So, the stock gauges aren't really enough. With the oil pump issues that 03 Discos have seen I'm going to add gauges for oil pressure, coolant temperature, oil temperature, transmission oil temperature, and transfer case temperature. Are there any other things worth monitoring if I'll be pushing the vehicle hard? I'm planning on using the collected information to make decisions on things like installing liquid cooled transmission coolers, additional oil coolers, rad size, electric dual fan vs viscous (so I can turn it off for fording etc).

 

This seems like a good idea but there was no response to it.
Has anyone here installed after market gauges?
I think the coolant temp gauge seems quite reasonable considering the reported issues with the stock temp gauge.

 

Kinda an old thread. "BU" - Before Ultra Gauge. Yes, you'll find write ups with pix on various gauge pods, and the engine oil gauge is the most popular, soemtimes done with a sandwich adapter on the oil fiter, and sometimes done from replacing the oil light switch.

The engine coolant gauge is elegantly handled by the OBDII port driven scanner or Ultra Gauge.

As for the other mods suggested, depends on the vehicle. A D1 automatic has two tranny coolers, one in the radiator and one "towel bar' in front of the radiators. It has an oil cooler in the radiator. But a lot of D1 owners have an old rad that is half full of calcium on the lower rows, so it runs a little hotter, for engine coolant, engine oil, and tranny fluid. Multi-tasking on the way to high repair bills.

Depending on vehicle there are sensors for a variety of temperatures that turn on warning lights or even store codes.

 

yeah UG's are good except for oil pressure.

but there are aps for that and if you're using your smartphone for calls and music and gps, might as well throw OBDII reporting with a bluetooth dongle.

i'm using UG for the D2 and a mechanical water temp and oil pressure gauge on the D1. Both from glowshift.

 

Found this they also have wifi
PLX Kiwi Bluetooth | OBD2 OBDII Android
anybody use this?

 

One thing to keep in mind is that if the sensor does not exist (like oil pressure) it is not reported thru OBDII port. Also, some sensors do report data to the ECU, but are not displayed on the OBDII (like fuel temp), on a D1. If it does not come out the OBDII port, hard to image what calculation of other values would yield "oil pressure" or "gear box temp". Some programs do use the MAF and other variables to estimate mpg.

And I wonder when we will start getting tickets for texting while driving - honest deputy, I was just checking my front left O2 sensor variations.

The dedicated Ultra Gauge has the advantage of working from vehicle electrical, won't be left at the bar, won't need recharge, has alarm points you can program that will work when SWMBO is driving the truck without your phone, won't get you in trouble when SWMBO reads the data inside the device (Tiger Woods).