what do I need and why?
 

I'm new here and want to learn about instrumentation. Been picking up some tips in the ecodriver's ed. Someone said to get a gauge. I've got a '96 civic HX (actually just bought a second one). Love these cars and get great mileage.........but I want more. I believe this is OBD and not OBDII. What exactly is a scan gauge? What is a MPGuino? Which do I need? How much do they cost? Where do I get one? What about the vacuum gauges I've been seeing mentioned?

Thanks,
Steve

if it is in fact a '96 than it is in fact obdII. Basically a scangauge (expensive version of Ultragauge) measures almost anything you can think of. An Mpguino is the preobdII version of a scangauge and is the only gauge that I know of that reads when your in leanburn which is why civics get such great mileage. Once you have an ultragauge, scangauge, or mpguino a vacuum gauge wouldn't help alot unless you really know what your doing

https://www.scangauge.com/
UltraGauge OBDII Scan tool & Information Center
MPGuino - EcoModder

The HX has lean burn, the ultra and scan gauges will have a hard time with the varying air fuel ratios, which means it won't really know what your fuel mileage is. Ultra and scan gauges as I understand don't calculate fuel directly, they calculate fuel as a function of air flow and assume a constant fuel ratio. An MPguino is wired directly to the fuel injector signal and calculates fuel burn as a function of fuel injector duty cycle, which makes for a much more accurate reading when the car is capable of widely varying fuel mixtures.

a vacuum gauge is available at any parts store. but I don't find vacuum information very helpful once I have instant and average MPG info. The vacuum gauge taps in into the manifold and you can get an idea of the load the engine is under.

A scan gauge and ultra gauge plug into the OBDII port and know pretty much what the car knows from it's sensors. and can display a very diverse set of information.

The MPGuino is an open source project invented by one of the members here. It taps the speed sensor and fuel injector signal wires directly, and just calculates distance and fuel /hour and gets mpg from that. Less information is available but with an HX, VX or car older than 96 is the only viable option. I had an mpguino in my civic and I really liked it, on the road I don't find the increased amount of information the ultra gauge supplies to be that much more helpful for efficient driving.

I could be incorrect about the scan/ultra gauge's capability regarding direct sensing of the actual quantity of fuel. If so they make for an easy install.

I have a 93 Festiva 5-spd EFI 1.3, what would the MPGuino do for me? Does it have a shift light or something to tell you the prime time to shift, or does it just have a read-out of the instant MPG? My 2007 Explorer has an instant MPG gauge setting in the dash and all it does is drive me nuts because the second you even touch the gas it drops to zero.
How much does the MPGuino cost, cause I'm a cheapo!

The MPGuino link in post 2 answers all of your questions....here it is again

MPGuino - EcoModder

Sound about right to me. :eek::rolleyes:

Thanks guys for the comments. So let me see if I've got this right. The MPGuino is the only device that will compensate for the variable fuel air mixture (lean burn mode)? To install this device, I must tap into the fuel injector signal and the speedometer signal (and I assume battery power and ground). Details of where to get these signals MAY be available if someone else has done this on the same model/year as my vehicle and has it posted someplace.

The us supplier of ready made units is considering if he's making more or not. The Estonia supplier (Meelis?) is still selling these units.

Is that about it?