ON THE MARKAutomotive Technology Automotive technology comes to us in many different forms and ways. More interesting is the fact that you can often find it without even looking. Recently, I was browsing the Internet for weather forecasting equipment. Being somewhat of a weather bug at heart, it was amazing for me to see the amount of products that are available. Much of the equipment is now wireless, which lessens installation time and increases portability. Many of the wireless weather consoles look like a mini-laptop and can display indoor and outdoor temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, expected forecast trends and more. Many units just consist of a portable weather console that you can place anywhere in the house and the sensor array that transmits from outside your home.While browsing one of the larger companies, I came across an automotive link on the top of its home page. Clicking the link took me to the automotive electronics page. I found that this company manufactures and sells a small datastream recorder that plugs into any vehicle with an OBDII connector. This device is designed to record many hours of datastream information from the vehicle's Powertrain Control Module (PCM), much like driving with a scan tool in "record mode." The company markets the data recorder to everyone from parents that are interested in monitoring their teens driving habits to automotive technicians and truck fleet managers. The company advertises that the basic model will record 75 hours of trip data, including distance traveled, speed, idle time, hard acceleration and decelerations, diagnostic trouble codes (DTC)s and engine parameters during code set. Their optional model adds the ability to record rpm, throttle position sensor (TPS), Load, short-term fuel trim (STFT), long-term fuel trim (LTFT), voltage, coolant temperature sensor (CTS), mass airflow (MAF) sensor , oxygen (O2) sensor readings and more. Both models include the software needed to display the data on a Windows 98-and-later computer with available USB port. It seems to me that this device could come in handy for those customers reporting intermittent driveability problems. I know we could have used this technology years ago on all those GM cars with "phantom stall" complaints. Just plug it in and let the owner do the work; then have them return when they have experienced running problems. For less that 200.00 it seems like it might be a good, inexpensive, bit of technology to add to your shop's repair arsenal. Just look up datastream recorders at any Internet search engine and check it out.
