Which Scangauge II gauges are you monitoring?

Using it on a DP with a Cat C7 and Allison, I watch the:

Oil Pressure
Trans Temp
Air Intake Temp
Engine Temp

We're usually out west in the mountains so I'm watching for any rising temps. You may wonder about the air intake temps. If the outside air temp goes up while you're pulling steep grades, the engine temps will usually rise also in a little while.

When I had an alternator going bad I watched the voltage output - it was fluctuating a lot.

Bill

Monitor GPH, which is fuel consumption, instantaneous. All you need to know. Look at your MPH on the dash gauge, and divide by GPH and you'll know your intantaneous MPG.


I monitor all kinds of different parameters on my TDI... Turbo boost pressure, Exhaust Gas Temperature, Diesel Particulate Filter temperature, and Soot Load % in my DPF, which tells me when a DPF regeneration burnoff is about to, or is occuring, usually close to 90 to 95% when it cooks off the carbon, EGT's and DPF temp hit 1200F, you don't want to stop driving with that kind of heat up against the firewall, need to keep air circulating under the hood for a good 5 to 10 minutes afterwards to get rid of the heat soak surrounding the turbocharger and bearings, so the oil doesn't burn and coke in there... no synthetic motor oil can withstand that kind of heat, without burning up, so you drive until the regen is over 5 to 10 minutes, keep the air from motion moving over the extremely heated up parts.

When I am driving, I watch the road. Keeping an eye on a plethora of gauges, then calculating what is different and what is normal for EACH gauge is distracting. You know, you could even get your cell phone and record the gauges while driving. Just add to the distractions!

DownTheAvenue wrote:
When I am driving, I watch the road. Keeping an eye on a plethora of gauges, then calculating what is different and what is normal for EACH gauge is distracting. You know, you could even get your cell phone and record the gauges while driving. Just add to the distractions!

WOW ! ^^^

I have the instant MPG, Avg MPG, Volts and Tranny Temp up

These are the ones I watch with my Scan Gauge.

Oil Pressure
Trans Temp
Engine Temp
Boost

The first three I watch very carefully.

I suspect if one of the first three were to get out of hand and you did not do something about it then you will have plenty of time to watch the road while waiting for a tow truck.

I also watch an EGT gauge which is separate from the Scan Gauge.

Of the 5 items the EGT in my mind is the most important and the one I use to decide when I need to back off the throttle. The Trans Temp and Engine Temp will normally stay in line if the EGT's are kept inline.

Whenever I'm driving, and I'm distracted by gauges or whatever, I always make sure I have a tight grip on the steering wheel,......you never know exactly when a front tire is going to suddenly FAIL(blowout).

Are there any that are helpful in increasing mpg and to find the sweet spot? I'm talking more for the Ford V10's.

Instant MPG's and AVG MPG's. Always try to keep your instant MPG's on average higher than your average MPG's by modulating the throttle back. You do understand how averaging works?

If you want better MPG's slow down, especially going up hill.

On our unit with the 1999 ford chassis with V10, the instrument cluster doesn't have a tach, and I've learned by watching the temp gauge vs the SGII that the cluster gauge is worthless. Ford's gauges are not really gauges, they are idiot needles (lights).

That all said, I commonly monitor:
RPM
Coolant Temp
MPG
Avg MPG

Once is a while, I'll change coolant temp to Incoming Air or Voltage.

If you are trying to manage MPG, try LOD - it shows how far your foot is stuck in the carburetor. (Yes, I know the V10 is fuel injected) It feels my foot has been glued to the carb (injectors) at times particularly in a head wind an/or up hill - and the SGII shows it.

Transmission Temp (Main reason I got it.
Engine Oil Temp
Tranny Gear Ratio
Volts
:)