MPG guage

[bluestratos]

I am looking for a guage that will show mpg. In the good old days before OBD readers I had one that cut into the gas supply and return for fuel injection and there was magnets that installed on the drive shaft. Worked like a charm. later I had one that I used on my 28' Bayliner that also read in mpg or gph that used sensors and information from the gps and the paddle wheel for my auto pilot. Does any one know of any that are available that do not rely on the OBD test port or, that can be connected up to the buds test port or can be hacked to hook up to the VSS and fuel coming from the ECM?

 

[flybuddy]

This uses an inline fuel transducer with simple wiring.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/inpages/flightdatafc10.php

 

[bluestratos]

I will check it out

 

[bluestratos]

Good start, it does work with fuel injected engines, just not sure how to get the speed info from the Zumo GPS, anyone know?

 

[NancysToy]

In my opinion, gas mileage gauges are terribly distracting, and don't offer much useful information as far as the instantaneous display goes. The averages are handy, but it is a lot of instrumentation just to avoid pulling out a calculator every 120 miles. At any rate, in the old days of the Shell Economy Run and similar fuel mileage events, one trick was to hook up a vacuum gauge as an indicator. Some even had generic fuel economy markings on the gauge face. Basically, high vacuum readings offer the best fuel mileage, and low readings drop off your mileage. If you are looking for an instantaneous display to train your right wrist, a vacuum gauge might be an alternative.

 

[ARtraveler]

Agree that mpg gauges can be distracting. Had one in each of my last two vehicles, as well as my current vehicle. There is so much variation on a typical drive that they are not worth a lot. The fact that they calculate the tank average at fill up is good though--IMO.

 

[flybuddy]

Good start, it does work with fuel injected engines, just not sure how to get the speed info from the Zumo GPS, anyone know?

Lots of Garmin units have NMEA data output. Usually it's one unused wire in the power harness. Not sure if the Nuvi or Zumos have this capability. Anything in the owners manual?

 

[bluestratos]

I will check the manual to see, but I have read it many times in the past and do not recall anything about it.

I still want one, my GPS, Phone, bike controls etc are all distracting. I just like the tec.

 

[bluestratos]

Interesting, Curz Pro, where would I find out more?

 

[Trickie Dick]

I really don't care about a mpg gauge but a "miles to empty reading" would be nice.