OBD scanners and coding vehicle options

[Steve in Chester]

Hello everyone, first post. 
 

I’ve recently bought an OBDLink MX+ Bluetooth OBD adapter and downloaded the Car Scanner app onto my iPhone. 
 

This combination is compatible with my 2008 3.5 V6 Alphard.

 

Using the Car Scanner app I have been able to deactivate the seat belt warning on the drivers and passengers sides and set the automatic headlight delay from normal to long. 
 

The auto headlights are too sensitive and sometimes flash on off when driving under bridges, hopefully the long setting will stop this. 

As for seat belt warnings, can’t adults make their own decisions? 
 

There are a lot more options but I think it’s wise to change only a few at a time, drive the car for a few days to check everything’s ok, then make any more changes. 
 

If anyone else is thinking of this, buy a decent OBD dongle, make sure to press the engine run button twice without pressing the brake pedal (ignition on, engine off), disconnect the app before unplugging and finally, the Car Scanner app allows 3 changes before you need to pay for the pro version. 
 

I plan on making more changes so I’ll buy the pro version and keep you posted. 
 

Regards,

 

Steve. 

Edited July 1, 2022 by Steve in Chester
Spelling.

[Steve in Chester]

I should of added:

 

In the Car Scanner app the connection profile I selected was “Toyota JOBD JDM CAN”.

 

Regards,

 

Steve. 

[Chris.ac]

I set the sliding doors to single beep when closing, and all Windows open close with long press on external door handle button or remote

[Steve in Chester]

That’s a good feature.

 

I’ll look into the windows opening and closing on the remote. 

[Rojie]

1 hour ago, Steve in Chester said:

Hello everyone, first post. 
 

I’ve recently bought an OBDLink MX+ Bluetooth OBD adapter and downloaded the Car Scanner app onto my iPhone. 
 

This combination is compatible with my 2008 3.5 V6 Alphard.

 

Using the Car Scanner app I have been able to deactivate the seat belt warning on the drivers and passengers sides and set the automatic headlight delay from normal to long. 
 

The auto headlights are too sensitive and sometimes flash on off when driving under bridges, hopefully the long setting will stop this. 

As for seat belt warnings, can’t adults make their own decisions? 
 

There are a lot more options but I think it’s wise to change only a few at a time, drive the car for a few days to check everything’s ok, then make any more changes. 
 

If anyone else is thinking of this, buy a decent OBD dongle, make sure to press the engine run button twice without pressing the brake pedal (ignition on, engine off), disconnect the app before unplugging and finally, the Car Scanner app allows 3 changes before you need to pay for the pro version. 
 

I plan on making more changes so I’ll buy the pro version on keep you posted. 
 

Regards,

 

Steve. 

 

The seatbelt warning may be a legal requirement in Japan.

[Voodoo101]

I don't mind the seatbelt warning. My last car used to chime until both the driver and passenger put seat belts on. At least the Vellfire just flashes a red light.

 

Do you know what other options can be changed?

[Steve in Chester]

The Alphard was beeping constantly if I put too much stuff on the passenger seat which was annoying. 
 

My last car was from the 90’s and didn’t beep for anything! That was a Toyota too!

 

I’ll do some screenshots of the options over the weekend, there were quite a few. 

[mick85]

Hey Steve, what Car Scanner app did you get for the iPhone? I have an Android phone and theres loads when searching for Car Scanner, wondering if the developer of the app you are using also publishes it to the Android store as well? thanks

[Steve in Chester]

Hi Mick,

 

the developer has a website which has quite a lot of info on it: 

https://www.carscanner.info

the iOS app is here:

https://itunes.apple.com/app/car-scanner-elm-obd2/id1259933623?mt=8

 

and the android app is here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ovz.carscanner

I paid £5.99 for the “pro” version as the free version only allows 3 changes to be made but at least you can check it works for free before paying. 
 

I’ve not used any others to compare it with. 

[mick85]

thanks mate, I'll take a look, intersted to see what features it offers, but not sure if it's also limited by the OBD device you use as well, but will do some Googling.

Edited July 2, 2022 by mick85

[Steve in Chester]

I spent a bit of time going though the screens today in the car scanner app. 
 

I’ll attach some screenshots of the various options. 
 

This is what I see when I’ve got the app paired to the car. 



I click coding and service and get this warning. 

 

 

Click yes and I get this. 
 

 

Then within these options are the following. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously, it will be different for other models but that is what I see for mine. 
 

I can now open and shut all the windows remotely from the key fob, which is nice. 

[Steve in Chester]

On the setting screen make sure you have the correct connection profile too. 
 

[mick85]

Nice one, thanks very much for the level of detail and screenshots, think I'll pick one up 

[Voodoo101]

This looks excellent. Thanks for the time taking the screen shots. There are a few options on their that I think should have been done already, but maybe Toyota Japan sells them as options. 

[Steve in Chester]

Some of them don’t make sense for my car. 
 

Such as, I don’t have a sun roof but I can be warned if it’s left open. I guess it’s a standard list for the model. 
 

I don’t have door handle lights or doorknob lights, whatever they are. 
 

 

 

[arthurj]

I have a Veepeak OBDCheck BLE+ dongle which I got for cheap off AliExpress, but never used it because CarScanner refused to connect to it properly. However they must have issued an update because it now seems to work! I can see more-or-less the same options that Steve showed.

 

What I really want to do is turn off the reversing beep. I guess I need Techstream for that.

[Steve in Chester]

I wonder if it goes off if you turn the reversing sensors off. I haven’t tried that. 
 

Mind you, the sensors are handy. 
 

[Voodoo101]

On 7/5/2022 at 12:26 PM, arthurj said:

I have a Veepeak OBDCheck BLE+ dongle which I got for cheap off AliExpress, but never used it because CarScanner refused to connect to it properly. However they must have issued an update because it now seems to work! I can see more-or-less the same options that Steve showed.

 

What I really want to do is turn off the reversing beep. I guess I need Techstream for that.

 Hi James

 

How do you get on with the Veepeak OBD, does it allow you to change the settings. The OBDLink MX+ is about three times the price and in these days fuel being silly prices, every thing I can save on helps.

 

Thanks

[arthurj]

21 minutes ago, Voodoo101 said:

 Hi James

 

How do you get on with the Veepeak OBD, does it allow you to change the settings. The OBDLink MX+ is about three times the price and in these days fuel being silly prices, every thing I can save on helps.

 

Thanks

It seems to work ok. I can see the same settings as shown above and I’ve successfully changed some of them, but only in CarScanner. I tried MotorData OBD on iOS and it won’t connect to the Veepeak at all. MotorData allegedly has better Hybrid info but if CarScanner works for you then the Veepeak may be a good option.

[Voodoo101]

13 minutes ago, arthurj said:

It seems to work ok. I can see the same settings as shown above and I’ve successfully changed some of them, but only in CarScanner. I tried MotorData OBD on iOS and it won’t connect to the Veepeak at all. MotorData allegedly has better Hybrid info but if CarScanner works for you then the Veepeak may be a good option.

Thats great thanks. I can get the carscanner app on my Android phone.

[Chris.ac]

On 7/3/2022 at 11:32 PM, Steve in Chester said:

Some of them don’t make sense for my car. 
 

Such as, I don’t have a sun roof but I can be warned if it’s left open. I guess it’s a standard list for the model. 
 

I don’t have door handle lights or doorknob lights, whatever they are. 
 

 

 

Door handle lights are actually behind the pull handles, I have seen these sold on aliexpress, so may have been an option of the 's' model (that had lots of LED lighting under consoles etc.

[Voodoo101]

Finally got an ODB reader, the Veepeak one as it was a half the price of the OBDLink MX, and even less cause I found a second hand one on Ebay, Then I realised that CarScanner has a limit on what you can change without paying.

 

Then it got me thinking. I used to have a new Mercedes A-Class (the one with the MBUX system) and a lot of options was available in the on the touch screen, such as interior light time, central locking, windows, etc. So I wonder if the original Japanese system also had these options built in, or if these where dealer options. I once had an older car that had all the connections behind the dash to upgrade, just needed the right parts and you could have dealer fitted options at a fraction of the price.

[arthurj]

I've dug into every option on my head unit (NHZN-X62G) with Google Translate and haven't found those options, even in the maintenance mode. It can read and display a lot of data about the car that CarScanner shows, it looks like it could even order parts and book a service at the touch of a button if the G-Book stuff still worked, but you can only change settings for the head unit itself, not any of the configuration options you get in CarScanner. Or at least I haven't found a way.

 

I bought a cheapo J2534 cable for Techstream off eBay, hoping it would give me more options including disabling the reverse beep. Unfortunately it only shows the same configurable options that CarScanner does, in a more inconvenient way.

[Steve in Chester]

3 hours ago, arthurj said:

 

I've dug into every option on my head unit (NHZN-X62G) with Google Translate and haven't found those options, even in the maintenance mode.

 

I’ll second that, you can get rid of most of the Japanese lady’s “conversation starters” though. 
 

When I gave someone a lift they asked me if the radio stations would be in Japanese! 

[Voodoo101]

I was hoping that there was an option on car scanner to stop the central locking activating when you start driving, but no option for that either.