Will ScanGauge (or any other MPG display) work on European 2003 Ford Focus diesel?

[MetroMPG]

Someone asked me, and I don't know the answer.

Putting it out there to see if anyone has any experience with it.

A European ScanGauge supplier has already said "no".

Other digital MPG display options for this car?

[dcb]

The only diesel ones I know of are customized mpguinos, i.e.

high voltage injectors (HDi diesel) or a tdi who's ECU generates a fuel consumption signal.

and possibly flow sensor based units, a-la zemco (one flow sensor for tank feed and one for return)

mileage computer for a carbureted engine


There may be some way to map the OBD rpm and lod/tps to a reasonable approximation of fuel consumption, but need to build the 3d map to do it.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by dcb

The only diesel ones I know of are customized mpguinos, i.e.

In other words NO the scanguage DOES NOT work as a MPG guage for diesels, nor do other digital guages.

It does work as a simple guage for other items and of coarse can SCAN.

I often wondered if any diesels report A/F ratio, might simplify the MPG calculation.

[Dave's Civic Duty]

I have a ScanGaugeII on my 98 24V Dodge Cummings Diesel & it works great! It works the same as when using it on my Wife's 98 Honda Passport.

It just reads the input from the sensors going to the ECU! If it didn't work on my diesel, I would have never bought it. You just need an OBDII port!

Dave

[dcb]

Originally Posted by Dave's Civic Duty

...
It just reads the input from the sensors going to the ECU!

Not exactly, the data on the obd port comes from the ECU and not the sensors directly. Have you calibrated your SG fuel consumption with the pump?

Problem with SG (or obduino or any obd based fuel consumption display) and diesels, IIRC, is they just scan rpm/map/maf/speed and makes some assumptions about stoich to compute fuel consumption. Whereas a diesel is rarely stoich.

It is conceivable that SG has updated the firmware, I haven't looked there. But for computing MPG and fuel consumption on a diesel, it historically has had some trouble with that.

I'm guessing you are seeing lots of numbers in your diesel truck, which is nice, but the ones relating to mpg or gph or gallons are not being computed correctly.

[Dave's Civic Duty]

It seems pretty close actually. I have not gone thousands of miles or anything but it seems to be working close enough for my calculations!

[MetroMPG]

The diesel Smart fortwo community in Canada bought lots of ScanGauges.

Can't comment on accuracy, though I'm sure they've fine tuned calibration (estimation).

[dcb]

The scangauge site says it "works" on a 2001 tdi, but I can assure you the fuel consumption readings have no bearing on reality.