No temperature gauge in the Prius

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PriusJay @ Feb 14 2007, 07:13 PM) [snapback]390639[/snapback]</div>

it uses oil but no oil pressure gauge.

 

How about a "driver intelligence" gauge, or a "am I driving or am I talking on the cell phone" gauge?

Tom

 

I think there should be a gauge for the cumulative stupidity of OTHER drivers within a 100 foot radius. Then again, that gauge would always be pegged.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Feb 14 2007, 11:49 PM) [snapback]390666[/snapback]</div>

And at that point the damage is already done to the engine. A temp gauge can alert you so you can shut down without causing engine damage.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rest @ Feb 16 2007, 09:49 AM) [snapback]391342[/snapback]</div>

Maybe but I had a hose fail on my last car (Nissan Primera) and the temperature went up so fast I'd say there was no difference between a read out and a too hot warning lamp. I was alerted by the engine knocking on acceleration, not by the gauge. I heard the knocking, looked at the gauge and pulled over. I fixed the hose back on, filled up with tap water and drove on. No damage.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rest @ Feb 16 2007, 10:49 AM) [snapback]391342[/snapback]</div>

A curious assertion. Are you saying that the warning light on the Prius is mis-calibrated, and doesn't indicate early enough? How have you concluded this?

 

A little reality here. Cars with temp gauges are no better off than ones without. At least in my experience, measuring coolant temps and watching the gauges, on five different vehicles (models and manufacturers). What the manufacturers do is set the gauge up to move quickly to the "normal" position, and stay there without moving much throughout the temp range of the coolant. When it gets to overheating, the gauge finally moves up showing it's overheating. Again, as others have posted, maybe too late.

The reason is they kept being bothered by owners noticing the temp gauge moving around. I "recalibrated" the gauge in my RX-7, and it now is linear, and moves constantly (before the mod it never moved, once it indicated "warmed up"). Climb a long hill and it slowly moves up. This kind of operation "freaks out" a lot of people, even though it's normal, so they make the gauges in such a way that they indicate "normal" until the engine is overheating.

Same effect as the outside temp gauge. Just scan over this forum and others and see the people worried that the temp reading is out 2 deg! Chill out people - engineering accuracy is only 5% and the guages aren't there for exact readings, they are there for "trends". Things like "it's close to freezing - watch out for ice".

 

And to add one point to what David Beale said, If you're not the type to be freaked out unnecessarily by the temp gauge going up and down, then you're likely the type who might not even notice it until a warning light comes on anyway. Get a CAN-View if you really want to know stuff like coolant temp in real-time.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Feb 15 2007, 07:00 AM) [snapback]390787[/snapback]</div>

Now THAT was funny. :lol:

Back to the temp gauge, it would be nice to have something there not only to know if the engine temp is going up and stop before it's too late, but I also use it to know when the car is warmed up and I can do some more serious acceleration. I try to be nice to the engine while it's not fully warmed up. But maybe that's just me.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ByWire @ Mar 3 2007, 09:05 PM) [snapback]399760[/snapback]</div>

You are clearly a candidate for CAN View or Scan Guage. All the information about your car's operation is available. Ain't electronics wonderful?!?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ByWire @ Mar 3 2007, 09:05 PM) [snapback]399760[/snapback]</div>

I'm with you. That makes at least two of us.

 

A temp gauge is actually pretty useful, because it lets you know
when you can or can't make stage transitions yet during warmup. If
you go one of the digital routes for instrumentation you get the
ability to read temp along with, or you can crock something together
out of junkbox parts.
.
_H*

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Mar 4 2007, 12:25 AM) [snapback]399770[/snapback]</div>

There is currently a scangague group order right here on PC run by Danny..... I believe there are still a few slots open to place an order.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ichabod @ Feb 15 2007, 09:07 AM) [snapback]390790[/snapback]</div>

I think a sticker would be more cost effective and get the job done just fine.

 

well considering the additional cost of the hybrid components, the fact that i am blocking my radiator and will continue to do so until OAT gets over 50º, i think it was a wise decision by Toyota engineers to cut the cost of providing that information.

even in the most extreme summer conditions last year when i had CANVIEW, i never saw high temps. didnt do any major mountains, but did do some pretty good passes that involved a few thousand feet of climbing and it didnt phase my Prius a bit.

 

It would have been nice for Toyota to include a drill-down menu in the MFD to allow some of us to actually look at things like ICE temp, ICE oil pressure, HV temp, etc. It isn't hard to program one extra touch target, I started doing that 22 years ago on Honeywell industrial TDC 3000 operator consoles.

Some cars do actually provide a drill-down option. I very recently sold my parents 2003 Buick LeSabre, it had a regular needle temp gage "calibrated" from C to H. However, one could access the Driver Information Center and get raw data like battery voltage, oil pressure, and coolant temp. Especially the oil pressure was fluctuating all the time, just like an old fashioned mechanical oil pressure gage.

I can accept that the car makers had to "debounce" or dejitter car gauges as most drivers would have been alarmed by a fluctuating oil pressure or a engine temp that was all over the place. But for the rest of us, it's a PITA.

I've looked into adding something like an Autometer mechanical oil pressure gauge, or an Autometer temp gauge. It looks like a lot of work, but would be a nice summer project.

 

If you find the appropriate plumbing and pressure sensors, lemme
know. I'd be really interested in bringing the output of an
electric sender up to the panel...
.
_H*