I am looking at getting a 3 in 1 gauge to monitor my transmission temp, egt, and boost. Is this the best option as far as the most "bang for my buck", or should I look into a different set of gauges?

Thanks,
TWM011

 

You can go cheap with glow shift some work some don't
I like Isspro automater and diploc but there no longer made.
It's all in what you need just a idea of what the readings are or a deffent number

 

I have dual EGTs and a Fuel Pressure gauge. EGTs (single will do) and Fuel Pressure are critical items to monitor on our aging trucks, and they have no sensors on-board to read either.

As for the Transmission Temp, Boost, and a bunch of other great stuff to monitor - it's all on the OBDII port. All you need is a portable device, a proper OBDII adapter, and a $5 - $10 app to read almost everything that has a sensor.

 

Thank you. I was not aware that you could monitor that through the port. That would be a much cheaper route. What is the app called?

 

I have a pillar three Guage set from glow shift. Boost on top, Trans temp in middle and egt on the bottom. I have had them since 2010 and like my gauges. I like the fact that I have 7 different colors I can choose from. I will say that on my Trans temp Guage I had to resplice the wires at the sensor, but other than that I have had no other issues. A lot of people were putting this company down when I bought them, but for the price I thought it was a very good deal. Plus there tech support has been very helpful. I think I only paid like 350.00 for everything and that included the tap I had the buy to thread the holed in the exhaust pipe for the egt.

 

Sunpro makes a good set of gauges that won't break the bank

 

Monitor all you can through the OBDII port and save the gauge cluster for the sensors that are NOT computer linked. In the future you will appreciate this. I wish I would have done this first.

 

If you get an OBDLink MX (WiFi or Bluetooth), it comes with the software, but many people with Android devices use Torque Pro (including myself). Apple products don't work with Bluetooth or with Torque Pro, so your options are narrowed with the fruity portable devices.

I went all-out and bought a Nexus 7 2013 (now using Lollipop OS), a mounting bracket, several OBDII apps, and the OBDLink MX BT for a total cost of about $400. While my approach is extreme, it's still a far cheaper option vs. getting dedicated gauges for each PID available on OBDII. It's also crazy-easy to install vs. the individual gauges.

This choice also allows logging and programmable alarms, so you can ignore the screen and allow the device to babysit the engine. There is a lot to be said for keeping your eye on the road and having an "engineer" watch the gauges for you. If something happens while driving, the engineer alerts you live - then it can deliver a full report of what happened in the form of a data log. Your own personal "black box". How cool is that?

 

That's awesome. Will it still work properly if your truck is tuned (not chipped)? If so, I will probably go with an android device and the obd2 port to get a start on things then add in an egt gauge as soon as I can. How do you have your tablet mounted?

 

It will work tuned, chipped, stock, or whatever else that doesn't otherwise occupy the OBDII port while driving.

Arkon [LINK]

 

Tugly, thanks for the link to the ark on mount... wish I hadn't wasted money on the cheap one I ordered. got a feeling I'll be trashing it for that one when funds become available. What do you keep pulled up to monitor? Tried zooming in, but couldn't get them all.

 

What do you mean by a "proper" OBD-II/USB adapter? Do you have a specific recommendation?

 

The cheap OBDII adapters don't transmit so well (low bandwidth?) and you will end up with choppy gages and poor data transfer. These are ones that cost about $10-$20. Not to say that all of them are bad. I have read about the ELM327 ones seem to do well. Others will chime in and let me know where I'm wrong.


I bought mine a couple of years ago and I spent about $100 on my PLX Kiwi. It's been a champ and I love it.

 

I myself would like to have the tablet set up like Rich has but I just don't have the cash for that yet. But to keep an eye on all NONE OBDII stuff I have priced it out 5 different ways and for my long term goals in gauges I would like to have boost, fuel pressure and EGT. I already have a trans temp & boost I would also like a HPOP gauge
So I am going to get the GlowShift 3 in 1 boost, fuel pressure and EGT but there are 2 different ways to get it one is needle is boost and the other is needle is EGT. I'm going with the EGT needle and here is why I too want dual EGT down the road. Now at that point I would use the second fuel pressure for prefilter reading. Or use it for exhaust backpressure.

http://www.glowshiftdirect.com/3in1-...-Pressure.aspx

Also on trans temp,HPOP, boost and exhaust backpressure I would like a second opinion on what the PCM is seeing. Just to keep the sensors honest or know if one is going bad.

Personally I can get alot for my money with the GlowShift gauges and hopefully they will work out for me without any issue. I have talked to at least 6 different guys that run the GS that have had them for 3 to 5 yrs no issues and 3 other guys that had issues and GS customer service took care of their issues. Which is good enough for me to give them a try. Besides I had an issue witha Autometer gauge a couple years ago and I was not pleased with their customer care but AutoMeter did make right on the gauge.

 

I'm working on setting up some better monitoring too. In the meantime I'm using my old Android phone, the Bluetooth OBDII transmitter and Torque Pro. Total out-of-pocket expense was $105 and I've got tons of parameters I can monitor (easily 50). It's not as nice as a tablet but I've got probably 15 parameters that I monitor regularly. Well worth the investment to me with 270K on the ticker.