any way to get SGII to show which gear I'm in?

[blackjackel]

I heard the most fuel efficient way to drive in an automatic is the absolute slowest speed on the highest gear, I Want to know where that is, is there any way to make scan guage let me know which gear I'm in? I know that you can find out via RPM but I don't know how to do that and my searches on the forums have been fruitless :/

[Daox]

I'm pretty sure there is no way to do this.

[dcb]

The information might be on the obd bus, but that is a long way from getting a scangauge to display it, unless you are ron delong, or his latest version allows you to display any pid you want. Any open source obd scanner software could be adapted to display it (again, assuming it is available on your car)

$19F4 Gear box ratio
$19F5 Current gear
http://www.obdproject.com/OBD2Info/Specs/pidlist.htm

[IndyIan]

I assume you have a 5 or more speed automatic? Just count the shifts, if you are using 30% or more throttle you should be able to tell. I also find in my auto neon that there is a big difference between the top gear with the torque conveter locked and top gear without it locked. Its about 3L/100km.
So the faster you can get your tranny locked in top gear the better your mileage will be so I accelerate from a stop and pulsing at about 40% throttle. My car will hold the torque converter locked to about 60% throttle at 50mph but its a 3 speed, most cars will unlock with much less.
Most automatics dive to the highest gear anyways with light throttle, so you have to train yourself for how much gas you can give without forcing downshifts. But for highway I still say go for the converter lock up and try to keep that.
Ian

[dcb]

Hmm, what about a lockup indicator (an led on the dash that lights up when the torq converter lockup solenoid is energized). That would be basically an LED, a resistor, and some wire.

[Who]

My wish would be some type of ratio of RPM to speed (KMs or miles). It could be Speed per 1000 RPMs or just a simple RPMs/Speed. That would be a simple way to know if there is lockup and also give a fairly static ratio number that should correspond to which gear you are in. The major plus would be that it wouldn't be vehicle dependent as that information is now. From what I've been told the SG can't display a calculation based on two input items.

[blackjackel]

Originally Posted by dcb

The information might be on the obd bus, but that is a long way from getting a scangauge to display it, unless you are ron delong, or his latest version allows you to display any pid you want. Any open source obd scanner software could be adapted to display it (again, assuming it is available on your car)

$19F4 Gear box ratio
$19F5 Current gear
http://www.obdproject.com/OBD2Info/Specs/pidlist.htm

I guess i'm in luck cause I have the latest version (with xguage). If I'm right, you want me to program those pids into xguage:

http://www.scangauge.com/support/pdfs/SGMan5_0.pdf

I'm assuming that I should enter the PID into where it says TXD in the manual link above... am I right?

[blackjackel]

Originally Posted by IndyIan

I assume you have a 5 or more speed automatic? Just count the shifts, if you are using 30% or more throttle you should be able to tell. I also find in my auto neon that there is a big difference between the top gear with the torque conveter locked and top gear without it locked. Its about 3L/100km.
So the faster you can get your tranny locked in top gear the better your mileage will be so I accelerate from a stop and pulsing at about 40% throttle. My car will hold the torque converter locked to about 60% throttle at 50mph but its a 3 speed, most cars will unlock with much less.
Most automatics dive to the highest gear anyways with light throttle, so you have to train yourself for how much gas you can give without forcing downshifts. But for highway I still say go for the converter lock up and try to keep that.
Ian

Just came back from a quick wikipedia read of torque converters, and with my basic and limited understanding I ask: How can I tell if my torque converter has locked? How can I tell when it has unlocked? And are you saying that I should drive as slow as possible with it locked (highway)?

Also, for city, are you saying I shouldn't accelerate slow? I should give it a good push to get the torque converter to lock early? (not floor it, but yeah).

[Who]

Originally Posted by blackjackel

Also, for city, are you saying I shouldn't accelerate slow? I should give it a good push to get the torque converter to lock early? (not floor it, but yeah).

There's going to be an envelope. Accelerate too slowly and a bigger percent of travel time and distance will be spent in lower less efficient gears. Accelerate too quickly and you could be running open loop and you'll also be producing a lot of extra heat that doesn't necessarily translate into forward motion. The challenge is to find the sweet spot and that could vary with load and terrain.

[dcb]

Originally Posted by blackjackel

I guess i'm in luck cause I have the latest version (with xguage). If I'm right, you want me to program those pids into xguage:

http://www.scangauge.com/support/pdfs/SGMan5_0.pdf

I'm assuming that I should enter the PID into where it says TXD in the manual link above... am I right?

There is some info here, but it doesn't look like a straight forward PID mapping and has vehicle specific settings for gear ratio:
http://www.scangauge.com/support/pdfs/XGAUGE.pdf
I don't know xgauge, so all I can say is maybe, do some experimenting, good luck, and report back