Torque app accuracy?

[cyclist916]

Well, it was sort of a bust. It seemed to give an accurate instant MPG reading, but the average MPG just kept on rising, and the fuel used reading stayed the same at one point. The other readings are valuable, mainly the vacuum gauge. I just turned it off after a while, because at freeway speeds it's really just keeping your speed down that results in good milage, at least the with auto transmission that I have.

[xIZx]

Yes consider getting the purchased version. I would notice with the free version, that at idle or at stops, MPG stayed the same and wasn't deducted from the average MPG reading. But with the purchased version it would calculate the fuel consumed at idle, which would be more realistic as fuel is still used at a complete stop.

[cyclist916]

Originally Posted by xIZx

Yes consider getting the purchased version. I would notice with the free version, that at idle or at stops, MPG stayed the same and wasn't deducted from the average MPG reading. But with the purchased version it would calculate the fuel consumed at idle, which would be more realistic as fuel is still used at a complete stop.

But I DO have Torque Pro, and this wasn't at a stop, this was at steady highway speed.
I also have "enhanced MPG calculation" turned on, but will try it with this off, because I read that this can actually skew the reading sometimes.

[Fat Charlie]

Go to the Torque forum and ask about it. A year ago when I was there, Ian was quite responsive and always tweaking the app.

[serialk11r]

I just got my OBDII adapter today and bought the full version of Torque. The gauges are super super nifty, but I don't know if they're accurate. There do seem to be manual correction "multipliers" for just about everything though, which is good.

However, my question would be, why does it matter? Fuel efficiency is not absolute, it's relative. As long as the app can tell you the correct lambda, load, and instantaneous fuel consumption (approximately), who cares about the actual mpg reading? I have my "main screen" set for fuel economy driving, with a bunch of less important indicators in "tiny" size sitting in the corner, and big displays for load, lambda, mpg. Drive so that lambda doesn't dip too far below 1 but load is high whenever possible, watch the mpg gauge in steady state cruise to determine the best course of action.

[cyclist916]

What is Lambda?

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by cyclist916

What is Lambda?

Oxygen equivalence ratio (I think that's the correct chemistry term for it).

<1 is rich, >1 is lean.

By the way, today I told a passenger to watch my phone for me and apparently it wasn't giving me measured lambda readings! I also looked at the commanded AFR and it just said 0.00:1

I hope it's not because my adapter was 11 dollars and doesn't read as much stuff as it should...

Also apparently my %load maxes out at 75%, so I wonder if my air filter is really clogged or something.

[Dave1987]

seems there is a format that makes it get closer to the real value

[Xusn96]

If your trip or long term MPG avgs are off, tweak the multiplier under settings in 1/10ths and 1/100ths. Its a trial and error game for a few refills to get as accurate as you want.

My Taurus is pretty spot on for MPG, my Town and Country was off horrendously by nearly 10 MPG. the van is rated for 26 MPG @ Hwy. Torque Pro was initially showing 16 at best... Trial and error several adjustments from baseline of 1.0 trim, my 3.3L is now fairly close to accurate with an adj of 1.48 trim running roughly 24 MPG winter blend at 55 MPH.

btw, my ELM327 device is the OBDLink MX for reference cause Chrysler and Ford have their own special something or other that the cheaper devices could not read all codes or so the many pages I read said...... sigh

[Dave1987]

got another format in this blog
How to get MPG value/number with elm327? | OBDII365.com Official Blog