Gauges & use of the OBDII

[sailaholic]

The water temperature gauge isn't a dummy it just has low sensitivity around normal operating temperature so if temps are "normal" the gauge is in the same position.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Lokiel]

I bought the cheap eBay China Bluetooth initially. The problem with it was that it is very long and I always knocked it with my legs getting out. As bootz pointed out, it has no ON/OFF button either so should be removed when not in use otherwise you'll flatten your battery.

The second one I bought was the PLX Kiwi adapter which has an ON/OFF switch and a built-in OBDII cable connecting to the unit so I can tuck it out of the way without knocking it about.

I don't know if the e420c ECU has the same AIT limitation as the e440 Select ECU (ie. reports a fixed value) but I would guess that it does so that's of no use.

Analysing Check Engine Light (CEL) errors is very useful. A standalone OBDII reader will be more expensive than Android Torque + cheap Bluetooth dongle so it's a useful tool to have.

Torque can datalog lots of stuff too so you can analyse fuel usage too which some people like to do apparently (I'm not disciplined enough to do this since the temptation to boost unnecessarily is too great and invalidates any fuel economy statistics).

There's quite a lot of stuff Torque can actually log, GPS information and a few other engine related parameters, but as a substitute for gauges it's not much use since our OBDII data does not report the useful oil temp/pressure and boost information.

Beware of getting cheap gauges, you'll end up replacing them with decent gauges anyway. Keep an eye out in the For Sale section or monitor Rupewrecht's site (http://www.astinagt.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=43) for 2nd hand gauges if you want to do it as cheap as possible and get decent gauges (people spend a LOT of money on quality gauges and will want to get at least something back for them if they no longer need them so you can probably get them for half price at least). Note that you don't have to stick to MX5 forums for gauges either, have a look at some of the other Aussie car forums.

Also, for aesthetics, try and get the gauges to match, mis-matched gauges look "ghetto-style".

[dbr]

Cooper1896
"Lokiel, my car has the older Adaptronic e420 edu, can you see any reason that i could't grab the OBD2 data as planned (not that worried about emissions, more the data that you had suggested). "

If you are running the standard ECU as well as the Adaptronic ECU and the standard ECU is still recieving suficient signals, you can read information from the standard ECu's ODB11 port. This apears to be what Lokiel is doing.

[Lokiel]

Cooper1896
"Lokiel, my car has the older Adaptronic e420 edu, can you see any reason that i could't grab the OBD2 data as planned (not that worried about emissions, more the data that you had suggested). "

If you are running the standard ECU as well as the Adaptronic ECU and the standard ECU is still recieving suficient signals, you can read information from the standard ECu's ODB11 port. This apears to be what Lokiel is doing.

Yep, that's what I'm doing. The problem with the AIT is that the e440 ECU passes a dummy value to the OEM ECU (I think Andy just wired in a resistor between them so that it reports a legitimate value to the OEM ECU - it will be static). The OEM ECU provides information to the OBDII port.

[Luke]

This is the unit I got some time ago. Nice and small, so you can drive with it in without bashing it.
Plus its cheap and wireless via bluetooth.

http://dx.com/p/elm327-bluetooth-obd-ii ... ngle-16921

Works just fine with an LG Android Phone and Torque(free version).
As noted by others, you do not get Oil Temp or Boost on an SE but you do get to see how hot the coolant is and the real speed the car is doing.
Works on my dads 2007 NC as well.
Found a fault on my sisters Pug 206 Gti, the error it showed gave us a fair indication of the problem which was rectified with a $50 coolant sensor. No Pug dealer charges which was good.

The only OBD2 car it hasn't worked on was a 2004 Corolla, but I reckon that may be Toyota not playing fair.

The other negative is no ON/OFF switch, not hard to pull it out though when not in use.

[Okibi]

The Check Engine Light, records that there is an error message i.e. cat failure - can only be interpreted thru OBDII reader.

The CEL blinks error codes so you can discover the issue without needing an OBDII reader.

The Dummy gauge is the Oil Press, SO SO SO ARSE OF MAZDA to do this.

I blame NA owners for whinging that their oil pressure kept changing.

I have the kiwi wifi, i've been tempted to hack a relay into the loom so it can be left permanently connected and automatically be turned on/off.

For boost these are meant to be good but might be over kill if you have an aftermarket ECU.
http://www.turbosmart.com.au/product/e-boost-2

Gauges with "peak hold" and warning lights/buzzers are a good idea.

Keen to see what everyone else is using, I should upgrade from my old autometer ones.

[bootz]

The Check Engine Light, records that there is an error message i.e. cat failure - can only be interpreted thru OBDII reader.

The CEL blinks error codes so you can discover the issue without needing an OBDII reader.

The Dummy gauge is the Oil Press, SO SO SO ARSE OF MAZDA to do this.

I blame NA owners for whinging that their oil pressure kept changing.

You mean the CEL 'blinks' like morse code? Easier results with a cheap reader but yeah.

The STOOPID OP guage is for STOOPID owners? Better to have given us a working Voltmeter rather than a dummy, just reinforces the hairdresser sports car image.