Which gauges should I use to monitor on my 03 F250? Truck is completely stock. Will be installing headunit and torque pro this Friday.

 

You can search PID 3D in the thread title, or take a look at 2018 Powerstroke PIDs.

 

Will do. Thanks!

 

also the torque pro FAQ will have the PID info as well, we (me and Tugly) might need to further up date them if any have changed/updated however.....

 

Here’s my layout. You could also spread the gauges out over several screens if this is too much for you to look at.

 

Looks nice. It's just going to be displayed on my 6.2" headunit. I am sure I don't need all of those. I was thinking HPOP, IRP, Boost and Trans would be all I need. Truck is still factory with 85K miles on it.

 

Which head unit are you using?

 

I have been a Kenwood fan for the past 10 years. Used them in my previous cars. I figured I would switch it up and not spend top dollar for head units with little to no customization. So I went ahead and took a chance at this...

Android 7.1 Car Stereo, Octa Core 32GB+ 2GB Double Din DVD CD Player with Bluetooth GPS Navigation 6.2 inch Touch Screen - Support WIFI, MirrorLink, Backup Camera, AUX Input, USB SD, Dash Cam

 

I have kept my finger on the pulse of this technology for years... looking to upgrade my head unit from the early touch screen tech I have in there now.

You've heard of the mantra in real estate... "location, location, location"? With head units, it's "sound quality, sound quality, sound quality"... unless you never listen to music. Poor sound quality from the head unit can not be corrected by amplifiers and speakers - it's just louder noise. Our friends in the Orient are so hung up on the appearance of bells and whistles, that they overlook the rings and toots.

Now... getting a bit closer to our shores... the sound quality goes way up - but the so does the safety. The Chinese market stuff is pretty much a full-blown Android (from Kit-Kat to Nougat) for tin speakers. The American market stuff has Android Auto, Car Play, App Radio, and other neutered versions of touch screen operating systems. It makes sense, though - who wants to drag and point their way into a traffic accident and jail? I don't think China has the distracted driving laws we do.

I found just one product from China that actually had a few decent reviews on the sound quality - and everybody wants fast boot. I know the pain of waiting a minute before backing up if I want backup camera. Oreo is the latest operating system, so if you can get Nougat or Marshmallow, you're not doing too badly. Don't expect the OS to upgrade... ever... unless you get an Android Auto/Car Play unit.

 

I will be using my amps to power my speakers and sub. I did notice they only have 1 sub out which was strange, but nothing a Y cable can't fix. I don't understand how you can say using amps/speakers won't fix the problem? Is the sound quality really that bad? I mean I am not trying to make this truck into a competition sound machine. Just something with some thump and better over flat factory speakers and old outdated headunit. Hell it doesn't even have an AUX port. I had to use an over the air bluetooth unit. Horrible sound quality too.

Why do you say don't expect it to update OS? I can just flash the new ROM on there I assume.

 

Think of it as adding a kick-*** amp and speakers to AM radio... one might ask "what's the point?". Sure, a 27-band equalizer and a 300W subwoofer can dial a song in... a bit... but the next song will have to be dialed differently and I don't have that kind of time while driving.

Good sound starts at the source, then every step of the way from the compute to broadcast to reception to amplification - there are many pieces of hardware that take a turn at ruining the sound quality. Right now, digital compression is the biggest sinner for most music - I'll explain:

Here's a small image of self-portrait of Rembrandt I downloaded from the 'pedia in the cloud.




Rembrandt PNG


OK... here's the same image at the same size, but digitally compressed.





Rembrandt compressed

As you can clearly see, that little thing that makes Rembrandt (and some really good musical performers) special... nuance... is completely gone.
Adding an amplifier to sound is like zooming in on a picture - it just makes what's there bigger. I doesn't bring the nuance back, it just makes meal that's been reduced to cold poo steamy-smelly.


Oh... and a proper sub woofer is one channel. If you get two sub channels working independently out of sync, they don't play well together. Deep bass is to be felt and not heard - and it takes just one channel to get it done. My surround system in my home has a single Klipsch 12" sub... it's all I can do to keep the pictures on the walls.

 

Well as I did some more reading they are saying my Pumpkin model is actually decent with sound. It has 4v preouts as well. They recommend removing the factory EQ and installing Poweramp (which I already have). Though a lot of my music comes from streaming like Spotify, Pandora, Iheartradio, etc. I stopped using downloaded tracks on USBs. So I am hoping that using the Poweramp's EQ settings will help out on the sound quality. Do remember I am still running the stock 2003 factory stereo system. I am pretty sure this headunit is better than that.

Also I will be running two amps. A 4 channel for my speakers and a class D mono amp for my sub. Both are Pioneers GM D8604 and GM D9604. Both have had for 4 years and ran perfectly fine in my last vehicle. Also they were tuned with an O-scope that I have as well. I am not trying to make this a concert in my truck either. Just wanted something much better than the factory system and where I can use BT and AUX.

I will update the thread once I have everything installed and tuned.