twopointwo
twopointwo New Reader
11/9/15 7:46 p.m.

I've been the proud owner of an '06 V70R as my parts-getter for the past few months. Now, because I can't leave well enough alone, and this is GRM, I'm going to make it faster in the coming months and I'd like to keep an eye on things. The car only (vaguely) displays fuel level and coolant temperature in the cluster, despite running Bosch ME7 and therefore having sensors for everything I could possibly want to monitor.

This is the newest car I've owned by 15 years, and the first OBDII vehicle I've owned. I'm illiterate. I want to display boost pressure, AFR, oil pressure, and oil temperature, all preferably without wiring in separate conventional gauges for everything.

How do I do this? What are my options? I've seen a few, but I'm too OBDII stupid to even know what to look for.

ssswitch
ssswitch HalfDork
11/9/15 7:48 p.m.

Probably a decent place to get started is to pick up a Bluetooth (ELM327) or Wifi OBD2 scanner and use a tool like Torque on your smartphone to see what readouts are actually available/working.

Past that, there's a lot of commercial OBD2 "multifunction" gauges but I find a lot of them are really ugly. The Scangauge 2 is supposed to be nice, but it doesn't expose everything as a gauge.

jmthunderbirdturbo
jmthunderbirdturbo HalfDork
11/9/15 7:48 p.m.

buy this:

http://www.amazon.com/Newest-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-Scanner-Adapter/dp/B009F4JHHO

down load this:

http://torque-bhp.com/

and READ READ READ.

-J0N

jmthunderbirdturbo
jmthunderbirdturbo HalfDork
11/9/15 9:20 p.m.

addendum: read carefully what protocol your vehicles OBD port will communicate with. the ELM327 has two popular versions, the 1.5 and the 2.1. each version supports some different protocols, and both support some others. just make sure the one you select has support for your cars protocols. i suggested the 1.5 in your case, based on a guess. my v2.1 does not seem to work on my friends 02 s70, even though it works on my dads 08 vette. it also seems to ignore my wifes 06 odyssey. i have an actron handheld that works on both the volvo and the honda, so i know the ports are working.

TL;DR make sure you get the right protocol when choosing a BT adapter.

-J0N

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/10/15 6:59 a.m.

OBD2 and CANbus gauges are two different things, they use different protocols (CANbus gauges generally use OBD2-over-CANbus, but sometimes will use a proprietary protocol over CANbus, while OBD2 gauges use OBD2-over-serial). Looks like your car uses OBD2 so CANbus gauges are out.

The "tablet dash" system others have pointed out is an option. If you want to spend some more and have a cleaner (but less flexible) install, there are dedicated OBD2 clusters from Racepak, Stack etc.

edizzle89
edizzle89 HalfDork
11/10/15 7:50 a.m.

one thing to consider is that the OBD2 gauges will only display what your ECM can see. if the ECM doesnt have an oil temp gauge or real boost gauge then it wont be able to show those values. and you will also probably not get a real AFR rather just a voltage reading from the o2

java230
java230 Reader
11/10/15 9:52 a.m.
edizzle89 wrote: one thing to consider is that the OBD2 gauges will only display what your ECM can see. if the ECM doesnt have an oil temp gauge or real boost gauge then it wont be able to show those values. and you will also probably not get a real AFR rather just a voltage reading from the o2

Im not sure that's 100% the case. My truck does not have oil temp, trans temp, etc gauges, I can read those values wiht my scangauge. I do know it is somewhat dependant on what the factory sensors are.

That being said Im pretty happy with my SG, being able to read and clear codes on the fly is handy, as is being able to have an adjusted MPH gauge.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/10/15 10:10 a.m.

There can be a bit of a lag on some of the gauges, particularly on parameters that aren't all that important to the ECU. The speedometer can't keep up with our V8 Miatas when we use a Dakota Digital cluster, for example.

twopointwo
twopointwo New Reader
11/10/15 11:35 a.m.
GameboyRMH wrote: OBD2 and CANbus gauges are two different things, they use different protocols (CANbus gauges generally use OBD2-over-CANbus, but sometimes will use a proprietary protocol over CANbus, while OBD2 gauges use OBD2-over-serial). Looks like your car uses OBD2 so CANbus gauges are out. The "tablet dash" system others have pointed out is an option. If you want to spend some more and have a cleaner (but less flexible) install, there are dedicated OBD2 clusters from Racepak, Stack etc.

The car does use CANbus, and being post '05, it has a faster network than early cars with everything drivetrain related running at 500kbps. It's my (possibly incorrect) understanding that this makes it very modern for an '06.

While I don't know exactly what data is accessible via the OBDII port, I know for a fact that the car has a factory wideband 02 sensor, a boost/intake pressure sensor just before the throttle body, and an oil pressure sensor. I've yet to conclusively determine if there's an oil temp. sensor, though the pressure sensor may do both. Basically, I know that the ECU can see what I want to see. I'm just pondering the best method to display that information.

I'll check out stack. Definitely looking for something more permanent than a scan gauge, but short of a full digital dash. Ideally some sort of permanent screen, but without the low sample rate of torque.

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