ScanGauge II or UltraGauge?

israndy

israndy

2007 LTV Serenity
And since no one mentioned it, there is now the Ultragauge BLUE. Wireless version of the gauge that uses your phone as the display. Lets you do real custom looking gauges. More money. They also have a wired performance monitor version that will auto trigger when you gun it and let you measure the quarter mile and the 0-60 times.

-Randy
 
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Joe Goleta

New member
Thanks a lot to Smiller and Sailquik! This was just what I needed to know. I really do need a diagnostic tool not a performance monitor because my 2014 keeps popping up error messages on the display. As you all know the explanations in the manual are cryptic and not very helpful.

These error messages have prompted me to take the van to the (out of town) dealer at least 4 times at a cost of 1 to 2 days (happily no cash due to the warranty) per trip; as well as interrupting two road trips and making me very nervous.

Besides the autel maxidiag md-208 that sailquik kindly suggested, are there other models that people like?

Thanks you very much!

Joe
 
israndy

israndy

2007 LTV Serenity
When I get an error code the UltraGauge does allow me to read and clear the code. Just because the code is not spoken of verbosely, doesn't mean it is not clear. I simply need to get on The google and ask what the codes means. Often google brings me here to see the meaning. Once I get the code and I know what it means I can just clear it in the future and go back to working. Having a diagnostic reader won't do much more than this.

HOWEVER, there is a service tool from Mercedes, kind of expensive, that people do like. it lets you program things on your Sprinter. I don't own one as I have not added optional hardware to my van but others do swear by it. Some have purchased one and then rented it out to help others nearby.

-Randy
 
S

smiller

2008 View J (2007 NCV3 3500)
israndy said:
When I get an error code the UltraGauge does allow me to read and clear the code. Just because the code is not spoken of verbosely, doesn't mean it is not clear. I simply need to get on The google and ask what the codes means. Often google brings me here to see the meaning. Once I get the code and I know what it means I can just clear it in the future and go back to working. Having a diagnostic reader won't do much more than this.
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You can indeed look up standard OBDII codes on the Internet but the point we have been making is that standard OBDII codes are but a small subset of those potentially generated by a Sprinter. The weakness in a Scangauge/Ultragauge is not that they don't show common language for potential Sprinter trouble codes, rather that they won't accurately display most of them.
 
avanti

avanti

2022 Ford Transit 3500
smiller said:
they won't accurately display most of them.
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So (without disagreeing), I would like to ask exactly what this often-repeated statement means.

Does it mean any or all of the following:

(a) there may be codes that are present in the van, but the generic tool will not report at all (i.e., it will report "No codes found").

(b) There exist codes that will be incorrectly reported; i.e., Code xxx will be reported as code yyy.

(c) There are codes that are reported correctly but are accompanied with incorrect interpretations (do any of these tools even provide interpretations?).

(d) There are codes that are reported, but not in sufficient detail to be useful (i.e., sub-codes or parameters are not reported).

(e) something else?

The purpose of my question is to go beyond the generic "don't trust these tools for diagnosis", so respectfully, please don't answer unless you actually know more than that.
 
S

smiller

2008 View J (2007 NCV3 3500)
avanti said:
So (without disagreeing), I would like to ask exactly what this often-repeated statement means.

Does it mean any or all of the following:

(a) there may be codes that are present in the van, but the generic tool will not report at all (i.e., it will report "No codes found").

(b) There exist codes that will be incorrectly reported; i.e., Code xxx will be reported as code yyy.

(c) There are codes that are reported correctly but are accompanied with incorrect interpretations (do any of these tools even provide interpretations?).

(d) There are codes that are reported, but not in sufficient detail to be useful (i.e., sub-codes or parameters are not reported).

(e) something else?

The purpose of my question is to go beyond the generic "don't trust these tools for diagnosis", so respectfully, please don't answer unless you actually know more than that.
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Primarily (a) and on infrequent occasions (b) and/or (c). Some scan tools try to provide an interpretation of the code in the form of a short text translation but this capability isn't all that important in the scheme of things because in most cases you would want to research the code further (via Internet, service manual, etc.) anyway. The important thing is that you are able to resolve the code at all, and that it is correct.

.
 
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lukedog

Why Dogs Fly
israndy said:
And since no one mentioned it, there is now the Ultragauge BLUE. Wireless version of the gauge that uses your phone as the display. Lets you do real custom looking gauges. More money. They also have a wired performance monitor version that will auto trigger when you gun it and let you measure the quarter mile and the 0-60 times.

-Randy
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I'm thinking the Ultraguage BLUE would be real nice because of
being able to get a high quality display http://ultra-gauge.com/blue.htm
 
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RestlessPrism

New member
Which ever you end up with, remember that it will draw from the chassis battery when the engine is not running. Don't leave plugged in when you store your Sprinter for any length of time, unless you pull the Chassis battery main disconnect.
I left mine for a couple of weeks, and I knew I was in trouble when the doors wouldn't unlock when I went to check on the RV. Note also that you can't even get a Sprinter out of "Park" to push forward without battery power. Stored my RV in a tight location, and my jumper cables were in a storage locker against an adjacent RV. Really had to stretch to get the cables out so I could get the beast started by jumping from the RV house batteries. Too much information...
 
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lukedog

Why Dogs Fly
RestlessPrism said:
Which ever you end up with, remember that it will draw from the chassis battery when the engine is not running. Don't leave plugged in when you store your Sprinter for any length of time, unless you pull the Chassis battery main disconnect.
I left mine for a couple of weeks, and I knew I was in trouble when the doors wouldn't unlock when I went to check on the RV. Note also that you can't even get a Sprinter out of "Park" to push forward without battery power. Stored my RV in a tight location, and my jumper cables were in a storage locker against an adjacent RV. Really had to stretch to get the cables out so I could get the beast started by jumping from the RV house batteries. Too much information...
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What Brand do you have? How long did you store. Mine will be a second vehicle and used frequently. From UltraGauge "Just as UltraGauge wired, the UltraGauge Blue Adapter uses an significant amount of power and is not a concern with regard to battery drain."
 
israndy

israndy

2007 LTV Serenity
RestlessPrism said:
it will draw from the chassis battery when the engine is not running. Don't leave plugged in when you store your Sprinter for any length of time
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I have done this when the UltraGauge is confused, when it says Scanning it will not turn off, but if the display goes out I have left it for LONG periods of times w/o issue, many times longer than your two weeks.
Note also that you can't even get a Sprinter out of "Park" to push forward without battery power.
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Actually, if you stick your key (or something long and pointy) in the round cutout at the bottom of the shifter (on T1Ns, probably the same on NCV3s) you can move the car from park, just be ready on the brake when it is at more of a slant than you thought and starts rolling.

-Randy
 
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robmurray12

New member
Has anyone else noticed their ScangaugeII coming on randomly when the van is turned off or do I just have a van (2008 3.0L V6) with a mind of its own? We spent the last 11 months living out of our van while traveling the U.S. and Canada. About a half dozen times we woke up in the van to the backlight of the display coming on for about 1 minute then shutting itself off. Weird... Sorry to get off topic but the whole "batttery drain" comment made me think of it.

Also why not just disconnect the battery ground cable near the accelerator pedal if you are not using your van for 2+ weeks instead of pulling out the OBDII plug?
 
israndy

israndy

2007 LTV Serenity
Have to set the clock again, other settings as well. But yeah, it would be nice if everything that can drain a battery were plugged into the house batts and then just flip them to storage when exiting the van, or have something that automatically flips them off at a certain voltage.

-Randy
 
pfflyer

pfflyer

Well-known member
robmurray12 said:
Has anyone else noticed their ScangaugeII coming on randomly when the van is turned off or do I just have a van (2008 3.0L V6) with a mind of its own? We spent the last 11 months living out of our van while traveling the U.S. and Canada. About a half dozen times we woke up in the van to the backlight of the display coming on for about 1 minute then shutting itself off. Weird... Sorry to get off topic but the whole "batttery drain" comment made me think of it.

Also why not just disconnect the battery ground cable near the accelerator pedal if you are not using your van for 2+ weeks instead of pulling out the OBDII plug?
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Don't have as many hours in the van when not running as you but I have never noticed it powering up when the van is off.
 
Cheyenne

Cheyenne

UK 2004 T1N 313CDi
IIRC there are several ways to set the the SG II to power up.

One is on engine speed rising above zero but as this would not suit every vehicle (eg Hybrids or those with stop/start) then you can set other ways in the menu.
So if you have yours to one of the other means (can't remember what they are offhand and instructions are in the glovebox) then it may well turn on at will.

Check how you have it set up.

Keith.
 
P

PrismGuy

New member
fcbbob said:
I have Ultragauge works just fine for me.
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I'm just now setting up an UltraGauge Blue on a Sprinter 3500 diesel motor home. I believe these are the major differences vs the UltraGauge MX.

UG-Blue comes with it's own UltraGauge iPhone/iPad/Android application. I don't think UG-Blue will work with the Android Torque app.

UG-Blue uses a (wireless) Bluetooth connection between the UG-Blue dongle adapter and the UG-Blue application

UG-Blue senses slight coach battery voltages changes to turn the the adapter On and OFF (goal is to stop battery drain when the UG-Blue dongle adapter is not in use). I'm finding this tricky to set up so that I don't need the engine running in order to toy with/tweak/add/delete and test various gauges.

I think both UG-MX and UG-Blue work off the same UltraGauge's PID (Performance ID) database for setting up gauges.​

Because I'm basically a newbie at this, I'd like to hear from existing UG-MX and UG-Blue users how many Sprinter gauges they have actually gotten to work satisfactorily.:thinking:
 
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