Scangauge users

What range for % Calibration values do you get with what model/engine?  I am wondering about a reasonable starting point for my E-450.

Hmmm. No replies out of 90 people looking.  It looks like the Scangauge is not part of the engine monitoring instrumentation used here. 

For general information, this device plugs into the engine computer output port (OBD-II) to let you see in real time things like mpg, average mpg, fuel used/remaining, engine load/temperatures/rpms/horsepower etc. It also scans, reads-out and resets engine error codes.

Once I get my Scangauge calibrated for the V10 engine at low and high altitudes, I intend to generate performance curves for mpg vs mph with and without air conditioning...  the same as I have done for my previous Sprinter diesel engine.  Do not hold your breath. This may take years to complete.

I was thinking of buying a Scanguage.  The company told me it comes with a 6 foot cable and a longer cable or extension is NOT available.  I was hoping to plug the connector into the OBD-II connector below, run the cable up the left door pillar and across the top of the windshield behind the headliner, and mount the gauge on top of the rear view mirror.....actually to the back-up camera of which I plan to mount where the rear view mirror is.  The actual mirror would be retired.

Does anyone know if the 6 foot Scanguage cable is long enough to do this?

Ron, before I tongue in cheek suggest you cut a 6' long piece of string and stretch it from where the Scangauge plugs in to the place you want to mount it, you can look on Amazon and find OBD II extension cables for sale.  While this $159 tool looks like a neat gadget, I wonder if I would personallly ever use it for anything but resetting error codes.  If it tells me I can save 0.132 MPG by cutting 5 MPH off my speed, am I likely to put up with angry drivers giving me the single finger salute as they try to pass me?  I'm sometimes tempted to start a poll of how many PC owners get more enjoyment out of modifying and enhancing their vehicles than the actual camping in them. 

Jerry

I was hoping the scanguage would provide an improved 1.32 mpg, not .132 mpg.  It is well understood that motor homes often move along at 55-60mph instead of 65-75mph.  The rare one-finger salute is of no concern to me.  Actually with our old motor home, we couldn't do much over 60mph if we wanted to, and I think I got the finger 3 or 4 times in 24 years.

BTW:  Unfortunately I fall into the "more prep and less use" group as my job demands many extra hours.  There was a time I hoped to retire ahead of schedule, utilizing our PC more often as many of you do.  But like many working class people in the USA, the changes in the economy makes retiring "ON" schedule for me deamy.  So it goes.  Hey, at least I have a job.  No complaints here.

The last 3-4 years have certainly changed the outlook for retirement for a lot of people.  I worked for only two employers in my life: the Navy for 5 years and Exxon for 30 years.  Like most Exxonians, I retired early (two weeks before my 57th birthday).  That was made possible by two factors rapidly disappearing in the workplace: a defined benefits pension plan with a lump sum option and full medical benefits at the same cost as still working until 65 years old when Medicare takes over.  I'm turning 70 this year and I've been retired 13 years.  I would go so far as to say anybody on this forum is luckier than most Americans in that they can afford the luxury of a quality motorhome.  The world is not what it used to be!

BTW, I briefly owned a really clean but really underpowered (Chevy 350) Damon Hornet Class C motorhome and in the wind out west I somtimes couldn't even maintain 55 mph.  I did get the occasional salute in those days. 

The Scanguage looks useful, but I doubt I have the discipline to really utilize it.
Jerry

Sigh!

While I am wont to travel at 75-80 MPH in a passenger vehicle on the Interstate, I can also understand those vehicles and combo's that need travel at about 60 MPH, and will accommodate them.  I am entirely aware that my "net" speed over distance (allowing for Parnelli Jones-style gas and food stops) will only net me a 60-65 MPH average, tops, over a 1200 mile drive.  If that’s not acceptable, I’m entirely free to subject myself to air travel and a strip-search.

If some of these 1-finger saluters would actually THINK about the situation, here's what they might come to understand:

Anyone travelling slower in the right lanes?  Good.  Considerate.  Legal.

Anyone travelling slower in the 2nd right lane on a 4+ lane urban expressway in the heart of Atlanta or Chicago during rush-hour?  Good.

I would assume the majority of us are travelling slower in the right-hand lanes – as we should, and as we likely do.

The problem comes in with the rest of “humanity” that are sadly, on the road with us.

Problem #1 – the slower-moving and larger combo need move left to accommodate a driver entering the flow from an on-ramp.  Best practice, yet creates only a 1-minute delay.  1 minute!  The actual problem is created by the idiots that decide they need cut right to pass, preventing the slower vehicle from returning to the right lane.

Problem #2 – Ma & Pa Kettle – They’re either from Ontario or Florida.  They have the garment rod in the back seat area jammed with hung clothing, along with a Yorkie on the dashboard.  Even if acknowledging the above realities and practicalities, and on a 65 MPH highway; decide to pass at the breath-taking rate of 65.0123 MPH.  That .0123 MPH differential backs up about 40 vehicles behind them, and requires 20 or 30 miles to alleviate!  And then Ma & Pa, once regaining their right-lane supremacy, give YOU, the passing passenger vehicle driver, the finger!  Or later, you, the motorhome driver, for daring to drive at 65 MPH!  Or else it is someone driving a pickup or passenger vehicle with a king or queen-sized mattress tied to the top of their vehicle. LOL!

You just can’t win.