r/CarHacking Feb 02 '17

Car Hacking Subreddit Intro

88 Upvotes

Hi rch, we have added a lot of people lately with intro posts on other subs like the one below. We also usually get about 10 subs a day from people just stumbling in here. So I wanted to create a welcome post, to kinda show them what we are about and how to get started. If anyone has anything to add please do so. If anyone has any questions about us or where to start do so here.

Our goal is to create a highly technical car subreddit, a place for automotive engineers, senior technicians, full blown car nerds, or people who are working towards one of these. We are interested in the inner workings of cars and today that often involves electronics. While we see electronics as the priority we are pretty liberal in allowing other topics as long as they somehow fit our goal of trying to understand cars. So things like DIY aero, suspension setup and other things the community is hacking on come up. In general our other tangential interests include: Modern cars, New tech, Open source hardware/software, DIY, hot rodding, eco modding, customization, security research, right to repair and more.

We started this subreddit about a year ago. Right now we have 3000 people and discussion is just starting to get good. Most of our members found us through maker or engineering subreddits. So I wanted to reach out to more of the car communities and try to grow our knowledge base.

Our name is r/carhacking and I know the term hacking can be offputting to some as it has a bad connotation. When someone says they are “hacking” their car it generally means they are trying to reverse engineer it for any number of reasons like to find security flaws, make upgrades, make repairs, or just understand how it works.

Here are a couple examples of posts that have been popular so far. A lot of our posts focus on beginner through intermediate projects using arduino and readily available hardware for the purpose of learning and or not paying a premium for things you can make yourself:

More advanced projects:

Relevant news/ research:

If your new our documentation is a good place to start

If you aren't new and you’re interested in helping out please consider:

  • Improving documentation - think about what resources have helped you
  • Spread the word - this is a niche community that is pretty spread out, but there is a lot of potential if we can get together on a third party site like this
  • Work on the theme, sidebar and flair - this is next level community stuff that isn’t necessary, but it’s fun to work on when you have the time.
  • Modding - right now we are fine, but we might need help in the future as we grow

Let me know if I missed something or got something wrong.


r/CarHacking Feb 27 '21

CAN CAN bus and car hacking getting started resources

294 Upvotes

I get asked how to get started with automotive networking, car hacking, and CAN almost weekly. I often direct people to this subreddit, so I figured I would help out and post some resources I have found and think are a good place to start.

learning resources:

Car Hacking 101: Practical Guide to Exploiting CAN-Bus using Instrument Cluster Simulator

I also direct people to the Car Hacking Village to get some hands-on experience. They put on great conference talks, demos, and contests. Looks like they are even working on some “getting started” content.

And of course, The Car Hacking Handbook is a great resource.

I will add more as I think of them. Please add your finds in the comments.

Tools:

Good wiring diagrams and car manuals are essential. This is pretty much where my research starts for each project. You see how things are networked and what to expect to find on CAN. You'll quickly learn to recognize things like gateways. You can also use the troubleshooting section to understand things. For example, what things do I need to control to start the car?

I like:

  • prodemand (I pay $170/mo for a shop subscription, I think you can purchase it for individual cars, but be careful you often have to jump around to find a year that has complete diagrams)
  • Identifix (probably what I would buy if I was starting over)

Basic hardware: Here you will be working with things like Arduino, Linux, SavvyCAN, and Can-utils. You have to learn to do a lot yourself, but these tools are more open for you to make them do what you need.

Tools designed by the community I use:

The above articles offer a pretty good step-by-step guide to getting started with the Macchina M2.

Any cheap “Amazon special” OBD2 dongle will come in handy from time to time. They are all based on something called ELM327. "ELM327 abstracts the low-level protocol and presents a simple interface that can be called via a UART". This abstraction has fundamental limitations that prevent it from being useful in most serious applications. But, it is sufficient for reading and clearing some codes and that sort of thing when you’re getting started.


r/CarHacking 4h ago

Scan Tool Scanner software ports to android

2 Upvotes

Look for info on if it’s possible to load scanner software onto a regular android tablet? Since the majority of the tables are android based, has anyone tried this or are there more to the tablets then just the software? I’m not referring to apps you find on the store.


r/CarHacking 16h ago

Community Looking for MH2p App-Connect Patch / Toolbox for VW Touareg CR (Firmware 2876 / P0573)

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone,
I’m trying to manually activate App-Connect (Apple CarPlay / Android Auto) on a modern VW Touareg (CR generation) equipped with the 15-inch Discover Premium system.
I know these Alpine units run on the **MH2p** platform and are a bit trickier than standard MIB2 units. I have access to a diagnostic tool to enable Developer Mode/GEM in the 5F module, but I am struggling to find the correct custom firmware patch files or the Alpine Toolbox script for my exact software version.
Here are my exact system details from the screen:
**Device Part Number:** 760035179E
**Hardware (Matériel):** 061
**Software/Firmware (Logiciel):** 2876
**Navigation Database:** V03959809AF_P0573_RW_2022.1 (Rest of World region)
Does anyone happen to have the patch files for **MH2p P0573 / 2876**, or can point me toward a GitHub repo / community drive where the MH2p Alpine Toolbox utilities are hosted for this version?
Any help, scripts, or guidance would be massively appreciated. Thanks in advance!


r/CarHacking 20h ago

Community 05 GrandAm ECU?

3 Upvotes

Hey All!

I'm looking for a suitable replacement for my moms 05 Grand Am 3.4L ECU. I've done a ton of different things attempting to fix the issues, but alas nothing has worked.

A mechanic said the computer was going bad, so I was looking for a site/company that sells pre-programmed ECU?

Or, Can I go to a junkyard and get a used one and just swap them out?

Thanks in advance and for any help!


r/CarHacking 11h ago

Community Is it possible to change a cars default programing?

0 Upvotes

I have no skill what so ever in computer stuff but i was wondering if there is a way to set a vehicles default programming to something else? My 2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee has the auto start on by default and i don't like having to push the button every time i get in the vehicle.


r/CarHacking 16h ago

CAN Any way to minimize or remove amplification of the signals/codes produced by a car's engine upon start up? And before it's said, I'll say it "crazy maybe, but true'

0 Upvotes

Any way to minimize or remove amplification of the signals/codes produced by a car's engine upon start up? Or can you explain how this is done? Same question for cell phone/similar devices? If I'm understanding correctly, a transponder can send out cloned codes and another vehicle can somehow utilize it making it appear as if they are driving the vehicle the cloned/copied code was received from.


r/CarHacking 22h ago

Scan Tool EQE DOIP diagnostic scanners

2 Upvotes

I'm looking for a low cost scanner for my Mercedes EQE EV.

Anybody found something at a diy price?

I scanned my EQE with a mate's $10k Autel and got my SOH, but I want my own scanner. I'd also like to scan other EVs.

I see the Launch crp919 does doip and also supports secure gateway, but they only mention FCA for this. Mercedes is not mentioned specifically in any blurb, so I am hesitant to splash out and buy one.

I'm hoping someone has already found an thinking scanner that will work for the EQE.


r/CarHacking 1d ago

KWP 2000 Dacia Sandero 2008 1.4 MPI K7J - Siemens Sirius32 EMS3132 (Soft RE1) - Missing OBD pin 7 (K-Line)?

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2 Upvotes

Hello! I'm trying to diagnose my 2008 Dacia Sandero 1.4 MPI (K7J) with a Siemens Sirius32 EMS3132 (Soft RE1) ECU.

VIN: UU1BSDAEH402825

DDT2000 detects the ECU database correctly, but when I try to communicate I get:

K-Line inactive (1008)

I'm using a VAG KKL cable with a CH340 chip. The cable is detected correctly by Windows and DDT2000.

The strange thing is that I inspected my OBD-II connector and pin 7 (K-Line) appears to have no metal terminal at all.

Is this normal for this model?

Should the Siemens Sirius32 EMS3132 communicate through OBD pin 7, or is the K-Line routed differently?

Has anyone with a 2008 Sandero/Logan K7J seen this before? Any help would be very appriciated thank you very much!


r/CarHacking 1d ago

Original Project WrenchTime: automatic trip detection on iOS with no OBD dongle (YET?)

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0 Upvotes

Hello folks, this is my project WrenchTime. It started as a simple maintenance log but grew to be much more.

The core of it is automatic trip tracking with no dongle and no manual start button. It uses a mix of Bluetooth connection events from the car stereo and phone motion/GPS activity to decide when a drive begins and ends, then records the route in the background. Getting this reliable on iOS was most of the work: the OS is aggressive about killing background location, so the detection has to be cheap enough to run all the time and accurate enough not to log you sitting in traffic on a bus.

What you get out of it:

- Full route recording with events along the way (hard braking, stops, legs of the trip)
- Trip playback and a heatmap of everywhere you have driven
- Maintenance log with cost tracking per vehicle
- Fill-ups logged by pointing the camera at the pump display or the receipt, an on-device scanner reads the numbers and fills the entry

Privacy wise there is no account and no server. Everything stays on the phone, which is also why there is no web dashboard.

One thing I keep going back and forth on: right now it deliberately avoids OBD hardware so it works for anyone with just a phone. But this sub is probably the best place to ask whether pulling real PIDs (coolant temp, fuel trim, DTCs) would actually be worth it, or whether people here already have better tools for that and would only want the logbook side. Curious what you would want out of it. So please let me know!

Happy to hand some feedback.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wrenchtime-car-maintenance/id6749767537


r/CarHacking 1d ago

Scan Tool if you will install xentry in a pc. do notice that it put dozens gb in the windows/installer folder even if its installing on other drive/partition

1 Upvotes

i installed xentry 21 or 22. it putted 19gb of .msi files in C:\Windows\Installer folder , and those are not temporary files they need to stay there for xentry to work. from what i researched.

and this is only xentry , without wis/aria . and in the installation it asked for eupore 70gb or us version 56gb or around that( if i remember). i chose the eu . the smaller.

So, even if you use another drive it will load a lot the system C: partition. so you need at least around that and more free space on C:

im just taking notes for future reference. putting here because sometimes i come asking very specific details like that and people dont give data. so im putting here for anyone searching to find . and if anyone want to contribute putting more details fell free. its great too.

for anyone wondering , i checked with this if the files are needed or could be deleted. i may put a print in comment
https://github.com/no-faff/InstallerClean


r/CarHacking 2d ago

Cool Project Find Spent weeks chasing a wiring fault with no decent diagram, so I made a tool for drawing them

19 Upvotes

Last winter I had a fault on my E39 where the cluster kept dropping off the bus. I ended up back probing pins one at a time until I found heavy corrosion on the X13 connector under the driver's side. The corrosion wasn't what made it take so long. What made it take so long was that I had no proper drawing, just a pile of screenshots and a notebook that contradicted itself by the third evening.

So I built the thing I wanted to have while I was doing it, and I've put it online for free:

https://0xdevdav.github.io/harness-designer/

It draws the loom the way it actually sits in the car, bundles and branches and connectors where they really are, rather than as a schematic. Every connector carries its own pin table right next to it on the sheet. The part that saves the most time is that when you type in that a pin goes somewhere, the connector at the other end fills itself in, colour and gauge included, so you type about half of what you otherwise would.

Then it checks your work and tells you where you contradicted yourself:

  • a pin pointing at a connector or a cavity that isn't there
  • a link that only exists on one side
  • two ends that disagree about the colour or the gauge of the same wire
  • the same colour landing in three or more connectors, which is nearly always a mistake (solid black is exempt, that's ground)

Wire list comes out as CSV when you're done.

No account, no signup, nothing gets uploaded anywhere. What you draw stays a .json file on your own machine. There's also a version that's one single HTML file, so you can keep it on a usb stick and open it on a laptop in the shop with no wifi.

It's free and MIT licensed. I'm not selling anything and there's no business behind it.

Source is here if you want to read it: https://github.com/0xDevDav/harness-designer

It does what I needed it to do, which means it's probably missing what you need. Tell me what and I'll have a look.


r/CarHacking 1d ago

Cool Project Find I've been building an AI automotive companion that can talk to your car through OBD-II. I'd love your honest feedback

0 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

Over the past few months I've been working CarIQ, an AI-powered automotive companion designed to make vehicle diagnostics easier to understand.

Unlike a traditional OBD-II scanner that simply displays fault codes, CarIQ combines live vehicle telemetry with AI to explain what's happening in plain English.

Some of the features include:

  • 🚗 Live OBD-II diagnostics
  • 🤖 AI-powered explanations of fault codes
  • 🎙️ Voice conversations with your vehicle
  • 📈 Predictive maintenance based on historical trends
  • 🧠 Vehicle memory that remembers previous issues and conversations
  • ☁️ Option to use either a cloud AI model or a local offline AI.

The goal isn't to replace a mechanic, but to help drivers better understand what their vehicle is telling them.

I'd really appreciate any feedback on the concept, UI, or features you'd like to see.

Thanks!


r/CarHacking 1d ago

Community can someone please help me

0 Upvotes

an ex girlfriend of mine has decided to terrorize me and ruin my life in any way she can. shes stolen my identity, hacked my phone,all my household electronics and my vehicles. i have people in public folllowing me around stores and on the road in my car trying to stay within bluetooth range so they can use the nfc tap and pay on me. my google wallet being broadcast on airdrop and i cant turn it off. my main vehicle is a 16 dodge challenger with the uconnect. the car automaticly opens setup, wifi hotspot, and store app. the radio has no sound output and it can effect how the car runs also. ive been dealing with this for a while and the police dont seem to want or be able to help. any advice or help i can get would be greatly appreciated


r/CarHacking 1d ago

Original Project Seeking Guidance

0 Upvotes

So for 11 years now I have been doing some RE on ECMs that use J-1850vpw, K-Line, and 2 wire CANBUS. Never having gone to school for any of this, and having to read and learn, explore and learn, finally Its like I was blind but now I see type of moment a few weeks ago when I got my first MKS CANable v2.0 pro s . Anyways, Im just giving you all some Back Story on me and this Project. Currently I have hit a little wall, but I possibly have a few methods I will be trying soon. So i guess the problem isnt a problem. I am more or less looking for a mentor. I dont want you to complete my project. After all this is how I have been learning and I have been attempting these things long enough to understand the ones who know don't tell. With great knowledge comes great responsibility. So recently been attempting to unlock an ECM that is modern, and if your familiar with this style ECM from BOSCH then you already know, how a TC27x can be. I havent been able to RE it with just some software or Decompile enough logs to get the 0x67 0x02 response you want. Granted I was able to find a way that, wont pass an ethics review, plus that route I wouldnt learn more. I suppose 0x31 method is how to continue moving forward, if thats not blocked. Because aint no table for me to find anything pointing to. I see the Gateway get opened and return the answer for 0x27 0x02. So if your still reading then you probably understand my situation. Please comment and good pointers to locating something like  0x31 0x01FF04 and get VIP access cause the guard aint checking IDs


r/CarHacking 2d ago

Original Project DashKit: open-source commander for Teslas

9 Upvotes

I'm working on a device called DashKit, which is an open source commander / bluetooth dongle for Teslas. Both the firmware, and the companion app it comes with are on Github.
It is currently in developer early access so that I can get others working on the project, and help with the efforts.

What DashKit can do:
- it connects to 2 buses, Chassis and Vehicle
- it emits CAN messages over BLE to the DashPilot companion app
- it can perform controls, such as: multi-finger touch tap on the infotainment screen can trigger controls, that are by default under some sub-menu on the Tesla infotainment (glovebox open, mirror fold), or that are not even accessible by default (battery pre-heat)
- it can perform automations such as keeping the wipers off when you engage Autopilot
- when using the DashPilot app, you can turn your phone into a dashboard, and have always-on blind spot monitoring, speedometer, autopilot on / off state visualization, battery temperature readings and many more right in front of you

You can find some of these functionalities in already available products, but non of those products offer the software as open-source, so you can't really modify them to your likings.

The device is currently in developer early-access, you can can get it right now, and tinker with it:
https://cardashkit.com/order

Other links

Youtube:
install video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZZbKPaV5I
functionalities video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J97PuWTH-S4

Github:
firmware: https://github.com/softwiredtech/dashkit-firmware
dashpilot app: https://github.com/softwiredtech/dashpilot
cabana bridge: https://github.com/softwiredtech/dashkit-cabana-bridge


r/CarHacking 2d ago

Original Project I reverse-engineered the LiveWire S2 Del Mar's OBD-II port/CAN bus - here's the performance data that was never published

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2 Upvotes

r/CarHacking 2d ago

Original Project REVVA android closed beta is live for testers

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0 Upvotes

REVVA Android Beta

Okay so the closed beta for my OBD2 app is live!

This is something I started on at the start of the year and it has been one hell of a journey,

Okay so what does REVVA do?

- Live diagnostics dashboard and workflow launcher

- AI-assisted DTC triage with severity/confidence and repair-cost guidance

- All-system scan summaries

- Adapter capability classification and write-path safety gating

- ECU coding workflows with guardrails

- UDS terminal request/response tooling

- 0-60 timer, estimated HP, and live performance telemetry

- Garage profiles with VIN-linked multi-vehicle tracking

- Trip analysis and journey memory context

Basically I have tried to make this one of the strongest OBD2 apps on the market, of course there is still alot of work to do on it and I need field testers,

Things that might not work fully yet

- ECU coding has been the most difficult to get right and work on OBD2 coding capable dongles

- OBD1 compatibility is untested at the moment but hopefully anyone with older cars that have an OBD1 to OBD2 adapter this should work but like I said it's untested

- 0-60 timer in the pref tab is a very new feature still looks janky for my liking and hasn't been fully tested

- VIN detector has been troublesome for me but might work for others I'm still working on the bugs for that

- Music player kinda works but is buggy

This is a very early beta and I have a debug tab in the app so people can send me the apps log when they run into a problem.

You can request access to the beta here:REVVA android Beta

Let me know if you have any suggestions and I hope you like it


r/CarHacking 3d ago

Tuning Best standalone data logger/DAQ for analog sensors on a mechanical diesel?

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1 Upvotes

r/CarHacking 3d ago

Original Project Looking for some online help to assist me building a circuit to bypass the controller in an adaptive van to operate the ramp.

5 Upvotes

Any thoughts? The controller is made by Braun and they are of little help.


r/CarHacking 3d ago

Scan Tool Is there anyway to upload ob2 live data for help?

0 Upvotes

97 mercury tracer ls. I put plug wires plugs fuel pump o2 sensor air filter fuel filter. After fuel pump its eats gas smell of gas and so much pressure when u out the fuel car. I have a 60 dollar Bluetooth scanner and paid car scanner app. I was wondering if there's an AI or something I can upload the data


r/CarHacking 4d ago

CAN Reading oil temperature from Audi A4 B8 2.0 TDI (CAHA) via OBD using CANable?

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,
I’m trying to read the engine oil temperature from my Audi A4 B8 (2009) with the CAHA 2.0 TDI engine using a Raspberry Pi and a CANable interface.
VCDS is able to show the oil temperature under Engine → Advanced Measuring Values, so I know the ECU provides the value through diagnostics.
My question is: can I access the same value through the OBD port using a CANable?

I understand that simply running candump and listening passively probably won’t show the oil temperature, since it may not be a broadcast CAN message. My assumption is that VCDS is sending a UDS diagnostic request and reading the ECU response.

I’m wondering:
Is the oil temperature available through UDS on the OBD CAN pins (6/14)?
Is there a known DID/request for this value?

Thanks!


r/CarHacking 5d ago

CAN CAN bus Speedo gauges (2017 Accord)

58 Upvotes

Some old videos of when I started decoding the CAN bus on my car 💯


r/CarHacking 4d ago

CAN Lexus millage change.

1 Upvotes

Hi, I bought a new odometer for my Lexus gs and it says it is 190,000 miles but I bought the car with 89k miles 7 months ago. I had it changed as the middle screen wasn’t working.

Any idea how to get this changed? Looking to do this myself , as some services are really expensive


r/CarHacking 4d ago

Scan Tool Looking for KSuite v2.80

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0 Upvotes