I am interested in this product for monitoring trans temp and mileage, as well as the other useful info it says it provides and the ability to read OBD codes.

http://www.scangauge.com/products/scangaugeii/

It says it is for all vehicles post-1996, what I'm wondering is does having OBD-II guarantee that it will be able to give me transmission temp for example? Does a 96 F-150 have a built in sensor for the transmission?

I'd also just like to get some opinions on it in general.

Thanks

 

I have one, it does what it says on the box. Are you buying it used or new? If you want to monitor transmission oil temp, just buy a new one since the older used ones need a firmware update (which costs $20) to give them this capability.

Then it's just a matter of reading the manual and referring to <a href=http://www.scangauge.com/support/x-gauge/ford-specific-xgauges/>this chart</a href> to set it up so that it polls the EEC for the transmission oil temperature data.

It comes with velcro for mounting... how ghetto is that lol. I took my Dremel to it and made it a proper panel-mount instrument like any reasonable person who happens to work with industrial controls by trade would do.

EDIT: if you want to mounts yours some distance away from the dash such as in the console like mine, you'll have to lengthen the (shielded) cable that comes with it. One end is for the OBD II connector, the other end is a male RJ-45 plug (like you'd use for Ethernet). I used Cat 5e patch cable (which is UNshielded, but twisted pair) to extend it and ain't ever had a problem with interference.

Clockwise from top left... Transmission Oil Temp (TOT), Coolant Temp, Voltage, Engine RPM. I usually keep that last one on Intake Air Temp though.

 

Thanks for the detailed response, sounds like it will work great for me.

Your setup looks great by the way, I like the switches.

 

Thanks, and you're welcome. Those are just standard 22mm industrial switches. Every ricer has toggles, so I had to be a bit more professional about it. I work in industrial controls so no problem having the tags engraved or anything lol.

 

Wow. That's kind of a cool little gadget. I was going to spend some money getting a tach, but maybe now I'll put it toward this. Does this give immediate rpm info?

edit: Never mind - it does say it gives real-time info. That's cool.

 

Well, real time as in (almost) immediately. If you set the scan rate to max you'll see the values change about every 800 milliseconds or so, so I wouldn't use it as a tach if it's time-critical (as in trying to shift at redline).

I bought it to monitor things that have slow change rates... transmission temp mainly, and to permanently have the ability to pull fault codes whenever.

Analog meters have their place, I do keep my volts display up there but it ain't a replacement for the factory voltmeter as much as it is a complement to it. The SGII might be able to display voltage more accurately than my factory gauge, but that 16 year old analog gauge can show me things that the SGII can't, such as a rapid voltage fluctuations, which show up as a flickering needle.

Also analog displays are better for quick readings. It's easier for someone to glance at an analog display of something and know what's going on based on visual cues (pointer position relative to redline for instance), rather than read a digital display, mentally compute the current value vs min/max, and come up with a result.

So, if you need a tach, buy a tach. If you want data from the EEC like trans temp or fuel flow, buy the SGII.