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Tuner interface through head unit?

mountainstoner

Full Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2006
Messages
146
Location
Las Vegas
Stereo head units have gotten pretty sophisticated, as have tuners.  I do not want to mount a tuner/monitor on my windshield or my A-pillar.  Are there any tuners and/or head units that will interface so I can tune/monitor/log through the head unit?

If not, why not?  Is a good idea, no?
 
That would be nice.  I have a touch-screen head unit and would like to have all my read outs there.  I have HP Tuners and the interface, but the head unit doesn't recognize the laptop input...
 
Nothing is impossible of course, but I think the biggest obstacle is that the stock head units are probably not interfaced directly to the PCM but instead the body control module.  There's now at least one data interface that uses bluetooth to communicate via the OBDII port to a smart phone - I'd have to believe since most head units now have a bluetooth interface one could set up an interface that way to get data from a to b.  Then the rub is getting an app on your head unit to display data and perform the tuning function.
 
I don't think that the bluetooth on head units recognize video input.  I can't stream a video from my smart phone to my head unit, but I can stream music.  As far as I know, there's not a service port through which you could reprogram the head unit to accept other input formats, so you really couldn't change how they are designed from the factory, unless you crack them open and mess with the hardware.
 
Don't need video through the bluetooth - you're not getting it out of the OBDII.
 
Sure, but it would take some ability to pull it off.

Easiest would be to tap into the wiring going to the tuner's screen and run it to another screen, assuming it's input protocols were the same as the tuner's screen, which isn't very likely to be 100%, and then figure out how to translate what doesn't 100% translate.

It's pretty much an electrical engineering task...
 
It may be easier to use a smartphone.
 
in short...  NO...  heh... 

a head unit does not have access to, nor read/write/flash ability with the ECM/TCM modules in a vehicle...  so no, there's no way that would work....

not at this point anyway..  maybe in 20 years, heh....

 
Pioneer has a new App radio feature in some of their new head units..  No read/write capabilities but you can use it for viewing many Apps like Torque and dash Command... I have a older Pioneer AVIC Z3 that I love in mine and looking upgrading to the AVIC Z150BH..


http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/GPS-Navigation


Randy
 
Interesting Randy can it read info on the GM LAN
 
I don't think so, it displays/controls the app you have on you smart phone..  But it's pretty cool..
 
Yeah I'm working with a INC www.obdcanex.com

It should be out soon
 
I 've seen that, but since I have an 02 it does not help me... It may work with the Pioneer...
 
Yeah you guys have 02s it's different from the 03 up.
 
06MonteSS said:
in short...  NO...  heh...  

a head unit does not have access to, nor read/write/flash ability with the ECM/TCM modules in a vehicle...  so no, there's no way that would work....

not at this point anyway..  maybe in 20 years, heh....
Seems like it would be as simple as taking the hardware from a handheld tuner/monitor and putting it inside a head unit.  Use the touch screen on the head unit to control the tuning/monitoring functions.  Alternatively, have the tuner connect via hardwire or bluetooth to the head unit and control it the same way one controls an ipod.  Shouldn't take 20 years to make that a reality; I'm pretty sure there are no hurdles to overcome today.

My JB4 tuner on my BMW can switch between tunes by using the steering wheel buttons and it hijacks the tach & speedo to display which tune you've selected.  Technology isn't the holdup...
 
In some ways it's good, easier to work on and trouble shoot but less OBDII control means less functions to monitor with Apps.. In the Torque App I can see almost all engine paramiters except Air Fuel Ratio which I really want. If I plug it into my 05 CTS it pops right up. The newer the vehicle the more the ECM and other on-board computers control/monitor everything. It won't be long before you get a ticket in the mail because your car sent a text to the authorities that you were speeding..
 
There's a lot of cars that have switchable tunes but mostly for performance, you can go from comfort to sport or track. It's just not something that would typical be put on a truck or SUV, though most diesel tuners can do it. The closest we get is TOW/HAUL mode which changes shift points and trans lines pressures...
 
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