Temp gauge re-code

[Overboost]

Originally Posted by 80stech

Well that let a little air out of my balloon ;( would have been nice to have the red light come on before engine melts. Still nice to have gauge working better though!

I dug around everywhere I could this morning looking for the temperature value that the DME uses to send the signal to illuminate the led in the gauge. The only value I could find is 117C but that is on the M3. I can only assume ours will be close

If anyone likes reading, here is the link to the 21 page DIY that I used to figure out our E53 gauge. TerraPhntm, SilberVogel and Mr, Philidelphia get all the credit for figuring this out in the first place. I wish those guys had owned E53s...

https://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=1013600

[Overboost]

Originally Posted by whizzkid23

I think this is the major issue someone should eventually fix. I personally like the mod you guys are making, it's a cool thing, but in the end it doesn't prevent anything in most peoples case because noone is looking at the temperature gauge all the time (besides us freaks).

My wife is driving the X most of the time...I can not pretend she has to look at the gauge all the time. So am I... I check if the engine heats up properly but once it's up and running, I enjoy thinking of something else. Sincerly, I don't want to take my "car love" to the level where I keep a eye on the coolant temperature 10 times during a trip to check if the gauge eventually moves somewhere (this is what this mod leads us too...).


As we all know that the temperatures rarely get over 105-110°C , and if they go probably something is probably wrong, a god damn message or sound should take the driver to keep an eye on whats happening.

I would recommend a tool called UltraGauge for an onboard nanny. It allows definable alarms with definable alert sounds. Plugs into the OBD port and if our significant others never look at gauges, this will scream at them if there is a problem.

Less than $80 and some of my friends over on E46F swear by it.


UltraGauge OBDII Scan tool & Information Center

[Overboost]

Originally Posted by Emory39

For PA Soft do you need a special cable? Or can you use the D-can K-can cable like this one?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/INPA-K-DCAN...gAAOSwkm9awNvF

The K+D CAN cable is used on BMW Tools (INPA, NCS Expert, WinKFP, etc) and will not work on the BMW Scanner 1.4. They have separate cables. I bought mine of Amazon for $20 a few years ago. There are still plenty available on both Amazon and fleaBay. Try to find a seller in the states so you aren't waiting weeks for one from China...

[andrewwynn]

Ultra gauge looks pretty awesome. The problem I have with WiFi dongle is it needs to be re plugged each drive cycle plus connecting to app on the phone, I didn't read deep enough to see if it is wired or wireless somehow

[Overboost]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Ultra gauge looks pretty awesome. The problem I have with WiFi dongle is it needs to be re plugged each drive cycle plus connecting to app on the phone, I didn't read deep enough to see if it is wired or wireless somehow

Looks to me like you can have it either way depending on how you order it. I would do the wired unit with display tucked into the ashtray slot myself but there is a Bluetooth unit that can be synced to your iPhone, android phone or even an android head unit.

[80stech]

That looks really cool! I was going to build a similar hard wired device using an arduino and put in the ashtray like that! I even found a small orange display (not easy) but it isn't readable in daylight!

RE: the the DME temp light thing. I was going to check that by changing the temp value while monitoring DME to see when gauge light comes on, just didn't have time yet.

[Overboost]

Originally Posted by 80stech

That looks really cool! I was going to build a similar hard wired device using an arduino and put in the ashtray like that! I even found a small orange display (not easy) but it isn't readable in daylight!

I believe the UltraGauge comes with a blue backlighting and needs some colored film to get the orange to match our gauge colors. Here is a good description of how one of the guys over on ZHPMafia did it.

UltraGauge OBDII Gauges

[Emory39]

So today I was monitoring the temp via the OBD cluster, and it sat from 90C-108C. Is this normal operating temperature? Where will the gauge be reading at? I'm guessing a bit over the center.

[Overboost]

Originally Posted by Emory39

So today I was monitoring the temp via the OBD cluster, and it sat from 90C-108C. Is this normal operating temperature? Where will the gauge be reading at? I'm guessing a bit over the center.

Yes it would be right of center on my buffer but you can set whatever buffer you want. My buffer is 85C-95C and I never get over 93C. 108C does seem high to me but I do not have the V8 engines like you guys do so I don't know for sure. Here are the hexidecimal numbers to Celsius if you want to change the buffer. If your temps are normal for the V8 I would change the buffer to 90C-110C but you will also need to change the last 4 modified values as my red starts at 110C and drop dead at 115C.


20C=14
25C=19
30C=1E
35C=23
40C=28
45C=2D
50C=32
55C=37
60C=3C
65C=41
70C=46
75C=4B
80C=50
85C=55
90C=5A
95C=5F
100C=64
105C=69
110C=6E
115C=73
120C=78
125C=7D
130C=82
135C=87
140C=8C

[80stech]

Well turns out the red gauge light gets turned on by a switch in the dual coolant temperature sender/switch. The NTC resistance portion feeds into the DME which works the gauge over whatever bus that is on and the NC switch portion goes directly to the light. So no coding that! ;( but would works out nicely for someone who wants to splice in an Arduino or voltage comparator to work the light.