Build R²M 2013 GX 460 Overland Build

[r2m]

I think I have OBDLink working.
I reset the dongle, removed and reinstalled the app on my phone. I traveled to and from my office (last night and this morning).
Started everything over again.
It worked! With TPMS!
Now I'm curious what all gauges you run on yours?
This is what I currently have displayed over several pages of gauges:

• Vehicle Speed (corrected speed)
• All 5 tire pressure
• All 5 tire temperature
• A/T oil temp 1
• A/T oil temp 2
• Coolant temp
• Engine oil temp
• Battery voltage

Anything else that one should probably have handy to look at?
What do you all have and why?

 

[THEOZMAN]

Nope. That was something I specifically asked about from YotaMasters, the shop that did all my work.
The owner and his crew are very avid and hard core wheeler's. When I asked, the owner said that it's something you'll probably never need for the very few times (as of yet, not at all) I'd be fording anything deeper than my hubs.
We just don't get much moisture down here. Some day after I finish all the other little things I post on here that I threaten to do, I'll probably add them, but it's pretty low on the bucket list.

I highly recommend the diff breather extension. my old Xterra got stuck in a running river for like 3 hours while the temp was 25 degrees. Water filled the diff and when the temp dipped to 5 degrees at night the water froze and blew my axle seals. a 30 dollar kit could have saved me 1500 dollars in repairs. it was the first mod I did on my GX when I got it. I put the breather behind the rear driver tail light.

 

[r2m]

I highly recommend the diff breather extension. my old Xterra got stuck in a running river for like 3 hours while the temp was 25 degrees. Water filled the diff and when the temp dipped to 5 degrees at night the water froze and blew my axle seals. a 30 dollar kit could have saved me 1500 dollars in repairs. it was the first mod I did on my GX when I got it. I put the breather behind the rear driver tail light.

I've seen bellows type breathers and read that there is a possibility that one could blow their axle seals from the diff getting too hot, the bellow fully expanded and nowhere for the pressure to release. I can understand pressure buildup if one just caps off the vent, but just how justified are those issues of a closed system with bellows?
I'm more incline to go with something like this:
Amazon product ASIN B00BWTB0WKSimple and don't have to worry if my back end ever winds up deeper in water than my tail lights.
Also, how difficult is it to get to the front diff's vent?

 

[Acrad]

I think I have OBDLink working.
I reset the dongle, removed and reinstalled the app on my phone. I traveled to and from my office (last night and this morning).
Started everything over again.
It worked! With TPMS!
Now I'm curious what all gauges you run on yours?
This is what I currently have displayed over several pages of gauges:

• Vehicle Speed (corrected speed)
• All 5 tire pressure
• All 5 tire temperature
• A/T oil temp 1
• A/T oil temp 2
• Coolant temp
• Engine oil temp
• Battery voltage

Anything else that one should probably have handy to look at?
What do you all have and why?

You can monitor transmission lockup:

Add a Gauge called "Status of the Lock Up"

Location: PID -> Toyota,Lexus, Scion -> Engine and Electronic Controlled Transmission

Lockup = 1

Unlocked= 0

 

[LWC]

I've seen bellows type breathers and read that there is a possibility that one could blow their axle seals from the diff getting too hot, the bellow fully expanded and nowhere for the pressure to release. I can understand pressure buildup if one just caps off the vent, but just how justified are those issues of a closed system with bellows?
I'm more incline to go with something like this:
Amazon product ASIN B00BWTB0WKSimple and don't have to worry if my back end ever winds up deeper in water than my tail lights.
Also, how difficult is it to get to the front diff's vent?

The front breather is between the engine block and the fuse box, it is pretty high already, but as others have discussed, they seem like one way breathers, so if you want your axle to be able to suck in dry air through the breather, as opposed to the axle seal, then you would need a different breather plug. Not sure about the merits of this type of modification though.

IMO you are going to need a bathing suit as well as a young priest and an old priest to sort out the electrical gremlins if you find yourself deep enough that the stock front breather location is not high enough.

Regarding those breather Bellows.....

The bellows are about 4.5" long and 1" in diameter. In other words, their initial volume is about 3.53 in^3. Let's say it can double in length when hot, your bellows now has a total volume of 7 in^3, but, really, only 3.5 in^3 of that is available for thermal expansion.

Assuming your axle has an internal volume of 353 cu-inches (assume 3" diameter axle, 50" long), and that roughly 2/3rds of that volume is taken up by stuff (axles/fluid/lockers/smuggled narcotics), you are left with about 110 in^3 of air that can expand and contract.

If you installed your bellows @ 25C (298K) and a really hot hot diff is 250 F/121 C (394k), then:

V1/T1=V2/T2, (V1/T1)*T2=V2

(110in^3/298K)*394K= 145 in^3

So the air in your axle expands from 110 in^3 to 145 in^3, requiring an extra 35 in^3 of space to accommodate it if it cant just vent.

Although there are a ton of debatable assumptions here, given that the result is that the bellows only offer about 1/10th the space required to accommodate the expansion, I"m thinking that those bellows might be a cure that is more problematic than the disease itself.

 

[Acrad]

Diff Breathers; why you should fit them to your 4WD

Diff breathers should be a must fit modification to all 4WD’s heading off the beaten track. They will save you a bucket load of money; find out more here

www.4wdingaustralia.com

"Why are Diff Breathers important?
Extended diff breathers are extremely important insurance for your 4WD if you drive through water. In essence, when you go through a puddle that is near or above diff height, you are dunking a hot differential into cold water.

When you dunk something hot into cold water, it shrinks, and in the case of a diff, tries to suck air in. If you don’t have extended differential breathers, the line of least resistance is usually through your oil seals or the factory breather."

Transmission and transfer case breathers are around the firewall

Stock front diff breather

 

[r2m]

The front breather is between the engine block and the fuse box, it is pretty high already, but as others have discussed, they seem like one way breathers, so if you want your axle to be able to suck in dry air through the breather, as opposed to the axle seal, then you would need a different breather plug. Not sure about the merits of this type of modification though.

IMO you are going to need a bathing suit as well as a young priest and an old priest to sort out the electrical gremlins if you find yourself deep enough that the stock front breather location is not high enough.

Regarding those breather Bellows.....

The bellows are about 4.5" long and 1" in diameter. In other words, their initial volume is about 3.53 in^3. Let's say it can double in length when hot, your bellows now has a total volume of 7 in^3, but, really, only 3.5 in^3 of that is available for thermal expansion.

Assuming your axle has an internal volume of 353 cu-inches (assume 3" diameter axle, 50" long), and that roughly 2/3rds of that volume is taken up by stuff (axles/fluid/lockers/smuggled narcotics), you are left with about 110 in^3 of air that can expand and contract.

If you installed your bellows @ 25C (298K) and a really hot hot diff is 250 F/121 C (394k), then:

V1/T1=V2/T2, (V1/T1)*T2=V2

(110in^3/298K)*394K= 145 in^3

So the air in your axle expands from 110 in^3 to 145 in^3, requiring an extra 35 in^3 of space to accommodate it if it cant just vent.

Although there are a ton of debatable assumptions here, given that the result is that the bellows only offer about 1/10th the space required to accommodate the expansion, I"m thinking that those bellows might be a cure that is more problematic than the disease itself.

Love hearing another engineers view in quantifiable language!
So, in short I may be leaning towards a vent line rather than bellows.

 

[r2m]

Diff Breathers; why you should fit them to your 4WD

Diff breathers should be a must fit modification to all 4WD’s heading off the beaten track. They will save you a bucket load of money; find out more here

www.4wdingaustralia.com

"Why are Diff Breathers important?
Extended diff breathers are extremely important insurance for your 4WD if you drive through water. In essence, when you go through a puddle that is near or above diff height, you are dunking a hot differential into cold water.

When you dunk something hot into cold water, it shrinks, and in the case of a diff, tries to suck air in. If you don’t have extended differential breathers, the line of least resistance is usually through your oil seals or the factory breather."

Transmission and transfer case breathers are around the firewall

Stock front diff breather

Acrad, are you inferring that the factory breathers should be satisfactory?

 

[r2m]

I've been on the OBDLink forum trying to figure out how I can get the engine telemetry to read along with the TPMS and they finally responded that it can't be done.
The TPMS is on it's own "network" and all the engine stat's are on another "network". You can't have both networks operating at the same time.
So I can be viewing all my tires data (pressure, temp's and more) OR I can view all my engine and trans data, e.g. coolant temp, trans temps, battery, etc.
I can use the OBDLink GPS on both for speedo and such and that can be carried over between both networks.
Other than that, it'll be one or the other. So while on a trail and aired down, I may want to be monitoring my tires and road trips the engine.

Have to admit having each tires pressure in real time is nice when I'm airing up/down with my new airing configuration which has all the tires plugged in at the same time and thus air all at once. I can sit in my warm (or cool) drivers seat and just watch the tire pressure in real time as it gets to where I need it to be. I don't need to be standing outside by my compressor watching the pressure gauge. I have to admit that part is a win/win for me!

Although, from how I'm understanding it, I don't think it's physically possible to have it all from the limitations of Lexus programing.

So for me so far, OBDLink is about a 4

 

[LWC]

Diff Breathers; why you should fit them to your 4WD

Diff breathers should be a must fit modification to all 4WD’s heading off the beaten track. They will save you a bucket load of money; find out more here

www.4wdingaustralia.com

"Why are Diff Breathers important?
Extended diff breathers are extremely important insurance for your 4WD if you drive through water. In essence, when you go through a puddle that is near or above diff height, you are dunking a hot differential into cold water.

When you dunk something hot into cold water, it shrinks, and in the case of a diff, tries to suck air in. If you don’t have extended differential breathers, the line of least resistance is usually through your oil seals or the factory breather."

Transmission and transfer case breathers are around the firewall

Stock front diff breather

I had thought the OEM toyota breathers acted as one way valves (out only) is that not correct?

Acrad, are you inferring that the factory breathers should be satisfactory?

Am curious as well, given you do a lot of boat launches with an extended factory breather, I’d expect you to have seen water in your diff through the axle seals if the factory breather didn’t allow some air to enter the differential as it cooled.

 

[r2m]

Am curious as well, given you do a lot of boat launches with an extended factory breather, I’d expect you to have seen water in your diff through the axle seals if the factory breather didn’t allow some air to enter the differential as it cooled.

I don't have a boat, nor do boat launches. But that's a great point for people who do! What does happen when the back end of their truck is a foot and a half under water???
Although I did do some light fording this past weekend on Millers trail in the San Bernardino mountains this past weekend. But only about a foot deep at the most.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the presence of mind to get some pictures while doing it.

 

[ericm979]

The TPMS is on it's own "network" and all the engine stat's are on another "network". You can't have both networks operating at the same time.
So I can be viewing all my tires data (pressure, temp's and more) OR I can view all my engine and trans data, e.g. coolant temp, trans temps, battery, etc.

Yes and no. The TPMS broadcasts info via radio that you could read directly with the right device. But the car is also receiving that info. That's how it knows to display a warning light when a tire is low. Your OBD2 device should be able to read the TPMS info that the ECU is reading from the wheels, via the OBD2 port.

The tire data codes manufacturer specific codes vs generic codes. Any good OBD2 reader should be able to read at least some manufacturer specific codes.

The Scangauge III has no problem displaying engine and tire data at the same time. There's a simple process to get it to understand manufacturer specific codes (much easier than manually entering them on the scangauge II). There's something like three or four different sets of Toyota TPMS PID codes that the ECU may be sending. I picked the first set from the list and it worked. You may need to try a different set.

 

[r2m]

As noted above, was supposed to go skiing yesterday, but the roads up to Big Bear were red ALL day. Don't know if it was a bad accident or just extreme crowds heading up to all go skiing too.
So my wife and I did a few easy trails since we were by ourselves.
Here's a pic up at the top of Strawberry Lookout. beautiful day up there!

 

[r2m]

Yes and no. The TPMS broadcasts info via radio that you could read directly with the right device. But the car is also receiving that info. That's how it knows to display a warning light when a tire is low. Your OBD2 device should be able to read the TPMS info that the ECU is reading from the wheels, via the OBD2 port.

The tire data codes manufacturer specific codes vs generic codes. Any good OBD2 reader should be able to read at least some manufacturer specific codes.

The Scangauge III has no problem displaying engine and tire data at the same time. There's a simple process to get it to understand manufacturer specific codes (much easier than manually entering them on the scangauge II). There's something like three or four different sets of Toyota TPMS PID codes that the ECU may be sending. I picked the first set from the list and it worked. You may need to try a different set.

I'll give it a try. Wonder if it'll work without being on the Tire Pressure network.
Another BIG ding about OBDLink is the REALLY POOR documentation. Basically all the info available is how to pair the dongle to your phone/device. But there's other features in the app that there's no clue how to do. The only way to find out is to go on to their website's forum and start asking questions and wait till end of day or next day for an answer.

 

[r2m]

I can't remember who on this forum is waiting on a new Bronco, but I just read that Ford is giving a $2,500 incentive to cancel your order (on certain Bronco packages) and either put it towards a 2024 model or other Ford vehicle.

The Bronco is so popular Ford will give you $2,500 to buy another vehicle

Ford is offering a $2,500 incentive to Bronco reservation holders to switch to a different model or Ford vehicle due to parts constraints that are holding up production.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Acrad]

Just posting some FSM data on breather locations...... I'm inclined to think more positives than negatives but seems like a highly debatable topic. I have one but have not installed it.. I've just been extra careful around boat launching the last couple years.

I've been using OBDLink adapter for probably 3-4 years now and asked about the TPMS network issue years back and was given the same explanation. Knowing that Scangauge can see it at the same time is interesting and assuming it is pulling data from TPMS ECU and not the OTA TPMS signals. This is good info to run by their developers again.

I wonder if Scangauge is using different PIDs while connected to Network A?

 

[r2m]

If the OBDLink can ONLY see one network at a time, it would be really nice to have a simple GUI that you just press one button on the menu and it can change networks.
Presently, you have to:
>back out of the gauges
>disconnect from the dongle
>go into settings
>vehicle editor
>enhanced network
>select the network you want
<back
<back
<back
<hit connect to reconnect to the dongle
>then select "Dashboard" which is the gauges.
They REALLY need to do some redesign of the GUI. It just plain sucks.

 

[Acrad]

You need to go into PREFERENCES - GENERAL - PROMPT FOR ECU

I also have “Prompt” selected in the Vehicle editor network selection area

This will prompt you for network at connection to vehicle

This should reduce steps to

>back out of the gauges
>disconnect from the dongle
<hit connect to reconnect to the dongle
>select the network you want
>then select "Dashboard" which is the gauges.

 

[ericm979]

This two network thing is news to me. No OBD device I have used on Toyotas or VWs has mentioned it and it does not match my understanding of how OBD works. I don't think Scangauge is doing anything unusual to read the tire into other than getting the correct PIDs to read it. Techstream can see the tire pressure via OBD too.

If you hunt around on the Scangauge web site and probably other places you'll find lists of PIDs for Toyota tire info. Can you enter PIDs in OBDlink?

PIDs are what the reader uses to request info from the OBD port. The reader needs two things to display data, the PID to get the data and the method to decode it. I.e. tire pressure might be sent back in tenths of Pascals or hundredths of bars or whatever and needs to be converted. The OBD2 port connects to the CAN bus that links all the computers. The computer that has the info will see the PID and return the data on the bus to the OBD port.

 

[r2m]

This two network thing is news to me. No OBD device I have used on Toyotas or VWs has mentioned it and it does not match my understanding of how OBD works. I don't think Scangauge is doing anything unusual to read the tire into other than getting the correct PIDs to read it. Techstream can see the tire pressure via OBD too.

If you hunt around on the Scangauge web site and probably other places you'll find lists of PIDs for Toyota tire info. Can you enter PIDs in OBDlink?

PIDs are what the reader uses to request info from the OBD port. The reader needs two things to display data, the PID to get the data and the method to decode it. I.e. tire pressure might be sent back in tenths of Pascals or hundredths of bars or whatever and needs to be converted. The OBD2 port connects to the CAN bus that links all the computers. The computer that has the info will see the PID and return the data on the bus to the OBD port.

There is a section for "User Defined PIDs" but no instructions on how to create a used PID or how to use it.
It would be great if one could download vehicle specific (other than what the dongle reads) PIDs AND if it worked!