With Piston, you can effortlessly tap into your car's diagnostic information right from your smartphone or tablet. If you've noticed the Check Engine Light (MIL) illuminated on your dashboard, Piston transforms your mobile device into a powerful car scanner. It reads the Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) associated with the issue and captures the Freeze Frame data, giving you a snapshot of your vehicle's condition at the moment the problem occurred. This functionality empowers you to diagnose and resolve the issue swiftly.
To begin using Piston, you'll need an ELM327 based adapter, which can be either Bluetooth or WiFi. Simply connect this adapter to your vehicle's OBD2 socket. Piston will walk you through the setup process, and you can access these instructions from the Home page after your initial installation or from the Settings at any time.
With Piston, you gain the ability to:
- Read and clear Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) as defined by the OBD2 standard
- Examine Freeze Frame data, which provides a detailed snapshot of sensor data at the moment the ECU detected a malfunction
- Access real-time data from your vehicle's sensors
- Check the status of Readiness Monitors, ensuring your emission control devices are functioning correctly
- Store the DTCs you read in a local history for future reference
- Log in to save the DTCs in the cloud for seamless access across devices
- View charts of sensor readouts for a clearer understanding of your vehicle's performance
- Export real-time sensor data to a file for detailed analysis
- Verify the VIN number of your car for accurate identification
- Explore detailed information about your vehicle's ECUs, including the OBD protocol or PIDs number
Some of these advanced features are part of our Premium offering and can be unlocked with a one-time in-app purchase, ensuring no recurring subscriptions are required!
To use Piston as a car scanner, you'll need a separate ELM327 based device, compatible with Bluetooth or WiFi. Piston supports both OBD-II (also known as OBDII or OBD2) and EOBD standards, ensuring broad compatibility with your vehicle.
In the USA, all vehicles sold since 1996 are required to support the OBD2 standard. In the European Union, the EOBD standard became mandatory for petrol-engined vehicles starting from 2001 and for diesel vehicles from 2004. For Australia and New Zealand, OBD2 has been mandatory for petrol cars made from 2006 and diesel cars from 2007.
Please note: Piston can only access the data that your vehicle supports and provides via the OBD2 standard.
For any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].
What's New in Version 3.8.0
Last updated on Aug 2, 2024
- Support for Android 14
- Improved Sensor Selection Screen
- Support for additional sensors (availability may vary for different vehicles)
