scangauge 2 questions

[Ronin8002]

A chassis dyno measures torque by having the vehicles' wheels sit on a drum of a known weight and turn it. A computer measures the speed of the drum's turning and calculate's torque based on that. It gets RPM through either the ECU or the ignition system.

The RPM measuring part is easy since you do it in the same way with the scanguage as you do on a dyno (presumably).

It's the torque measurement that's in question. I have no idea yet how scanguage measures it. A chassis dyno measures it at the wheels. Scanguage measures it....somewhere in the transmission maybe?? How much torque you measure is going to affect how much HP is calculated. So if you measure more torque, right or wrong, it's going to show a higher HP number.

HP = Torque x RPM / 5252

You know one way you could really see if this is right is get your vehicle weighed with you in it. Then do a 1/4 mile run. Get the HP number that was logged on the scanguage.

Then use one of the online HP calculators you can find that estimates HP based on vehicle weight and 1/4 mile ET or vehicle weight and 1/4 mile MPH. I believe that both methods estimate flywheel HP, which is what the scanguage is doing (we think). So that should give you an idea of how much you can rely on the HP number the scanguage gives you.

 

[fedyfedz]

 

[Ronin8002]

Good stuff Your truck sounds nice!

If you end up doing the 1/4 mile test with truck weight, post up your numbers and we can see how it compares to the scanguage.

 

[Ronin8002]

BTW I believe the 2v 4.6 is rated at 239HP at the flywheel...not sure at which RPM though. That's why i am a bit suspicious of the scanguage.

 

[fedyfedz]

unfortunetly theres very few places i can take it to a track, but im hoping to test before and after new mods to see the difference, for example i will test before i get headers with max hp then get jba headers and check my mpg around 40-50mph and check my hp at full throttle to see if i can prove a increase with statistics.

 

[Ronin8002]

Cool...I think that will be interesting.

 

[fedyfedz]

ronin on scanguages website it has it broken down by:

iso and vpw
pwm
cansf

do you know which system mine/yours would be?

Also there is a section for ford that has the tranny temp, would i use that or the hybird one u specified? Also just found it pretty interesting that there is a air/fuel ratio. cant wait to try that out

 

[Ronin8002]

Fedy,

our vehicles are CAN, so use the trans temp that's under the Ford CAN section. You might also be able to get some of the codes under "All CANxx vehicles" to work.

The code for fuel pressure under the Ford Escape Hybrid section will work for our trucks also.

Haven't tried the A/F ratio yet. I am sure there are different codes for the left and right O2 sensors.

 

[fedyfedz]

figured id ask quetion here instead of creating new thread, i got the transmission fluid temp gauge working and was wondering what is a temp i should look out for that woul be considered to hot.

Also more importanly does anyone know what the air to fuel ratio is or should be on my X, its the v8 not sure if that matters. Im going to add the A/F Gauge today to see where im at.

 

[Ronin8002]

Normal operating temp for our transmissions is 150-170.

I've seen temps higher than that in very hot weather sitting in traffic (180), or after a long mountain climb (190).

I'd say too hot would be 185+ in normal everyday driving

In theory, optimum A/F ratio for mileage/emissions on most engines is around 14.7, but it will be lower (more rich) than that under heavy accelleration. On the highway it would probably be more around 14-14.7.

Normal OEM O2 sensors aren't but so accurate when you get outside this ratio as I understand it.

also remember this ratio is a balancing act...it will fluctuate up and down all the time as the vehicle's computer constantly adjusts to maintain the optimum ratio.

Mainly I'd just use it as a tool to see if you are consistently running too lean (way above 14.7) or too rich (way below 14.7) when maintaining steady throttle.

 

[matt0248]

? for you guys. I am planning on gettng A SGII. How do you go about adding the different "Gauges". it is just inputting a PID number to the SGII?

 

[Ronin8002]

? for you guys. I am planning on gettng A SGII. How do you go about adding the different "Gauges". it is just inputting a PID number to the SGII?

Pretty much. All the instructions for this come in the manual. You can also get on their website under "X-guage programming"

 

[matt0248]

cool thanks

 

[Ronin8002]

unfortunetly theres very few places i can take it to a track, but im hoping to test before and after new mods to see the difference, for example i will test before i get headers with max hp then get jba headers and check my mpg around 40-50mph and check my hp at full throttle to see if i can prove a increase with statistics.

BTW I am not 100% sure at this point but it seems the scanguage doesn't measure torque from the engine directly (unless our trucks our different). It comes up with the HP number based on some internal calculations from engine size, air measured from the MAF, fuel consumption, ignition timing, etc. So unless there is some way it directly measures torque on our trucks you should consider it a very rough estimate. Still might be useful in tracking changes from mods like headers though, as we discussed earlier.

 

[fedyfedz]

got a couple more questions, been monitoring my air intake temp and tranny temp through the scan gauge, and normally it wont go above 175, but it was really hot the other day and i was overtaking someone going up hill and it was pedal to the medal by the time I got to the top of the hill the tranny temp read 180+ and read the same temp until i got home.

is this a problem?

what is the max temp i should watch out for?

also what will go wrong if temps exceed the recommended?

 

[Ronin8002]

180 degrees is not that bad...I hit that in hot weather from time to time but it goes back down. I've even seen 191 after a very long mountain climb, but again it went back down to 170-180 right after that. Off the top of my head I believe the 5r55s/w shop manual indicates that EDIT: 150-170 is considered the normal operating temperature range. Exceeding that for short periods isn't the end of the world, just remember that the transmission fluid starts to break down when you get into low to mid 200's for extended lengths of time. If that were to happen you can flush and refill the fluid, but the cause of that would be what you really want to find. I've never seen mine go over 200 in any conditions....191 was the highest. So I am not worried. Regular fluid changes should help head off any issues that might otherwise be caused by breaking down of the fluid.

Mercon V fluid (what Ford specifies for these transmissions) is pretty good stuff. If you are worried about the fluid temp you can always put a deeper pan on like The Electrician did...that will give you a few quarts more volume and so it will be harder for the fluid to get as hot.

 

[fedyfedz]

great info thanks, i think ill start by changing the fluid not sure its ever been done and i just hit 100k will try to get that done by the end of the summer, i feel bad for under my hood when im stopped for a long period of time the intake temp rises rather quickly and on hot days its about 150-160

 

[Ronin8002]

Yeah it does get hot under there. The stock intake is probably the best way to keep the intake air coolest (unless you do a snorkel or something), and even then gets pretty warm.

I think a cowl induction hood would be really effective in letting the heat out of the engine compartment on these trucks.

 

[fedyfedz]

yeh was always thinking about it casue they look sick as well, check out this link

http://www.mrhoodscoop.com/servlet/the-414/ford-explorer-hood%2C-ford/Detail

 

[Ronin8002]

That would look sweet on your truck. I don't think it's functional though...or is it?

Only issue with hood vents, at least for an offroad truck, is I'd be worried about water splashing up and getting into the engine compartment.