 327 cheap obd2 bluetooth code reader with the h2. I tried it on mine and just wouldn't communicate with ECU. Wondering if someone found a way to get it working.

 

I've had no less than 5 different ones and have had most in the h2 with no issues,

Neal

 

Might just be too cheap.... The generic ones are hit and miss but for under $10 what do you expect. I have one and using it with Torque and works great on my 2003. Also work in at least a dozen other vehicles that I've tried at on. I did have a bad one at one point too that I eventually gave up on and tossed.

 

The are a lot of cheap Elm copies out there, I had exactly the same experience, ended-up buying from a more reliable source.

Just not that the ELM is very limited in its command-set so not all functions are accessible, use mine mainly for reading / clearing fault codes, Android Torque being the best APP in my opinion.

 

I had one which worked great but when I upgraded my phone it stopped working for some reason.

 

Thanks guys. Mine works fine on all other vehicles. 17' Durango 16' rover sport. Just acts up with the hummer. I'm going to buy another one and try it maybe just this doesnt work with my ecu or maybe worst something is wrong with the obd2 port.

 

Check the lighter fuse.... that also provides power to the OBD port.

 

I have tried a few ELM 327 readers (given they were all identical looking, just bought from different sellers... so it is possible they are the same kind)
I tried them on multiple vehicles from multiple manufacturers (domestic and foreign)
I have used both Carista (Free version) and Torque (Free and Paid version)

And every time I have had success
It clears codes, tells me codes, and allows me various other options.

Given it is not a 1200 dollar Mac tool or Autel, but it will definitely do the trick for us shade tree mechanics, or for those of us that want to know what is wrong with the vehicle before bringing it in to a professional (so not to get ripped off)

Not bad for basically 10-15 dollars

 

Take a look at this article ELM327 - Wikipedia it explains why some ELM's dont work so well, look at the "Pirate clones" section.

 

This got me curious since I have not looked at a new one in several years. A couple of pages I just read state that pretty much all of the super cheap ones out now are buggy junk and can potentially even cause vehicle problems in some cases. Looking at the actual Elm Electronics web site a genuine ELM327 chip starts at over $12 each for their oldest 1.3a version in bulk quantities while their newer 2.2 version starts at $15 per chip. That is just for the bare chip, a manufacturer still has to then put the full circuit board together with other chips for bluetooth, power regulation, etc, packaging, plastic housing, OBD connector, and whatnot. So the point is, if it is less than $20 it would be safe to assume that it could not possibly have a genuine ELM327 chip inside but rather a clone chip with the very old ELM327 1.0 hacked firmware (that is the only firmware that was released in a way that it can be cloned).

That being said, one guy does state that the older cheapo adapters that were labelled as v1.4 and v1.5 were actually very well made and supported 90% of the commands even though they are still based on the early 1.0 hacked firmware. I actually just looked at the one I've had for years and it is labelled as version 1.5. That being said I'm probably going to get a newer one with a genuine ELM327 v2.2 chip inside.

https://www.carscanner.info/choosing-obdii-adapter/
https://incardoc.com/en-us/thread/At...oth-adapters-/

Couple more links with interesting reading above...