Scangauge II - Good stuff!!

KJMedic · **Posted:** Tue Jun 19, 2007 9:19 pm

chadhargis wrote:

The Scangauge is great, but the CRD computer is not. That's why the gauge locks up. It's not the fault of the scangauge.

Mine locks up for no rhyme or reason. Sometimes it will work for hours, sometimes for seconds. But I got it to reset the ORM code. I start the Jeep, clear the code, and drive.

Thats exactly what I do. Anything past the code clearing is a Plus.

chadhargis · **Posted:** Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:01 am

No...no outside temp...but it does have intake temp and water temp.

It's fun to watch the manifold pressure when you get on the gas. When I tow my trailer, that dang pressure readout jumps up there and pretty much stays there unless I'm going down hill. I love hearing that turbo whine. Wish it were louder.

I used to have an '84 Dodge Conquest (same as the Mitsu Starion). It had a big four cylinder turbo motor in it and when you got on the gas, it sounded like there was a hair dryer under the hood. It was awesome! I've heard a few powerstrokes and cummins engines that sound that way...wish the CRD did.

kb61751 · **Posted:** Sat Jun 23, 2007 3:46 pm

What mode is yours set at? I am trying to find a setting where it will not sleep as fast. Thanks.

chadhargis · **Posted:** Sat Jun 23, 2007 10:37 pm

I've tried all of them and it doesn't make any difference. I just run it in normal mode.

KJMedic · **Posted:** Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:31 am

I have mine set to Fast but Ilike Chad said it doesn't matter. Mine has stoped in as little as 100 yards and worked as long as 125 miles so I don't think it is with the Scangauge. I think it is more in the ECM on the Heep. But I still say it is worth the Money. I love it .

nix · **Posted:** Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:56 am

Does anybody know if you can 'correct' the output from the MAP sensor with the Scangauge II? I heard it reads absolute pressure. .. so you need to subtract like 14.7 or something to get a number that is actually usefull. Can you set a parameter on the SGII to adjust the readout? Also- does the 'slow' mode seem to fix the sleeping issues with our ecus?

thanks!

hawk521 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:48 am

This is an aging thread, but I just now got a new Scangauge II and thought I would chime in with up-to-date experience.

The current firmware version is 3.15 and has a new xGauge feature that allows for user defined gauges - pretty cool concept. But sadly, it still suffers from the random loss of communication with certain ECM readings. I set mine to SLOW communication to see how long it might work. On a 5 hr trip it generally ran for 5 to as long as 40 minutes before lossing communication.

When the gauges are working they are great. FWIW, the RPM and Volts seem to work regardless of whether it loses communications with other gauge parameters. I don't know - but there might be other "readings" that continue to work after some fail.

My dealer has indicated that I have the latest firmware flashes installed - so it would seem that no solution is pending from Daimler-Chrysler. Unless this loss of communications with the OBDII interface is deemed a safety or emmissions control issue, I doubt if the Feds will care whether DC fixes it or not. But wouldn't it be REFRESHING if Daimler Chrysler did the right thing and fixed it just because it is the right thing to do?!?!? I wouldn't hold my breath - but it COULD HAPPEN! They MIGHT wake up and realize that CRD owners could be valuable and loyal future customers.

No regret on my SGII purchase. It works for most things I really need. But I do wish I could use the gauge features without the random communications drop.

PLAN B:
Perhaps there is something that can be done using the xGauge feature to send a re-initialization command string to the CRD's ECM which would reset it and restore communications. Anybody out there got the knowledge or resources to figure that one out?

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:03 am

I guess I missed xGauge feature. What or where is it?

hawk521 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:08 pm

I cannot test this at the moment - as my CRD is in the shop. But the manual that came with my SGII says do: MORE>MORE>MORE>xGauge to get to the starting screen.

You can download the latest manual at www.scangauge.com/support/ and read about this feature.

I think this feature is only available starting at version 3.15. I am under the impression that you can send in an older Scangauge II (not the original Scangauge) and have it updated either free or for a small fee depending on when you purchased it.

I remain impressed with the SGII. And it sounds like the folks behind it are willing and able to do what they can to make it work well for us.

-Hawk521

bugnout · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:36 pm

I wonder if we can use Xgauge to display fuel rail pressure? That would be worth the upgrade.

msilbernagel · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:36 pm

So the question of the day would be...

What commands might be sent to the ECU using this feature, and what might we receive in return? I suspect there is a lot of useful information to be had, but one would have to know the codes to send - and I doubt there is a lot of documentation lying around to support us!

Mark
===

hawk521 wrote:

I cannot test this at the moment - as my CRD is in the shop. But the manual that came with my SGII says do: MORE>MORE>MORE>xGauge to get to the starting screen.

You can download the latest manual at www.scangauge.com/support/ and read about this feature.

I think this feature is only available starting at version 3.15. I am under the impression that you can send in an older Scangauge II (not the original Scangauge) and have it updated either free or for a small fee depending on when you purchased it.

I remain impressed with the SGII. And it sounds like the folks behind it are willing and able to do what they can to make it work well for us.

-Hawk521

bugnout · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:04 pm

the Scangauge II can send commands, From what I've read you can retrieve data, but you have to know the location and the meaning of the data, and its a manual process. This xgauge feature sounds like it gives you the ability, (once you know what your looking for and where to find it), to setup a guage to display it along with the preprogrammed guages.
So my wish list is:

1. fuel rail pressure
2. oil temp
3. outside temp (assuming you have the sensor installed)
4. ??

Wish they had macro's its about 4 or 5 button pushes to clear the CEL each time I start.

hawk521 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:43 pm

"Wish they had macro's its about 4 or 5 button pushes to clear the CEL each time I start."

Macros would be an excellent enhancement. Alternatively, I've been pondering whether it might be possible to send the "clear CEL" command automatically using the xGauge functionality. Wouldn't it be nice if one could setup a command to be sent (say 10 seconds after engine startup) to clear the CEL lamp (or perhaps the P0102 code specifically!)? Would be a simpler solution than the SEGR hard wired module.

At any rate, I'm hopeful that as the SGII user base grows the information on setting up user defined gauges and possibly the above CEL solution will become easier for all of us. I sure would love to see it.

The folks on www.cleanmpg.com (hybrid owners for the most part) have a lively Scangauge II discussion ongoing.)

hawk521 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2007 2:06 pm

"and I doubt there is a lot of documentation lying around to support us!
"

Might not be so hard as you think. Even wikipedia has some info to begin with... try:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OBD-II_PIDs

A Google search on OBDII and PID returned a LOT of hits... I've read that many manufacturers have implemented extended PIDs on some of their vehicles. We might need to do some research to find those for the CRD.

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:47 pm

I really don't care if the CEL is on anymore, I just want to be able to check periodically and see if there any other codes present. I would be nice if the CRD OBDII would not go to sleep on us. It seems that we determined in an earlier post that the weakness was in the total number of inquires for data the CRD processor could handle. If we could shut parts of the ScanGauge off so it would not continue to poll then we might be able to keep the port awake.

hawk521 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:59 pm

If the SGII had an option to disable the Trip history data logging that would certainly reduce the data traffic signficantly. It might be worth asking the folks who've brought us the Scangauge II to take a look at this.

While the trip data certainly has some potential usefulness, I'd be willing to sacrifice some or all of it to get the gauges to work without the intermittent failures. Maybe they could allow for enabling or disabling each logged data variable?

As a software guy I tend to think such issues should be easy. In reality they may not be - but it never hurts to ask...

gmctd · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:22 pm

We got one coming - will compare it to a professional scantool.

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:55 pm

I wonder if this http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-write-ups ... calibrator works on a KJ? since it works on a JK?

AZScout · **Posted:** Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:22 pm

Maybe we can do a group buy for one and then pass it around to all the other members who need it. We would just pay the s+h charges to ship it from one member to another.

On a side note, this kind of went with my thinking when considering the JK axles for a SFA swap. If they have the same connector to the diff, this should alleviate the speedometer issue when doing a swap with these axles.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Thu Nov 01, 2007 3:01 pm

Remember a scanner working on the CRD is a far cry from working on a gasser KJ or JK - the problem we have it Chrysler's 'fix' for 2 ISO controllers when the spec only allows 1 - they didn't want to rewrite code - so they cobbled it together.

On the Scangage - I know most folks have said the lockup is random - but mine seems predictable - i.e. if I'm driving gentle - no hard acceleration - it stays on - but if I have to accelerate hard - pedal down - it'll kick off instantly.
(I've only had mine long enough to do short 10-20 mile trips so it may vary over longer distances)

Also on cool mornings (upper 40's) the viscous heater seems to have as much LOD on the engine as the AC does ?

Scangauge II - Good stuff!!

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