Oil Temp Gauge installation

[BRZ NA]

oh,so where do you hook up the adapter?

[1stGenBRZ86]

Originally Posted by Admiral Ballsy

I agree. Why would anyone manufacture an oil temperature sensor that's not accurate? Let alone spec one?

I suspect the sensor is just fine; if there are any issues, they'd be with the data that comes through the OBD stream. Some cars don't even directly measure the oil temp, they 'calculate' it based upon other inputs (lots of GM cars do this).

ok so why do you need a wideband o2 sensor to tune your car and not use the factory a/f meters? OEM builds a car for the masses, an enthusiast requires more exacting specs... I could go on and on about this, but I'm not...if you want a light show in your interior, just download a strobe app.

[37]

Originally Posted by BRZ NA

oh,so where do you hook up the adapter?

Both Torque and the gauge above use the OBD2 port and pull data from the factory computer. Torque uses an OBD2 to Bluetooth adapter where the gauge uses a cable for both signal and power. Data output should theoretically be identical.

[Admiral Ballsy]

Originally Posted by 1stGenBRZ86

if you want a light show in your interior, just download a strobe app.

Umm....huh?

Your comparison doesn't make much sense, it's not a question of accuracy. Your analogy is like saying the oil temp sensor only reads from 70F to 250F, and you want one that reads from 0F to 500F.

[1stGenBRZ86]

Originally Posted by Admiral Ballsy

Umm....huh?

Your comparison doesn't make much sense, it's not a question of accuracy. Your analogy is like saying the oil temp sensor only reads from 70F to 250F, and you want one that reads from 0F to 500F.

No the readings on oem sensors are not accurate in the sense that they are dampened. If you ever rode in a car that has an aftermarket water temp gauge for example, you will definitely notice how sensitive the aftermarket gauge is compared to the water temp on the dash which hardly moves at all.

All these OBDII sensor readouts that have been popular as of late are just hype, meaning if you want a "light show" (gauges that are barely useful), then by all means waste your money. If you are serious about knowing your engine vitals, then you will not be getting that information from your OBD port. This new trend reminds me of people installing narrowband O2 gauges years ago, thinking that they were actually useful.

[GeorgeJFrick]

Originally Posted by 1stGenBRZ86

No the readings on oem sensors are not accurate in the sense that they are dampened. If you ever rode in a car that has an aftermarket water temp gauge for example, you will definitely notice how sensitive the aftermarket gauge is compared to the water temp on the dash which hardly moves at all.

All these OBDII sensor readouts that have been popular as of late are just hype, meaning if you want a "light show" (gauges that are barely useful), then by all means waste your money. If you are serious about knowing your engine vitals, then you will not be getting that information from your OBD port. This new trend reminds me of people installing narrowband O2 gauges years ago, thinking that they were actually useful.

Um, it's oil temp. We need to know when its reached a certain level. There is no light show involved here. I'm not going to spend hundreds of dollars to know the engine is warmed up. The idea that the data via obd2 is going to be off by a 100 degrees F is ridiculous.

You don't have any data or evidence showing a difference between odb2 oil temp and an expensive gauge; until you do, don't be so damn rude. Your implication of some kind of 2fast2furious bs is garbage.

Even if it was off by 10 degrees F, it would tell us if the oil was warmed up or if something was overheating.

[37]

Originally Posted by 1stGenBRZ86

All these OBDII sensor readouts that have been popular as of late are just hype

Agreed with @GeorgeJFrick. While it's fair to claim there might be a discrepancy in accuracy, lag, update interval, etc. with OEM systems, saying all of them are nothing more than hype or a "fancy light show" is pure speculation without first providing hard data showing the exact deltas between OE readings and aftermarket mechanical gauges in our specific platform.

No one here is refuting the potential for inaccuracy in general with OBD2 output but what happens in other platforms is irrelevant. You need to provide data showing that the ECU output and factory sensor outputs in our cars are inaccurate, where they're inaccurate, and by how much.

So, please post some hard data from this specific car. Many here would love to see the data.

It's an honest question looking for an honest answer. :happy0180:

[Thorpedo]

Originally Posted by 1stGenBRZ86

No the readings on oem sensors are not accurate in the sense that they are dampened. If you ever rode in a car that has an aftermarket water temp gauge for example, you will definitely notice how sensitive the aftermarket gauge is compared to the water temp on the dash which hardly moves at all.

All these OBDII sensor readouts that have been popular as of late are just hype, meaning if you want a "light show" (gauges that are barely useful), then by all means waste your money. If you are serious about knowing your engine vitals, then you will not be getting that information from your OBD port. This new trend reminds me of people installing narrowband O2 gauges years ago, thinking that they were actually useful.

You're comparing apples to oranges here bud. It is very important to have an accurate, quick to respond a/f gauge for obvious reasons. Things like oil/water temp are clearly a different case altogether. If you think you're such an expert that you'll turn your nose up at relatively small discrepancies in measured vs actual oil temp with a small delay then clearly you up your own ass too far to even talk to. Using the OBD port to log max oil/water temps while out on the track is a smart thing to do, OEM or aftermarket. Feel free to spend the several hundred dollars to get a system that meets your needs for accuracy, I'm going to monitor my oil temp for ~$20 and it is plenty accurate.

[BatStig]

Before I installed a Defi DIN-Gauge, I had a Scangauge in my car. I ran both for a day to see what kind of difference there was in their readings. Nothing. If there was any kind of discrepancy between the two gauges it was one or two degrees at most.

[BRZ NA]

Originally Posted by modifier

Both Torque and the gauge above use the OBD2 port and pull data from the factory computer. Torque uses an OBD2 to Bluetooth adapter where the gauge uses a cable for both signal and power. Data output should theoretically be identical.

Thx That's what I thought.

[BRZ NA]

Thx guys,Thx for all the inputs.

[37]

Originally Posted by Apocalypso

Before I installed a Defi DIN-Gauge, I had a Scangauge in my car. I ran both for a day to see what kind of difference there was in their readings. Nothing. If there was any kind of discrepancy between the two gauges it was one or two degrees at most.

That helps rule out oil and coolant temp accuracy. Thank you.

[1stGenBRZ86]

Originally Posted by GeorgeJFrick

Um, it's oil temp. We need to know when its reached a certain level. There is no light show involved here. I'm not going to spend hundreds of dollars to know the engine is warmed up. The idea that the data via obd2 is going to be off by a 100 degrees F is ridiculous.

You don't have any data or evidence showing a difference between odb2 oil temp and an expensive gauge; until you do, don't be so damn rude. Your implication of some kind of 2fast2furious bs is garbage.

Even if it was off by 10 degrees F, it would tell us if the oil was warmed up or if something was overheating.

sorry not trying to be rude. I came from having cheap gauge stuff in past cars, then had to spend money to replace those things, just trying to save other people the headache of buying things twice.\

BTW, I do have a cheap OBDII bluetooth adaptor and torque on my daily driver maxima. To me its basically a fancy version of whats already available on the dash. If you're not worried about accuracy, the OEM gauge cluster is perfect to tell you if the car is overheating.

[Admiral Ballsy]

The "damped' gauge you refer to is the coolant temp in most newer cars (circa ~2000 and up, very roughly speaking).

It's not the sender that's 'damped'...the gauge itself has a 'dead zone' around whatever temp is considered 'normal' by the manufacturer, where fluctuations of less than X degrees don't register on the gauge. The sender sends the information (in the form of fluctuating voltage), but the gauge is what flattens the response.

Without that, you see the temp climb from a cold start, then drop a bit when the thermostat first opens, then rise, then fall, then rise...on cold days in the winter, the fluctuations can be relatively dramatic. The story goes, for whatever it's worth, manufacturers got tired of explaining how the cooling system works when people brought their cars in for service, thinking it was a problem.

All my cars up through about '99 had 'working' temp gauges. All my cars post-'99, except for my Corvette, have the 'damped' gauge where it goes up to steady-state and just hangs there.

The Corvette has both a coolant temp gauge, and coolant and oil temp digital readouts, and they move around quite a bit.

The only cars I can think of made today that have an actual analog oil temp gauge are Camaros with the console cluster, some BMWs and Porsches, and maybe the Focus ST? I've not ridden in any of them long enough to pay attention to fluctuations on the oil temp gauge.