Top 3 gauges?

Submitted: Saturday, Aug 03, 2019 at 15:14
ThreadID: 138868 Views:5852 Replies:8 FollowUps:8
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Want to start monitoring my vehicle now that im doing some more off roading.

I drive an automatic petrol mitsubishi triton. what 3 gauges would you guys recommend?

Which setups do you run?

Cheers
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Reply By: Hewy54 - Saturday, Aug 03, 2019 at 16:16

Saturday, Aug 03, 2019 at 16:16
If your car will take a scangauge, then you will have multiple gauges available in one unit. 4 can be visible at any one time.
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Reply By: Member - John - Saturday, Aug 03, 2019 at 16:19

Saturday, Aug 03, 2019 at 16:19
Turbo Diesel, EGT, Boost pressure and Water Temp. Also run block temp and oil pressure alarm as well as low water alarm. Petrol, Water Temp, Auto Temp, maybe Oil pressure, not really sure what the third gauge should be. I am sure you will get a variety of answers.
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Reply By: Athol W1 - Saturday, Aug 03, 2019 at 16:27

Saturday, Aug 03, 2019 at 16:27
Damian

You do not give us very much information to go on, ie what year model vehicle, has it got an OBD11 diagnostic port?

Should your vehicle be recent enough to have the OBD11 port then I would suggest that you look very closely at the Scangauge11, as this unit just plugs into that OBD11 port and can then read off the information that is being fed into the engine management system. It is then your choice of what 4 parameters that you wish to monitor.

The options that are available for your particular vehicle may, or may not, include such things as exact coolant temp (as most manufacturers are now fitting temp indicators that are very vague), correct road speed, Auto trans temp, voltage, air intake temp, barometric pressure, ambient temp, manifold vacuum or boost (sometimes shown as pressure above absolute zero), ignition timing, engine RPM, percentage throttle, percentage engine load, current fuel consumption, average fuel consumption, distance to empty or fuel used since last fill, and there are more.

Also the Scangauge11 can be used at the end of the day to tell you such things as time operated, maximum road and engine speed for the day (since the last 10 hour of engine off), distance travelled that day, average speed for day, and there are more.

The unit is normally preset for most of the common functions, but can require the input of some codes for specific functions on your particular vehicle. These codes are available on their web site.

All this for about the price of a good stand alone gauge.

Enjoy your off roading.
Athol
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Reply By: RMD - Saturday, Aug 03, 2019 at 16:50

Saturday, Aug 03, 2019 at 16:50
If you are thinking of buying 3 expensive one purpose gauges, then they will cost more than an electronic gauge which will show more as mentioned above.
Unless you are towing you are unlikely to need boost or egt (which is only available on later model vehicles) because the engine ecu is programmed to ensure they don't get to an excessive figure with normal use.
Not sure with a Mitsubishi diesel, but their petrol engines had chain driven oil pumps which broke and totalled engine through no oil pressure. Oil pressure won't be available on an electronic gauge so trust is needed there or a specific gauge. If engine is good, then oil pressure isn't a problem.
If possible 1. trans temp will be useful along with 2. road speed for highway, (assuming STD tyres are fitted), 3. Engine coolant temp, as it is dependent on both engine and auto heat inputs. Most others you have no control over anyway. Voltage maybe.
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Follow Up By: fisho64 - Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 11:26

Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 11:26
Unless you are talking specifically about his triton maybe, I’m not sure why you say oil pressure is not available on an electronic gauge?
It certainly is on my scangauge on the 200?
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Reply By: Frank P (NSW) - Saturday, Aug 03, 2019 at 22:55

Saturday, Aug 03, 2019 at 22:55
I use Transmission temp, Coolant temp and because my fuel gauge can't handle my long range tank plus large reserve, Distance To Empty. All on a Scangauge II.
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Reply By: Damian G1 - Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 07:41

Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 07:41
Just been looking at the analog ones and yeah their at least 100-150$ each. Why so much? They must be more accurate i guess?

But never thought of a scangauge. I drive a 2005 triton, no idea if its compatible.
Ill definitely get one if possible, on top of maybe an anolog oil pressure gauge
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Follow Up By: 9900Eagle - Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 11:34

Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 11:34
Afraid not, this is the list of compatible vehicles.

Scangauge list
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Follow Up By: RMD - Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 13:32

Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 13:32
Why an oil pressure gauge Damian? You have no control over the oil pressure anyway, SO, if you are really worried about total oil pressure absence, you can fit an aftermarket oil switch used for hour meters in industrial vehicles. It will either turn on an alarm or if wired differently it will stop engine if NO oil pressure is there.
Analog gauges are not necessarily more accurate so that thinking is a bit flawed, most times less accurate and prohibitively expensive. A $10 voltmeter from Jaycar will be far more accurate than original indicator for the volts.
You would be far better fitting an Engine Guard which alerts you to overheat and low oil pressure.
What are you going to be doing, watching gauges, or driving and watching where you are going? If you are not an alert, mechanically minded person then you won't be systematically checking gauges anyway, therefore, a system which suddenly alerts you to a problem is a far far better option.
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Follow Up By: Damian G1 - Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 15:47

Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 15:47
Not sure why oil pressure. Thats why im making this post. As i said - i want to start monitoring my vehicle...get to learn what levels are normal and whats abnormal. Not just a light that turns on when something breaks.

Cheers
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Follow Up By: Damian G1 - Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 16:48

Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 16:48
So you reckon go for trans. Vehicle Speed. And coolant gauges
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Follow Up By: RMD - Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 16:52

Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 16:52
Damian.
With a Toyota you only know it has oil pressure but not the actual pressure, even though it has an inaccurate gauge, so something which says you have or not have is all that is needed. You do not control it at any time during the engines life. A lot of what people commonly believe is needed, is not. A volt metre might be handy to know if the battery is going flat and any aux charging is happening properly. An over engine temp device is an engine saver. Again you don't control the normal varying range of water temp. You can buy off the net, small digital temp sensors which can be fixed to auto line/s to read/monitor auto fluid temp. Same for water temp too, either fixed to engine block or radiator. A sensor which alerts to "outside normal' will be far more useful than a direct reading gauge which is silent and you may not see when critical things are happening.
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Follow Up By: Member - Warren H - Monday, Aug 05, 2019 at 14:06

Monday, Aug 05, 2019 at 14:06
Well actually, the oil pressure gauge probably saved my engine once. I had a manifold hose come off a Holden 186 red motor. The temperature gauge spiked for a very short time, but this dropped back as no water equals no meaningful temperature measurement, the next clue was a big drop in oil pressure as the oil heated up. I stopped before there was any damage and let the engine cool off before refilling. Reckon modern engines would be well and truly dead before this.
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Reply By: Tony F8 - Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 17:17

Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 17:17
My 80 series is definitely not on the scan gauge list, so I have a "Engine Guard" about $100, that's engine and trans temp taken care of, (factory gauges aren't worth a knob of goat shit). Tpms, a cheapy off fleabay ($50) and does the job admirably, so that's tyres taken care of too. A volt meter "Baintech" ($65) to give me an idea on what the dual batteries are up to, as said before, everything else will take care of itself, your triton should have a low oil pressure shut off. You certainly don't need to spend excess coin to keep up with the Jones's
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Follow Up By: Damian G1 - Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 18:40

Sunday, Aug 04, 2019 at 18:40
Tpms? Is that like a permanent tyre pressure monitor? Definitely gotta have that
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Reply By: Member - Bigfish - Tuesday, Aug 06, 2019 at 13:51

Tuesday, Aug 06, 2019 at 13:51
Ultragauge leaves the scan gauge for dead. More visible alarms, bigger screen and has more choice of gauges than scangauge..
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