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Question, has anyone thought of a way to display engine gauges on there display?

Supreme Ruler

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Hey all. I'm a long time drag racer from years back. Ran a '68 Firebird 400 and a '66 GTO in show and drag racing. I've had lots of cars and now have a 2021 ST. with the larger then life 10.2 display, why isn't there parameter monitoring via the display? With all of this tech, why is this beast regulated down to a small bar graph on the left of the Sport display? Has anyone looked into software to relocate this information to the center display? I don't have the ability to write this code, that's why I'm asking. Old school gauges with water, oil, trans temp, oil temp, boost, etc...wouldn't it be cool to have all of that at a glance, via the center screen? Is anyone of you tuners up to the challenge? have the ability to write this into the software? This is all wishful thinking and a soft cry for help/not help, just a wish it could be done. I'm a 60 year old X-racer with a heavy right foot, that isn't shy of running street lights or the occasional freeway blast against a foreign car of some sort. Does any of you that are into the software part of these cars, have thought about adding anything like this to the center display? Is it even possible? Adding a stand alone gauge in the vent or dash area seems archaic in this day and age. I'm eager to the feedback from everyone, respectful of course. I love the platform and the power of the everyday driver, I'm just always looking for a touch more so I know when to lift, that's all. CHEERS!
 

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Cruising68

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I know of no solution as you describe, sorry. I run an Edge CTS2 from my old diesel truck. Gives me anything I can find a PID for and allows me to customize analog or digital gauges.

Funny you mention passing imports. I did a recent 2600 mile round trip with lots of night driving. Usually 85-90. Bunch of times I had people I was about to pass lay on the gas. A couple of them clearly were racing. Very satisfying laying into the fun pedal. The exhaust lets them know it’s not stock. Fun car for sure and I’ve driven a lot of fun fast cars. Really impresses me in the high speed mountain driving. Very stable and predictable.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

powerboatr

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Sadly ford felt we are not worthy
Imo
My f150 has boost, trans, eng

Even in sport or tow haul
We should have realgauges with numbers
For boost, trans and eng temp, oil pressure
And maybe oil temp,
I use an old android phone and my Bluetooth obd adapter to show stuff
 

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Supreme Ruler

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Thread Starter #4
Wow, thank you guys, these are fun stories and feedback. Please, keep it coming!
 

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#5
https://www.explorerst.org/threads/obdii-data-on-the-touch-screen.7725/ - basic plain text on your screen.

Another option is to use the app on a mounted phone with an OBDII adapter, the various apps (usually paid versions) have configurable gauges.

Another more costly option that I'm not even sure will work - get an Android Carplay adapter, the decent ones seem to be $100 - $200 or more. Its basically a box with an android OS installed on it that hijacks the Android Auto connection and projects an Android OS onto the screen instead. The idea is you can install the OBDII app directly on the adapter and run it on the screen. It's not very practical though since the screen layout would only allow it to run on the top 1/3 of the screen.

All of these options require an OBDII adapter, also if you happen to use an iPhone I'm not sure any of this would work.
 

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#6
Sadly ford felt we are not worthy
Imo
My f150 has boost, trans, eng

Even in sport or tow haul
We should have realgauges with numbers
For boost, trans and eng temp, oil pressure
And maybe oil temp,
I use an old android phone and my Bluetooth obd adapter to show stuff

Got this one on my Christmas list.
 

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powerboatr

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This is one I have, the plus gives up free oem pids to download, so you can use it on all your vehicles if that vehicle is supported
 

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BigBenTX

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What app do you use with this adapter? I have this adapter and seeing what's the best apps to show live guages
 

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I'm getting this one for my Birthday, but its not coming till Sunday :cry:. However I think it also come with a default App. If not I'll be asking the same question. I'm not doing anything deep I just want to see the battery Info and stuff like that basically also the default gauges that we can't now see.
 

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powerboatr

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What app do you use with this adapter? I have this adapter and seeing what's the best apps to show live guages
You download the app the adapter lodts in the data sheet
To set up, pair etc and build dash board on the device
Mx also lists the other apps that work with the adapter to build screens etc on your device
Some cost money some are free
It's in the data sheet and online on thier website
 

Chamorro85

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Cruising68

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powerboatr

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So got my OBDlink MX+ today and plugged it all in and all seems to be working good. I'm able to see my battery info which when running (idling) was 13.7v (hopefully that is where it is supposed to be for a 2025 ST) which is one of the things I bought it for however and this maybe a dumb question but do our cars have a MAF sensor? I'm only asking because when I went to the dashboard gauges that was the only gauge that was not reading anything. I was wondering if that gauge needed to be replaced with another type of gauge that you can select from the pre-made ones or should it be ignored altogether? Also is the 13.7v normal or is the battery in the new car already going out? I thought AGM's were supposed to be closer to 14v when car is running or idling? Thanks for any replies!
 

powerboatr

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So got my OBDlink MX+ today and plugged it all in and all seems to be working good. I'm able to see my battery info which when running (idling) was 13.7v (hopefully that is where it is supposed to be for a 2025 ST) which is one of the things I bought it for however and this maybe a dumb question but do our cars have a MAF sensor? I'm only asking because when I went to the dashboard gauges that was the only gauge that was not reading anything. I was wondering if that gauge needed to be replaced with another type of gauge that you can select from the pre-made ones or should it be ignored altogether? Also is the 13.7v normal or is the battery in the new car already going out? I thought AGM's were supposed to be closer to 14v when car is running or idling? Thanks for any replies!
make sure you are USING the ford PIDS int eh list, you may have to LOAD your ford pids into the app
the default PIDS are SAE PIDS and many of those are strange to our ford software???
i had to did through the ford specific PIDS to find trans temp, AIT, etc
i sat in car , with it running for i bet an hour before i found everything i needed
 

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make sure you are USING the ford PIDS int eh list, you may have to LOAD your ford pids into the app
the default PIDS are SAE PIDS and many of those are strange to our ford software???
i had to did through the ford specific PIDS to find trans temp, AIT, etc
i sat in car , with it running for i bet an hour before i found everything i needed
Oh I did not know there were some specific to ford, I looked at the list but I didn't see anything that said Ford next to it just a section that said Show Vehicle Supported?. I'm a bit of a novice with this type of device all the others I have had connected thru a cable looked up the vin and all the info automatically. This one I did notice it looked up the vin but then it also said something about entering your cars info for extra OEM stuff? I clicked on the little car symbol and entered only what I know which was just the model Explorer, SUV under Type, internal combustion for the engine and 3 for the liters. I also did 20 for the gallons of fuel but everything under that was filled in automatically, so I hope I didn't mess anything up. Under the supported PID's section the only thing I found about oil was "Centrifugal Crankcase oil separator RPM". Guess I'll have to play with it a bit more.
 

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powerboatr

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Oh I did not know there were some specific to ford, I looked at the list but I didn't see anything that said Ford next to it just a section that said Show Vehicle Supported?. I'm a bit of a novice with this type of device all the others I have had connected thru a cable looked up the vin and all the info automatically. This one I did notice it looked up the vin but then it also said something about entering your cars info for extra OEM stuff? I clicked on the little car symbol and entered only what I know which was just the model Explorer, SUV under Type, internal combustion for the engine and 3 for the liters. I also did 20 for the gallons of fuel but everything under that was filled in automatically, so I hope I didn't mess anything up. Under the supported PID's section the only thing I found about oil was "Centrifugal Crankcase oil separator RPM". Guess I'll have to play with it a bit more.
dont feel bad... the instructions are not exactly detailed
it took me quite a few tries to iron it out
 

BrooseDaMoose

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#18
I'm still trying to figure out how to get these PID's to show up (trans temp, boost, IAT, etc). There is a bit of a learning curve.
 

powerboatr

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O
I'm still trying to figure out how to get these PID's to show up (trans temp, boost, IAT, etc). There is a bit of a learning curve.
Once you load the ford specific pids, vice sae pids..it takes a bit of drilling down
AiT and trans are easy to find
But the boost ...not so much
The pid does not say boost
Instead look for manifold pressure
It reads in inches of mercury and is absolute
So engine off...key on you will see current atmosphere pressure.
You have to build tye gauge to swing below zero and up to 20
I will try to get a screen shot later
Also AIT. Has more than one sensor
I also picked up cat Temps inlet as sort of an EGT reference.
 



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