OBD II gauges

[mjheathcote]

I love gadgets, has anyone used an OBD II 'gauge' and did it work okay?

This looks the business:

http://www.ultra-gauge.com/ultragauge/index.htm

Only thing is it appears that gallons are US not imperial, but that's not too important, don't want to know about MPG's!

Where is the OBD port on a 4200/GS?

 

[Parisien]

Under the steering column.....see link on thread below this for codes


P

 

[Parisien]

http://www.nology.com/OBD2FaultCodes.htm

Or there ya go


P

 

[Emtee]

I love gadgets, has anyone used an OBD II 'gauge' and did it work okay?

This looks the business:

http://www.ultra-gauge.com/ultragauge/index.htm

Only thing is it appears that gallons are US not imperial, but that's not too important, don't want to know about MPG's!

Where is the OBD port on a 4200/GS?

There are lots available. That looks quite user friendly, but being American you'd be best to check its EOBD compliant (European rather than US protocol). The port is in the drivers foot well behind the steering wheel, just push up the liner and you'll find it.

 

[mjheathcote]

There are lots available. That looks quite user friendly, but being American you'd be best to check its EOBD compliant (European rather than US protocol). The port is in the drivers foot well behind the steering wheel, just push up the liner and you'll find it.

Good point, thought OBD was OBD!

 

[mjheathcote]

I've ordered the ultragauge from the US.
The UK owners manual for the 4200 states EOBD, and the US owners manual states OBDII
Can't imagine Maserati fitting different diagnostic versions somehow, just a different name, for the same thing, I hope!
Oh I asked them about US and Imperial gallons. You can set it to Imperial gallons but if you do, and then select a display with litres, the display with litres will be wrong for the conversation to litres is a constant based on US gallons that is changed if Imperial gallons is selected.

 

[mjheathcote]

It's arrived.
It works!

 

[BennyD]

Sounds good, let us know how you get on with it. Thanks.

 

[Simon]

I bought a OBDII reader from ebay last week , when I plugged it into my QP and tried to read data my dash when crazy with electrical system error/no system installed errors etc etc. After switching off the car runs as normal. This particular reader draws its power from the OBDII bus (rather than its own batteries) which I think caused the errors as it may have caused a voltage drop in the electrics that then set off other errors.

This was the reader is question:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140611230014

emailed the vendor and told him to remove Maserati from his list.

 

[Parisien]

Scary stuff Simon........bet that puckered up the rusty bullet hole..........


P

 

[mjheathcote]

The ultragauge draws its power from the OBD socket, no issues although the unit is only small.
As well as all the gauge stuff it also reads error codes.
I have one pending fault code P0461 which apparently is "Fuel Level Sensor Circuit Range/Performance"
...not too worried, maybe because the fuel light was on or something!

 

[Simon]

Scary stuff Simon........bet that puckered up the rusty bullet hole..........


P

First time I plugged it in it only had the bad moment when I asked it to read something off the ECU. Stupidly after unplugging and restarting the car the OBD reader set off the christmas tree's as soon as it was plugged in. When I saw the "no system installed" for a moment I thought I'd wiped out the firmware/software on the ECU and possibly created a very expensive brick.

Took the car out for a good run later and and worked perfectly. The reader in question also had menu option for what seemed to be the transmission, I imagine you could really screw things up badly with a dodgy OBD reader!

 

[Simon]

The ultragauge draws its power from the OBD socket, no issues although the unit is only small.
As well as all the gauge stuff it also reads error codes.
I have one pending fault code P0461 which apparently is "Fuel Level Sensor Circuit Range/Performance"
...not too worried, maybe because the fuel light was on or something!

The unit I bought may have had a bigger power drain or higher resistance which triggered the fault. Some of the error codes that came up were the same "phantom codes" that have come up in the past usually when the battery has been low. Whats also interesting is that none of these codes that flashed up were saved to the ecu. When I plugged the unit in a second time it still said "0 error codes".