[Osodog]

I feel like my 4 month old. I got a new toy, got very excited with all the blinking lights and noises but do not really understand what is going on. I just received and hooked up my OBD-2 software tool from www.obd-2.com and went for a drive last night. I did a few hard runs, collecting the data the entire time. That's the easy part. The hard part is interpreting the data and trying to determine what, if anything, it tells me about my car

. Anyone have experience with this?

I googled for any online resources and did not find anything valuable. There are some books on Amazon.com but those did not get the best reviews. I feel that my car is not giving me all the power it can but am not having any luck determing if that is for sure and if so, where the problem may be.

Thanks.

 

[DavidS]

Obd-II data is fun! I am also trying to gain understanding of performance metrics via OBD-II. Let´s cooperate!

I´ve posted descriptions of tests you might want to try with your scan-tool:

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=54788

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=54189

David

 

[XrayMD]

Speaking from experience (I own several OBD-II scan/reset/graphing tools/programs) there is a difference in the data depending upon whether you have a BMW-specific reader or just a generic OBD-II reader. I highly recommend the tool from Peake Research. It will give you codes specific to the particular engine model in your BMW and the explanation of the codes is more specific than with a generic reader. It's small enough to keep in you car and can be used to reset your SES light and service interval lights. :cheers: