Hi All,
I've been using Torque Pro and a cheapo blue OBD dongle to monitor some vital readings in my '96 D1 V8, and I've had a few questions that I can't seem to answer in the manuals or other threads. Below are the sensors that I've added to my Torque dashboard to monitor on my phone whenever I'm driving, and any insight into my queries would be greatly appreciated.
1) Coolant temp: This is my largest dial, since it's the most important to me, and it seems to be working okay, I'm usually around 180 during highway driving at any ambient temp; I've seen as high as 210-215 in stop-and-go traffic when it's 90+ degrees out, but that's the extreme case.
2) Battery Voltage at OBD adapter: also seems to be okay, usually around 13-13.5 when driving with accessories.
(unrelated question: my disco has a smaller, secondary ground wire coming off the batt negative terminal that routes along the passenger's side inner wing of the engine bay and is bolted to ground at one of the ECU bolts. This wire is apparently very important, since when it's disconnected I get noticeably lower system power, and can't operate multiple accessories without the radio shutting off. Is this secondary ground a stock wire, and if so, why isn't the 4 gauge negative cable to chassis ground enough?)
3) RPM: I'm idling around 700 when at operating temp, which I think is okay, but not 100% sure. sometimes dips to high 600's.
4) Vacuum/Boost pressure: This is what I have no idea about. It usually reads around -8 psi, but I've seen it as low as -11 in the summer. Is this sensor something that's worth monitoring, and if so, what is the normal PSI for the engine vacuum? I don't have any reason to believe I have a vacuum leak, but a lot of the hoses are aged and I'm working through replacing them as I can, so knowing the normal reading would be useful.
5) Oil temp: This gauge is all over the place. Sometimes its reading between 115 to 150 degrees, and sometimes it's at -40. Is this a gauge that even works on the discos, and if so, what range is normal for oil temp?
I've wanted to monitor the gauge for oil pressure, but Torque doesn't seem to gather any data for this, so I'm assuming that the oil pressure switch is just a dummy switch that isn't granular, and is just off or on based on a predetermined threshold. If this is the case, is there an aftermarket switch or reasonable way of adding an actual readable oil pressure gauge to the system?
Finally, does anyone have any recommendations of other sensors in Torque that I should try to monitor that are as important for normal, day to day operation that I'm missing?
I know this is all over the place, but I'd rather blurt it all out at once than waste people's time spreading it out over multiple posts.
Thanks for your time.
I've been using Torque Pro and a cheapo blue OBD dongle to monitor some vital readings in my '96 D1 V8, and I've had a few questions that I can't seem to answer in the manuals or other threads. Below are the sensors that I've added to my Torque dashboard to monitor on my phone whenever I'm driving, and any insight into my queries would be greatly appreciated.
1) Coolant temp: This is my largest dial, since it's the most important to me, and it seems to be working okay, I'm usually around 180 during highway driving at any ambient temp; I've seen as high as 210-215 in stop-and-go traffic when it's 90+ degrees out, but that's the extreme case.
2) Battery Voltage at OBD adapter: also seems to be okay, usually around 13-13.5 when driving with accessories.
(unrelated question: my disco has a smaller, secondary ground wire coming off the batt negative terminal that routes along the passenger's side inner wing of the engine bay and is bolted to ground at one of the ECU bolts. This wire is apparently very important, since when it's disconnected I get noticeably lower system power, and can't operate multiple accessories without the radio shutting off. Is this secondary ground a stock wire, and if so, why isn't the 4 gauge negative cable to chassis ground enough?)
3) RPM: I'm idling around 700 when at operating temp, which I think is okay, but not 100% sure. sometimes dips to high 600's.
4) Vacuum/Boost pressure: This is what I have no idea about. It usually reads around -8 psi, but I've seen it as low as -11 in the summer. Is this sensor something that's worth monitoring, and if so, what is the normal PSI for the engine vacuum? I don't have any reason to believe I have a vacuum leak, but a lot of the hoses are aged and I'm working through replacing them as I can, so knowing the normal reading would be useful.
5) Oil temp: This gauge is all over the place. Sometimes its reading between 115 to 150 degrees, and sometimes it's at -40. Is this a gauge that even works on the discos, and if so, what range is normal for oil temp?
I've wanted to monitor the gauge for oil pressure, but Torque doesn't seem to gather any data for this, so I'm assuming that the oil pressure switch is just a dummy switch that isn't granular, and is just off or on based on a predetermined threshold. If this is the case, is there an aftermarket switch or reasonable way of adding an actual readable oil pressure gauge to the system?
Finally, does anyone have any recommendations of other sensors in Torque that I should try to monitor that are as important for normal, day to day operation that I'm missing?
I know this is all over the place, but I'd rather blurt it all out at once than waste people's time spreading it out over multiple posts.
Thanks for your time.