View Single Post
Old 05-20-2010, 04:38 PM   #1 (permalink)
maverick21016
EcoModding Lurker
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 2
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
'97 Chevy Cavalier Install and Questions

I just wanted to start a post about my recent install in my Chevy Cavalier with a 2.2L engine and had a couple questions.

First off the install went great! The details on the forums here about hooking everything up are excellent and I was able to very quickly find my VSS and Injector wires (having the factory service manuals helped a lot). I installed a preassembled unit from dcb in my car so there were no issues with building or quality of the components at all. I had bought the unit almost a year ago and just now got it installed because I wanted the install to be just right and in a proper enclosure. I've only done one fill up so far since installing the unit so it is nowhere near zeroed in yet as I'm just doing guesstimates based on injector size at the moment. Overall I'm very pleased with the unit!

Now the questions...

If I understand correctly the numbers on the LCD should never turn off? The back light does time out based on the time out setting but the numbers never go away. I think this is right...?

On the Tank page... the average speed for the tank is always being calculated. By this I mean even after the car has been sitting engine off/ignition off the MH figure which is the average MPH for the tank is ticking down. If this is the case won't this give me an inaccurate average for the speed for the tank? Anytime my car is parked it's going to be continuously counting down towards 0.

If I read the calibration instructions correctly the Current Mileage page should freeze once the unit times out. I've noticed after a couple trips getting back in the car after sometime and the current mileage is reading 9999 before starting the car back up. I thought this figure didn't change until the car restarted after the unit when into it's time out mode.

I guess most of my questions are related to the time out function and what should be occurring and if the unit is continuously calculating during the time out as well. I know for some users the time out is important because of using engine off cruise so they will want it to keep calculating when the car is not running. In my automatic I never shutoff and glide in neutral as I've read it's bad for the transmission so I have my timeout set to about a minute.

My last question is how much power does the unit pull from the battery? Are we talking maybe a few hundred milliamps? I'm in the process of moving so my meter is locked away in a storage unit unfortunately. Would just be good to know so I can pull the fuse if the car is parked for maybe more than a week or so. Also, I'm assuming if the fuse is pulled all memory and all settings are cleared correct? Not the program itself but just the user defined settings.

I was also wondering if anybody has a link to tips to dialing in the best economy with one of these gauges. I'm sure there's something already out there.

Thanks for your help and sorry if some of these questions have been asked. I searched a bit but was having some trouble finding detailed answers to my questions. I'll be sure to post some quick pictures later.


Last edited by maverick21016; 05-20-2010 at 04:46 PM..
  Reply With Quote